“Disegno geometrico”, 1971
GPO-0232
”Geometric Drawing”
Pencil, red pencil and tempera on unprimed canvas
200 x 300 cm
Sonnabend Collection, New York
The squaring of the unprimed canvas imitates that of Disegno geometrico (1960, GPO-0001), the artist's first painting. In this case, however, the diagonals in red pencil are made solely in the central rectangle, painted with white tempera and equal in size to the first painting.
The work is part of the large-scale formats made for the solo show at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York in November 1972 (cf. GPO-0232, and from GPO-0234 to GPO-0240). These are "retrospective" paintings that gaze "in perspective" at the conceptual space of the painting, referring back to the paradigm of Disegno geometrico, seen as being a proportional parameter. The artist explains: “By expanding the proportion of this first canvas it is as if all the subsequent works remained eternally inside that first moment. [..] None of my paintings were born from the intention of erasing the one that preceded it, it is not a succession of experiences that are summed up together, but, rather, always an absolute declaration, in itself, suspended in time, with no relations of development. On this is based the hypothesis that I was unable to do anything beyond my first painting. […] The return to the dimension of my first painting is neither evocative nor celebratory; it is simply the assertion that there is only one dimension".1
1 G. Paolini interviewed by A. Bonito Oliva, in Paolini: opere 1961/73, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1973, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), pp. 156-157, version slightly modified by the artist, June 2003. Cf. also the comment on Un quadro 1970 (GPO-0204).
| 1972 | New York, Sonnabend Gallery, Giulio Paolini, 25 November - 16 December. |
| 1985 | Long Island City, New York, P.S.1 The Institute for Art and Urban Ressources, The Knot. Arte Povera at P.S.1, 6 October - 15 December, not repr. |
| 1999 | New York, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Minimalia: An Italian Vision in 20th Century Art, 10 October 1999 - 2 January 2000, col. repr. p. 205. |
| 2019-20 | Saskatoon, Remai Modern, The Sonnabend Collection, 5 October 2019 - 22 March 2020, col. repr. p. 109, [anonymous] entry p. 108. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with A. Bonito Oliva, in Paolini: opere 1961/73, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1973, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), pp. 156-157, version slightly revised by the artist, June, 2003. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with F. Stocchi, “Francesco Stocchi in conversazione con Giulio Paolini”, in Giulio Paolini. Del Bello ideale, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Fondazione Carriero (London: Koenig Books, 2019), p. 107. |
| • | G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), pp. 100-108, in particular pp. 102-103, repr. no. 90 p. 101; chapter published as “Item perspectiva. Opere recenti di Giulio Paolini”, in Domus 516 (Milan), November, 1972, pp. 45-48, repr. p. 45; republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by Id. (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), pp. 348, 356, 374, 376, in particular p. 356; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019). |
| • | T. Trini, “Giulio Paolini”, in Art press 4 (Paris), May-June, 1973, repr. p. 17. |
| • | N. Orengo, “Giulio Paolini. Dipingere la pittura”, in Fuoricampo 1, no. 2 (Turin), June, 1973, repr. p. 6. |
| • | T. Trini, “Giulio Paolini, un decennio. Parte seconda: Un disegno geometrico e la geometria di un disegno”, in Data 3, no. 9 (Milan), Autumn, 1973, p. 40, not repr.; republished in Tommaso Trini. Mezzo secolo di arte intera. Scritti 1964-2014, edited by L. Cerizza (Milan: Johan & Levi Editore, 2016), p. 111, not repr.). |
| • | M. Fagiolo, “Glossario”, in Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), pp. 14-15, repr. no. 142. |
| • | Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, op. cit. (Milan: 2003), repr. p. 373. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 232 p. 240, col. repr. |
| • | B. Yasar, “‘Hypothesis for an Exhibition’”, in “Hypothesis for an Exhibition”, exhibition catalogue, New York, Dominique Lévy Gallery, 2014, p. 37, col. repr. p. 40. |
| • | 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. 24, 26, col. repr. p. 25. |
| • | G. Celant, Ileana Sonnabend and Arte Povera (New York: Lévy Gorvy, 2017), col. repr. p. 203. |
| • | F. Belloni, Giulio Paolini. Disegno geometrico, 1960. In collezione 6 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2019), p. 54, col. repr. p. 53. |
