Astrolabe (F. P.), 1967
GPO-0125
Plexiglas, globe
Two spheres: Ø 54.5 cm and Ø 36 cm, globe Ø 38 cm, sector of 1/4 of a sphere 17 x 47 x 18 cm, sector of 1/8 of a sphere 17 x 18 x 18 cm, overall dimensions variable
Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Turin, on loan from Fondazione per l'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT
Acquired by Fondazione CRT in 2003, inventory no. C-PAOG-007
The work is made up of five plexiglas elements: two empty spheres and one that encompasses a globe that can be arranged freely, while the sector of 1/4 of a sphere is to be placed up against a wall, and the sector of 1/8 of a sphere in the corner of the room.
As concerns this work, in 2001 Paolini remarked as follows: “The title Astrolabe (F. P.) and the date 1967 define the work made by me formulated that year. However, the title Astrolabe already announced another work by F. P. (Francis Picabia) made sometime earlier (1921-22). There are two works with the same title, and the dates are different. And what about the author? The author, as always, is only one person (or no one at all), who finds himself coinciding with something that has already taken place (already written), which precedes him (and transcends him) in the sequence of episodes designed to trace countless copies of the same original, still unknown".1
The title “Astrolabe”, without Picabia's initials, was used for another work made that same year (GPO-0127) and later for four other works (GPO-0654, GPO-0743, GPO-0744, GPO-0758).
1 G. Paolini, note written on 2011 for the exhibition catalogue of the group show Arte Povera in Collezione, Moscow, Multimedia Art Museum Moscow, 2011.
Title from Francis Picabia, Astrolabe, c. 1922, ink and watercolour on card stock, 73 x 55 cm, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.
| 1967 | Venice, Galleria del Leone, Giulio Paolini, from 7 August, cited in the checklist of exhibited works, not repr. |
| 1968 | Turin, Galleria Christian Stein, Boetti, Fontana, Gandini, Gilardi, Lo Savio, Manzoni, Mondino, Pascali, Pistoletto, Rotella, Uncini, from 19 June. |
| 2003 | Milan, Fondazione Prada, Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, 29 October - 18 December, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 400, repr. p. 197 (exhibition view Venice 1967), col. repr. p. 275. |
| 2004 | Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Nuove acquisizioni CRT, 25 May - 27 June, no catalogue. |
| 2007 | Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Dalla terra alla luna: metafore di viaggio (parte I), 3 April - 21 May, no catalogue. |
| 2008-09 | Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Una stanza tutta per sé, 2 April 2008 - 18 January 2009, no catalogue. |
| 2011 | Moscow, Multimedia Art Museum, Arte Povera in Moscow. Works from the collection of the Castello di Rivoli, 24 May - 10 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 127, col. repr. pp. 85 (exhibition view Rivoli 2004), 176 (exhibition view), with statement by the artist p. 84 and [anonymous] commentary p. 139. |
| 2011-12 | Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Arte Povera International, 9 October 2011 - 15 April 2012, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 679, col. repr. no. 317 (exhibition view Rivoli 2004). |
| 2013-14 | Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, from 5 November 2013, as part of the installation of the Collection. |
| • | G. Paolini in Arte Povera in Moscow. Works from the collection of the Castello di Rivoli, exhibition catalogue, Moscow, Multimedia Art Museum, 2011, p. 84. |
| • | G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), p. 60, repr. no. 57 p. 58 (exhibition view Turin 1968); republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by Id. (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), pp. 212, 214; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019). |
| • | Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), repr. no. 90 (exhibition view Turin 1968). |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. p. 66 (exhibition view Venice 1967, detail). |
| • | Nello spazio del cosmo, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Fonte d’Abisso Arte (Milan: Edizioni Gabriele Mazzotta, 2005), repr. p. 78 (with incorrect caption, exhibition view Turin 1968). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 125 p. 148, col. repr. (exhibition view Rivoli 2004). |
| • | Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea. La Residenza Sabauda – La Collezione (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), p. 406, col. repr. pp. 407, 416-417 (exhibition view Rivoli 2008). |
| • | D. Lancioni, "Un enigma in prospettiva", in Giulio Paolini. Gli uni e gli altri. L'enigma dell'ora, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Milan: Skira editore, 2010), p. 19, col. repr. p. 19 (exhibition view Rivoli 2004). |
| • | Collezione Christian Stein. Una storia dell'arte italiana / A History of Italian Art (Valencia-Lugano-Milan: IVAM Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Museo Cantonale d'Arte and Mondadori Electa, 2010), repr. p. 250 (exhibition view Turin 1968). |
| • | Dieci anni e oltre. La collezione della Fondazione per l'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea – CRT per Torino e il Piemonte, edited by M. Beccaria and E. Volpato (Berlin: Archive Books, 2010), col. repr. p. 365 (exhibition view Rivoli 2004). |
| • | G. Celant, Arte Povera. Storia e storie (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011), col. repr. p. 34 (exhibition view Rivoli 2004). |
| • | G. Celant, Arte Povera, supplement to the monthly journal Art e Dossier 284 (Florence), January, 2012, p. 6, col. repr. p. 20 (exhibition view Rivoli 2004). |
| • | Imagine. Nuove immagini nell’arte italiana 1960-1969, exhibition catalogue, Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice: Marsilio Editori, 2016), repr. p. 220 (exhibition view Venice 1967). |
| • | R. Cuomo, Giulio Paolini. Lo spazio, 1967. In collezione 4 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2016), p. 20, repr. p. 18 (exhibition view Venice 1967). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. pp. 116, 117 (exhibition views Venice 1967). |
| • | Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea. La storia e le collezioni, edited by C. Christov-Bakargiev and M. Beccaria, Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2023), vol. II, p. 820 (referred to in the text by M. Beccaria), col. repr. p. 828. |
| • | G. Paolini, Eccomi. Qui dove sono (Turin: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini, 2025), col. repr. p. 24 (exhibition view Rivoli 2004). |
