La libertà (H. R.), 1967
GPO-0126
Liberty (H. R.)
Aniline ink on photo prints mounted between shaped plexiglas sheets, nylon thread
97.5 x 74 cm
Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini, Turin
Gift of the artist, 25 October 2012, archive no. GPO-0126
Two blow-ups of the angel represented by Henri Rousseau in the painting La liberté invitant les artistes à prendre part à la 22ème exposition des artistes indépendants (1906) are coloured with aniline ink and mounted verso against verso between two plexiglas shapes. The images hang down from the ceiling on a nylon thread, so that the figure can twist freely in space, and spread its call.
Rousseau's Liberté is summoned by the artist as the guardian spirit of the Arts: just as in the original painting it consecrates and protects artists on their way to the Salon des indépendants to show their works, in the context of an exhibition it validates or legitimizes the place chosen for art and its "cult".
A smaller version of the work was made in 1969 (GPO-0161).
Henri Rousseau, La liberté invitant les artistes à prendre part à la 22ème exposition des artistes indépendants, 1906, oil on canvas, 175 x 118 cm, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; reproduction from L’opera completa di Rousseau il Doganiere. Classici dell’arte 29 (Milan: Rizzoli, 1978), plate XXXIII.
| 1967 | Venice, Galleria del Leone, Giulio Paolini, from 7 August, cited in the checklist of exhibited works, not repr. |
| 1969 | Cagnes-sur-mer, Château-Musée, Premier Festival International de la Peinture, 29 March - 7 April, cat. no. 71, repr. (with incorrect dimensions “90 x 160 cm”). |
| 1977 | Mannheim, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Giulio Paolini, 31 July - 28 August, not repr. |
| 1986 | Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca, Arte santa, 15 May - 31 August, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 120, repr. p. 60 (date referred to the second version). |
| 2003 | Milan, Fondazione Prada, Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, 29 October - 18 December, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 401 (with date referred to the second version made in 1969), b/w repr. p. 196 (exhibition view Venice 1967), col. repr. p. 229 (reproduction and date referred to the second version). |
| 2024-25 | Paris, Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Arte Povera, 9 October 2024 - 20 January 2025, repr. no. 12 p. 251, catalogue entry by S.M.S. Cammarata p. 250. |
| • | G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. 2121969, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Galleria De Nieubourg, 1969, n. pag. |
| • | Paolini: opere 1961/73, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1973, repr. n. pag. (the date "1969"is referred to the second version). |
| • | Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), repr. no. 107 (the date "1969" is referred to the second version). |
| • | Arte santa, exhibition catalogue, Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1986), repr. n. pag. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 126 p. 149, not repr. |
| • | I. Bernardi, Teatro delle mostre Roma, maggio 1968 (Milan: Scalpendi Editore, 2014), p. 24, not repr. |
| • | R. Cuomo, Giulio Paolini. Lo spazio, 1967. In collezione 4 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2016), repr. p. 19 (exhibition view Venice 1967). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Del Bello ideale, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Fondazione Carriero (London: Koenig Books, 2019), repr. vol. 2 pp. 19 (during the installation of the work in Cagnes-sur-mer 1969), 20 (exhibition view Venice 1967). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. pp. 115, 116 (exhibition views Venice 1967), col. repr. pp. 238-239 (exhibition view Milan 2003). |
