“Elegia” in una scena di duello, 1972

Archive number

GPO-0236

English title

”Elegy” in a Duel Scene

Technique

Pencil and tempera on primed canvas

Dimensions

200 x 300 cm

Collection

Sonnabend Collection, New York

Acquisitions and loans

From 2013 on long-term loan at Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, at Cà Pesaro Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, Venice

Description

The scene outlined in pencil in the lower half of the painting, made using green tempera, represents Elegia (1969, GPO-0196), the subject of a dispute (or in the role of a "referee") between two duellists resembling the artist.
The adversaries facing off in the meadow reflect each other in a duality that folds in upon itself, with the complicity of the fragment of mirror applied to the eye in Elegia. The artist challenges himself while trying to solve the enigma of language, competing with the invincible vertigo of the double that is intrinsic to the nature of the representation. From one work to another, the artist must face the same duel and always from the start - ad infinitum: indeed, the swords held by the two rivals coincide with the horizon line, which is distant to infinity.

Exhibitions

1972	New York, Sonnabend Gallery, Giulio Paolini, 25 November - 16 December.
1972	Spoleto, Chiesa di San Nicolò, 420 West Broadway at Spoleto Festival. 33 Artists Shown, XV Festival dei Due Mondi, 24 June - 9 July, not repr.
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, repr. p. 152.
1987	Madrid, Centro de arte Reina Sofía, Colección Sonnabend, 30 October 1987 - 15 February 1988, touring to: Bordeaux, capcMusée d’art contemporain, 6 May - 25 September 1988; Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, 14 April - 2 October 1989; catalogue in three different editions: editions Madrid and Bordeaux, not repr.; edition Rome: col. repr. p. 160.
1996	Hamburg, Deichtorhallen, Sammlung Sonnabend. Von der Pop-Art bis heute: Amerikanische und europäische Kunst seit 1954, 23 February - 5 May, col. repr. p. 127.
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, referred to in the text by V. Coen p. 95.
2001	New York, Columbia University, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Arte Povera: Selections from the Sonnabend Collection, 3 October - 8 December, cat. no. 5 p. 38, catalogue entry by C. Gilman, col. repr. p. 39.
2011	Venice, Collezione Peggy Guggenheim, Ileana Sonnabend. Un ritratto italiano, 29 May - 2 October 2011, col. repr. p. 95, catalogue entry by M. Codognato (p. 94, with incorrect indication of the technique).
2013	Venice, Cà Pesaro, Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna, La collezione Sonnabend, 31 May - 29 September, no catalogue.
2015	Venice, Cà Pesaro, Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, installation of some loans from the Sonnabend Collection within the permanent collection, Summer, no catalogue.

Bibliography

•	G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), pp. 100-112, in particular p. 112, repr. no. 98 pp. 110-111; chapter published as “Item perspectiva. Opere recenti di Giulio Paolini2, in Domus 516 (Milan), November, 1972, pp. 45-48, repr. p. 48; republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by Id. (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), pp. 348, 356, 374, 376, 382, in particular p. 382; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019).
•	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 prima: Il vero e il visibile”, in Data 3, nos. 7-8 (Milan), Summer, 1973, repr. p. 66.
•	M. Fagiolo, “Glossario”, in Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), pp. 20-21, repr. no. 149.
•	Avanguardia Transavanguardia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Mura Aureliane da Porta Metronia a Porta Latina (Milan: Electa, 1982), repr. no. 145. p. 91.
•	Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. pp. 134-135.
•	F. Poli, in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1984, n. pag., not repr.; republished as “L’io dell’artista, l’io della pittura”, in Id., Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), p. 16.
•	P. Fonticoli, Achille Bonito Oliva. La critica d’arte come arte della critica (Milan: Nuova Prearo Editore, 1985), repr. n. pag.
•	G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. pp. 46-47.
•	G. Celant, Arte Povera (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1989), repr. p. 158; French edition: Arte Povera (Villeurbanne: Art Édition, 1989), repr. p. 166.
•	F. Poli, Giulio Paolini, op. cit. (Turin: 1990), repr. no. 84.
•	La pittura in Italia. Il Novecento. 3. Le ultime ricerche, edited by C. Pirovano (Milan: Electa, 1994), col. repr. no. 80 p. 67.
•	C. Limentani Virdis, “Giulio Paolini. Una tela bianca, un semplice oggetto”, in Anfione Zeto 5, no. 10 (Venice), 1994, p. 129, 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. 239.
•	Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, op. cit. (Milan: 2003), repr. p. 389.
•	M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 236 p. 244, repr.
•	A. Vidissoni, “Giulio Paolini e Ludwig Wittgenstein: proposte per un confronto”, in Critica d’arte 80, no. 15-16 (Lucca), July-December 2022, pp. 35-37, col. repr. p. 34.
•	A. Soldaini, G. Paolini, “In dialogo”, in Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), p. 91, col. repr. p. 92.
•	E. Barisoni, “Una doppia vita”, in Giulio Paolini. Et in Arcadia ego, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Achille Forti (Imola: Manfredi Edizioni, 2024), pp. 64-65, not repr.

Entry by Maddalena Disch, 28/02/2025