Galleria (I), 1991
GPE-0076
Gallery (I)
Photo-lithographs applied to cardboard
Folded 38 x 33 cm, open 38 x 165 cm
38 x 120 x 27 cm
Signed on the recto of the fifth panel, bottom right: “Giulio Paolini”
Autograph numbering on the recto of the fifth panel, bottom centre
50 in Arabic numerals from 1/50 to 50/50
Marco Noire Editore, Turin
The photographic plates applied to faux walnut cardboard and joined in the manner of an accordion reproduce five period portraits: an enigmatic series of figures – all musicians – hidden almost entirely, however, by a detail of an extraneous image, which differs each time, making them unrecognizable. In the first portrait, the figure is half-hidden by the interior of a theatre, so that the ceiling lamp is in the same place as the head. In the second portrait, the photographic colour reproduction of a flame against the black background "consumes", by blackening it, the image of the subject portrayed. In the third image, the figure's face is hidden by the colour detail of an oval gilt frame against a black background. In the fourth image, the portrait is half-hidden by a detail of a photographic studio with several spotlights. In the fifth and final image a wide stream of water from a motorboat viewed from above strikes the figure portrayed in the manner of a waterfall.
The photographic sequence heralds and simulates a gallery of portraits, which, however, remain unknown, faceless: five hypothetical figures shrouded in the mystery of a hidden identity (even the title itself, which does not specify "Portrait Gallery”, seems to echo the enigma).
The numbering in the title refers to a multiple that was made soon afterwards, which features another portrait gallery (GPE-0077).
The original collages that developed into the multiple are dated to 1974: aligned in horizontal succession they constitute the work on the wall documented in the online Catalogue Raisonné of the paintings, sculptures, and installations at number GPO-0275.
| 1992 | Bonn, Bonner Kunstverein, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das graphische Werk 1967-1992, 24 February - 29 March (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 77). |
| 1993 | Winterthur, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das druckgraphische Werk 1967-1992, 16 January - 7 March (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 77). |
| 1995 | Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian / Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Múltiplos e Obra Gráfica 1969-1995, 16 March - 28 May, not repr. in the exhibition brochure (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 77). |
| 1996 | Apolda, Kunsthaus Apolda Avantgarde, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques, 27 September - 27 October (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 77). |
| 1997 | Göppingen, Kunsthalle, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das graphische Druckwerk 1967-1995, 9 March - 13 April (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 77). |
| 2008 | Turin, Giorgio Maffei, Arte Povera. Libri d’artista, multipli, fotografie, 14-23 December, no catalogue. |
| 2024 | Siena, Museo d’Inverno, Daniela De Lorenzo. Controluce, 7 April - 9 June, no catalogue; edition 3/50. |
| • | Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 77, col. repr. (edition 17/50); the five original collages are erroneously dated “1977” in the unpaginated list of works. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 275 p. 286, not repr. |
| • | Carte Noire. Noire Editions 1980/2015 (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2016), col. repr. n. pag. (edition 17/50). |
