The Sens of the Past, 1972
GPO-0241
Photo emulsion on canvas
40 x 50 cm (two parts 40 x 25 cm each)
The Sonnabend Collection and Antonio Homem
The two canvases are installed on a plinth placed close together in the manner of an open book.
The two photographic canvases portray the artist half-hidden behind the book he is holding before him; the typescript inscription on the white cover reads: “Henry James / THE SENS OF THE PAST / New York / Charles Scribner’s Sons / 1917”.1 The work was donated by the artist to Michael Sonnabend to honour their common sympathy for the American writer, as well as in reference to the paintings presented at the solo show in 1972 at the Sonnabend Gallery (GPO-0232, from GPO-0234 to GPO-0240), staging "past" works in a perspective that is directed by the "sense" of the personal memory.
The original photograph taken by Anna Piva – with a completely blank dust jacket for the book as yet without a "dedication" – also appears on the cover of the monograph about the artist, edited by Germano Celant and published by Sonnabend Press on the occasion of the solo show in New York.
1 The artist mistakenly typed “Sens” instead of “Sense” in the title.
Portrait of Giulio Paolini taken by Anna Piva, 1972.
| 2017 | New York, Lévy Gorvy, Ileana Sonnabend and Arte Povera, 2 November - 23 December, in the exhibition volume cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 64, col. repr. pp. 16-17 (exhibition view), 19. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 241 p. 249, repr. |
