Ombra portata, 1969
GPO-0169
Drop Shadow
Photo emulsion on canvas
40 x 60 cm (two parts 40 x 30 cm each)
Titled, signed, and dated on the verso of the second canvas, lower stretcher bar, centre: "Ombra portata" / Giulio Paolini / 1969"
Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini, Turin
Gift of Anna Paolini Piva, 25 October 2012, archive no. GPO-0169
The photographic portrait in full light of Aubrey Beardsley, taken by Frederick Evans around 1893, seems to overshadow the self-portrait against the light by Anna Piva, Giulio Paolini's future wife. At the time, she was curating the Italian translation of a biography on the English writer and illustrator.
The imaginary conversation triggered by bringing together two distinct moments in time corresponds to the contemporary variant entitled Contatto (GPO-0170).
• Frederick Henry Evans, Aubrey Beardsley, 1894, platinum print, 14.9 x 10.5 cm, National Portrait Gallery, London; reproduction from the back cover of Stanley Weintraub, Il prezioso perverso. Beardsley alle radici del Liberty (Bari: De Donato editore, 1970).
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 169 p. 189, repr. |
