Leonardo e Venezia, 1992
GPE-0083
Leonardo and Venice
Silkscreen on polycarbonate
Eighteen sheets 28 x 28 cm each
Signed on the colophon included with the print: “Giulio Paolini”
Autograph numbering on the colophon included with the print
75 in Arabic numerals from 1/75 to 75/75
Palazzo Grassi, Venice
Marco Noire Editore, Turin
The multiple was commissioned from the artist by Palazzo Grassi, Venice, on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci, from 22 March to 5 July 1992.
Plexiglas box with lid, blank, 30 x 30 x 2 cm. Contains the eighteen plates and a double-sided foldout featuring on the second side the image of the three subjects reproduced in the multiple (the drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, the juxtaposition of the sixteen letters that make up the title, the inside of the cupola of Andrea Palladio's Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore), and on the third side the colophon.
Includes information regarding the number, measurements, and iconography of the sheets that make up the multiple, context of production, edition size, and printer. Numbering and signature bottom centre.
The installation includes two alternatives:
1. on a plinth (or on a surface, table, or inside a display case, with the sheets in the box arranged vertically and inserted in the slit of a plexiglas stand (h 8-10 cm), with or without a protective case (square in shape and large enough to allow for breathing space all around)
2. in a horizontal display case, with the sheets and the colophon scattered so that they are askew, without the box (overall the amount of space taken up is approximately 90 x 90 x 90 cm).
The multiple consists of eighteen polycarbonate sheets impressed with an image or a large squared letter. The first sheet reproduces Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man (c. 1490), the renowned representation of the ideal proportions of the human body. The sixteen sheets that follow each bear a letter inscribed in a square, so that they compose, in succession, the expression “Leonardo e Venezia”, a reference to the title of the exhibition for which the multiple was commissioned. The last sheet instead represents a colour reproduction of the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, designed by Andrea Palladio.
In the orderly juxtaposition of the translucid sheets inside the plexiglas case, the geometric figures of the circle and the square merge into an image of ideal perfection, drawing inspiration from the same Leonardesque drawing, made up of the overlapping of two different poses of a naked man, inscribed in a square and in a circle. The undecipherable cryptography generated by the sequence of squared letters, on its part, amplifies the enigmatic and symbolic nature of the Leonardesque drawing.
Leonardo da Vinci, Study of body proportions known as Vitruvian Man, c. 1490, metal point, pen and ink, touches of watercolour on white paper, 34 x 24 cm, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.
| 1992 | Turin, Galleria Marco Noire, Giulio Paolini. Fuori catalogo, from 9 December. |
| 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. 84). |
| 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], update supplement 1992-95, cat. no. 84). |
| 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], update supplement 1992-95, cat. no. 84). |
| 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], update supplement 1992-95, cat. no. 84). |
| 2000-01 | Bologna, Studio G7, Giulio Paolini. Opere Grafiche, 16 December 2000 - 20 January 2001. |
| 2001 | Milan, Association Jacqueline Vodoz et Bruno Danese, Impressions Graphiques. L’opera grafica di Giulio Paolini, 1967-2000, 17 May - 22 June, not repr. |
| 2010 | Rome, Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rendering. Traduzione, citazione, contaminazione. Rapporti tra i linguaggi dell'arte visiva, 21 May - 18 July, col. repr. no. 13 p. 71. |
| 2011-12 | Vence, Château de Villeneuve, Fondation Émile Hugues, De Man Ray à Pistoletto, chronique d'une collection en mouvement, 3 December 2011 - 8 January 2012, no catalogue; edition 57/75. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques, l’opera grafica (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1995), update supplement 1992-95 to the volume Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 84, col. repr. |
| • | Carte Noire. Noire Editions 1980/2015 (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2016), col. repr. n. pag. |
| • | N. Stringa, “Leonardo e gli “antropofagi” (note su riscoperte, revivals, posizionamenti)”, in Anthropos: Pensieri, parole e virtù per restare uomini, edited by A. Camerotto and F. Pontani (Milano-Udine: Mimesis Edizioni, 2020), pp. 74-75, not repr. |
