Senza titolo, 1965
GPO-0073
Untitled
Primed canvases mounted one on top of the other
100 x 100 cm
Signed and dated on the verso, upper stretcher bar, left: “Giulio Paolini / 1965”
Paul Maenz Collection, Berlin
From 1993 to 2005 on loan at Neues Museum, Weimar
“Two primed canvases are mounted one atop the other, as if the conventional support used for a painting – the blank canvas – could only present, rather than an image, the pure acknowledgement of its existence: instead of exhausting itself in the definition of an image, the canvas tends to renew itself via its own repetition”,1 according to the artist, in retrospect.
For the first time ever, here Paolini uses the blank canvas in its pure evidence as a support, in its naked presence as an unspoiled surface.
The work was reproduced in two other versions made during the same year, measuring 50 x 50 cm and 160 x 160 cm (GPO-0074, GPO-0075), respectively.
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2005), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 73 p. 104.
| 1972 | New York, John Weber Gallery, De Europa, 29 April - 24 May, repr. n. pag. |
| 1986 | Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Giulio Paolini, 20 September - 2 November, cited in the checklist of exhibited works vol. 4 no. 7 p. 51, repr. vol. 1 p. 41. |
| 1989 | Cologne, Rheinhallen der Kölner Messe, Bilderstreit. Widerspruch, Einheit und Fragment in der Kunst seit 1960, 8 April - 28 June, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 536 p. 526, not repr. |
| 1999 | Weimar, Neues Museum, Auffrischender Wind aus wechselnden Richtungen. Internationale Avantgarde seit 1960: Die Sammlung Paul Maenz, 1 January - 31 December, repr. p. 113 cat. no. 75, with entry by H. Dickel (with mistakes in the list of exhibitions), repr. p. 321 (exhibition view). |
| 2005-06 | Muenster, Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Giulio Paolini. Esposizione universale, 1 October 2005 - 8 January 2006, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 89, repr. p. 80, referred to in the text by E. Franz p. 80. |
| 2017 | Berlin, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Giulio Paolini. Di ritorno, 8 September - 21 October. |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2005), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 73 p. 104. |
| • | G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), repr. no. 39 p. 46 (as “Senza titolo (un quadro)”); reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019). |
| • | M. Fagiolo, “Glossario”, in Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), p. 22, repr. no. 58. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Werke und Schriften 1960- 1980 (Lucerne: Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1981), repr. n. pag. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index, (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. p. 19. |
| • | Die Sammlung Paul Maenz Neues Museum Weimar. Band I: Objekte, Bilder, Installationen (Weimar/Ostfildern-Ruit: Neues Museum and Hatje Cantz Verlag, 1999), repr. p. 113 cat. no. 75, entry by H. Dickel (with incorrect list of exhibitions), repr. p. 321 (exhibition view Weimar 1999). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Turin, GAM Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Turin: Hopefulmonster, 1999), col. repr. p. 68 (exhibition view Weimar 1999). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 73 p. 104, repr. |
| • | E. Franz, “‘Vedo e non vedo’”, in E. Franz et al., Giulio Paolini. Vedo e non vedo. In tema 1 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2014), pp. 16, 18, repr. p. 18. |
| • | J. Meinhardt, Giulio Paolini. Senza titolo, 1961. In collezione 3 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2015), p. 58, repr. p. 68. |
| • | F. Cafagna, “Artisti italiani alla John Weber Gallery. Strategie commerciali e curatoriali (1971-1975)”, in Ricerche di storia dell’arte 132 (Rome), 2020, p. 41, not repr. |
