Quattro fotogrammi della luce (12/5/69), 1969
GPO-0173
Four Photograms of Light (12/5/69)
Photo emulsion on canvas
Four parts 25 x 20 cm each, overall dimensions 25 x 84.5 cm
Signed, dated, and titled on the verso of the first canvas: “Giulio Paolini / 1969” (upper stretcher bar, right) “Quattro fotogrammi della luce / (12/5/69)” (lower stretcher bar, centre)
EFG Art Collection
Acquired in 2004, inventory no. AC000092
The four illegible details, made out of the oversized and out-of-focus enlargement of a negative, are limited to "withholding the irreducible quality of an instant”,1 the artist remarks. Instead of reproducing a subject, the photographs simply express the infinitesimal action of the light on the photosensitive film.
The same theme was formulated in three other variants from the same year, respectively made up of one, four, and seven photo stills (GPO-0171, GPO-0173, GPO-0174).
1 G. Paolini, Giulio Paolini, vol. Figures/Intentions (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), p. 25.
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 173 p. 191, repr. |
| • | C. Casero, "Sulla fotografia, con la fotografia. La riflessione intorno all’immagine e al procedimento fotografico nelle opere di alcuni protagonisti della cultura visiva tra gli anni Sessanta e Settanta in Italia", in Anni Settanta. La rivoluzione nei linguaggi dell’arte, edited by C. Casero and E. Di Raddo (Milan: Postmedia Books, 2015), p. 37 (in general on the group of works titled Fotogrammi della luce), repr. p. 36. |
| • | G. Batchen, Emanations. The Art of the Cameraless Photograph, exhibition catalogue, New Plymouth (New Zeland), The Goverett-Brewster Art Gallery (Munich: DelMonico Books / Prestel Verlag, 2016), p. 36, repr. p. 37. |
| • | L. Iamurri, Giulio Paolini. Teresa nella parte di Giovanna d’Arco in prigione (tavola ottica), 1969. In collezione 5 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2018), p. 46, repr. p. 43. |
| • | C. Casero, Uno sguardo che riflette (Milan: Meltemi Editore, 2021), pp. 50-51 (in general on the group of works titled Fotogrammi della luce), repr. no. 3.2 p. 50. |
