Nove quadri datati dal 1967 al 1971 visti in prospettiva, 1972
GPO-0233
Nine Paintings Dating from 1967 to 1971 Seen in Perspective
Tempera and engraving on canvas
120 x 180 cm
Signed, titled, and dated on the verso, upper stretcher bar, left: “Giulio Paolini Nove quadri datati dal 1967 al 1971 visti in prospettiva 1972”
Hauff Family Collection, Stuttgart
The horizontal median axis of the squaring of Disegno geometrico (1960, GPO-0001) serves as a horizon line for the vanishing point of nine presumed to be previous paintings by the artist, arranged in two sequences cut off by the edges of the painting. A metal tip was used to make the linear drawing on the canvas painted in dark blue tempera, as if to bring back to the light pre-existing images, ones already inscribed in the canvas.
The introduction of perspective in the works made in 1972 visualizes in eloquent terms the intention to consider the work like a transparent vision of other works inscribed or inscribable within it: as a container of potential images, or as a "scene" arranged for an image's potential manifestation. In the artist's words: “I was not concerned with indicating whether those forms correspond to one painting or to another. […] Since we are always dealing with an image that is waiting to be finished, in that it is not sufficiently so as iconography, while it is still an image that is so to speak symbolic, the end is precisely that of wondering whether this overall image can actually have one".1
1 G. Paolini interviewed by M. Bandini, in Prospects. Note d’arte contemporanea redatte da Luciano Inga-Pin 1 (Milan), March-April, 1972, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini, 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 381. On the use of perspective in general, cf. the artist's statements in his conversation with Jole de Sanna and Adachiara Zevi, in G. Paolini, Ancora un libro. I libri di A.E.I.U.O (Rome: Editrice Inonia, 1987), pp. 44-46, 48.
| 1972 | Turin, Galleria Notizie, Giulio Paolini, from 26 January. |
| 1974 | New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Projects: Giulio Paolini, 21 March - 14 April, no catalogue. |
| 1975 | Munich, Galerie Art in Progress, Giulio Paolini, 18 April - 21 May. |
| 1985 | Esslingen am Neckar, Galerie der Stadt, Villa Merkel, Sein und Sehnsucht. 10 italienische Künstler der 60er und 70er Jahre, 19 July - 25 August, touring to: Kassel, Kunstverein, 5-30 October, cited in the checklist of exhibited works n. pag., repr. no. 19. |
| 1986 | Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Giulio Paolini, 20 September - 2 November, cited in the checklist of exhibited works vol. 4 no. 16 p. 51, col. repr. vol. 1 pp. 18, 45, referred to in the text by G. Inboden vol. 1 pp. 17-18. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with M. Bandini, “Giulio Paolini”, in Prospects. Note d’arte contemporanea redatte da Luciano Inga-Pin 1 (Milan), March-April, 1972, 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. 161-162. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with M. Bandini, Giulio Paolini, op. cit. (Milan: 1972); republished in Giulio Paolini, 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 381. |
| • | G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta editore, 1979), p. 45; note taken from the text La visione è simmetrica? which accompanied the works displayed at the Sonnabend Gallery, New York, in November, 1972). |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with J. De Sanna, A. Zevi and L. Fabro, Milan, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, June, 1985, published in G. Paolini, Ancora un libro (Rome: Editrice Inonia, 1987), p. 48. |
| • | M. Bandini, “Giulio Paolini”, in Prospects. Note d’arte contemporanea redatte da Luciano Inga-Pin 1 (Milan), March-April, 1972, repr. n. pag. |
| • | G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), pp. 100-108, repr. no. 92 p. 103; republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by Id. (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), pp. 348, 356, 374, 376; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019). |
| • | N. Orengo, “Giulio Paolini. Dipingere la pittura”, in Fuoricampo 1, no. 2 (Turin), June, 1973, repr. p. 8. |
| • | M. Volpi Orlandini, “L’artista dell’avanguardia che piace allo storico dell’arte”, in Bolaffiarte 4, no. 31 (Turin), June-July, 1973, repr. p. 87. |
| • | 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, repr. p. 39; 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.). |
| • | G. Paolini, Idem (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1975), repr. p. 65; new edition (Milan: Electa, 2023), repr. p. 91. |
| • | Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), repr. no. 151. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta editore, 1979), repr. p. 45. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Werke und Schriften 1960-1980 (Lucern: Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1981), repr. n. pag. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. p. 133. |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. p. 202. |
| • | F. Poli, Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), repr. no. 82. |
| • | M. Bandini, “Quegli anni Settanta a Torino”, in Flash Art 24 (Milan, Italian edition), no.162 (Milan), June-July, 1991, p. 90, not repr.; international edition: vol. 24, no. 160 (Milan), October, 1991, p. 107, not repr. |
| • | A. Zevi, “Three Artistic Generations in Contemporary Italy”, in Three Artistic Generations in Contemporary Italy, exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art, 1993, p. 81, repr. |
| • | M. Disch, “Giulio Paolini. Hors-d’oeuvre”, in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), pp. 87-88, 92, not repr. |
| • | O. Westheider, “Giulio Paolini”, in Konzeptkunst in der Hamburger Kunsthalle. Die Sammlung Elisabeth und Gerhard Sohst (Hamburg: Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1997), pp. 16-17, not repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), repr. p. 236. |
| • | Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, op. cit. (Milan: 2003), repr. p. 371. |
| • | A. Zevi, Peripezie del dopoguerra nell’arte italiana (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 2005), pp. 363, 365, not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 233 p. 241, col. repr. |
| • | M. Dantini, “Quadri in viaggio. Paolini, Clemente, Kubrick. A mo' di appendice e breve omaggio”, in Id., Geopolitiche dell'arte (Milan: Christian Marinotti Edizioni, 2012), pp. 213-214, repr. p. 213. |
| • | 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. 55. |
