Teorema, 1999
GPE-0103
Theorem
Lithograph, silkscreen and collage
Fedrigoni Acquarello 350 g
Two plates 69 x 69 cm each
Signed on the recto of each plate, bottom right: “Giulio Paolini”
Autograph numbering on the recto of each plate, bottom left
99 in Arabic numerals from 1/99 to 99/99
30 in Roman numerals from I/XXX to XXX/XXX
21 artist’s proofs in Arabic numerals from p.a. 1/21 to p.a. 21/21
Fondazione Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Florence
Stamperia Carini, San Giovanni Valdarno
The portfolio was created on the initiative of Moreno Bucci, conservator at the time of the Archivio Storico del Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, on the occasion of the performance of the ballet Teorema, inspired by the novel of the same name by Pier Paolo Pasolini, choreographed by Davide Bombana, with scenes and costumes by Giulio Paolini. The event produced by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino was performed at the Teatro Comunale, Florence, from 28 April to 6 May 1999. The portfolio was made to support the activity of the Teatro Comunale.
Double-sided three-flap white card stock folder, closed format 70 x 70 cm; cover curated by the artist featuring the design for the scenes of the ballet Teorema and the title in red inscribed in the first row of the grid, at the lower centre information concerning the context (“Giulio Paolini per il 62° Maggio Musicale Fiorentino 1999”). Contains the two plates and a sheet with a text by Moreno Bucci and at the bottom the colophon.
Includes information regarding the publisher, printer, date of printing (March 1999), context of production, printing technique, type of paper, measurements, and edition size.
Text by Moreno Bucci, Giulio Paolini al Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, about the set design created by Paolini for the ballet Teorema, with reference to the iconography of the two sketches reproduced in the edition.
The two plates reproduce two sketches for the scenes conceived by Paolini for the ballet Teorema: the setting in perspective evokes the stage, while the grid in the background represents the modular grid that serves as a backdrop.
Standing out in the first plate is the image of several shipwrecked figures adrift on a raft (borrowed from the painting Le Radeau de la Méduse [The Raft of the Medusa], 1819, by Théodore Géricault), in the midst of which is an erect male figure wearing a dark outfit and turned towards the spectator. In the second plate, the same figure appears isolated in the foreground, while in the background, beyond the grid, a seemingly endless crowd seen from behind fades into the horizon.
The image of the first plate was used for the poster for the ballet and for the stage curtain, while the other image recalls the backdrop of the initial scenes, before the individual modules fall to the ground, leaving the modular grid in sight.
The two original collages on which the prints are based are currently held, together with other sketches and figurines for the ballet, at the Fondazione del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Archivio Storico, Florence.
• The cut-out figures are from the front and back view photographs commissioned by Giulio Paolini from the photographer Mario Sarotto, after dressing an anonymous mannequin.
• Jean-Louis-Théodore Géricault, Le Radeau de la Méduse, 1819, oil on canvas, 491 × 716 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
| 2001 | Milan, Association Jacqueline Vodoz et Bruno Danese, Impressions Graphiques. L’opera grafica di Giulio Paolini, 1967-2000, 17 May - 22 June, col. repr. pp. 22-23. |
| 2005-06 | Turin, Archivio di Stato, Pasolini e noi. Relazioni tra arte e cinema, 2 November - 4 December, touring to: Rome, Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, 15 December 2005 - 12 February 2006, col. repr. pp. 102, 103, referred to in the text by L. Cherubini p. 132. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques, l’opera grafica (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 2005), update supplement 1996-2005 to the volume Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 104, col. repr. |
| • | C. Bertocci, “Pitture non dipinte”, in AParte la rivista 5 (Prato), December, 2008, p. 12, col. repr. |
