Liber veritatis, 1978
GPO-0396
Pencil on reversed canvas and on wall, red pencil on primed canvas and on wall
200 x 400 cm (two canvases 100 x 100 cm each)
Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
Acquired in 1980, inventory no. 9564
Starting from the eye drawn to the far right, the drawing on the wall features the vision of two canvases in perspective, one of which is seen from the back, while the other is seen from the front, in turn depicting the same perspective drawing, but from the opposite point of view.
The visual angle drawn in red pencil and the eye, both used for the first time in this work, will from now on represent two privileged motifs in formulating the work as a specular device of the gaze that perceives it. The juxtaposition of one canvas seen from the back and another seen from the front suggests a 360-degree panoramic view, which, between the two extremes, includes an infinite number of intermediate poses and images that can be associated with the blank canvas, emphasizing the idea of the work as the “liber veritatis” of its possible configurations.1
The same iconographic theme was developed in two later variants, made in 1979 (GPO-0406, GPO-0415).
1 The expression “liber veritatis” harks back to the title of the sketchbook on which Claude Lorrain, starting in 1636, recorded his compositions, reproducing them faithfully, somewhat like a Catalogue raisonné.
Title from Claude Lorrain, Liber Veritatis, 1636-82, British Museum, London.
| 1978 | Brussels, Albert Baronian, Giulio Paolini, from 28 September. |
| 1978-79 | Cologne, Galerie Paul Maenz, Giulio Paolini, 16 December 1978 - 16 January 1979. |
| • | Paul Maenz. Jahresbericht 1978 (Cologne: Galerie Paul Maenz, 1979), p. 31, repr. |
| • | Kunst in Europa na ’68…, exhibition brochure, Ghent, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, 1980, repr. p. 20. |
| • | Bestandskatalog. Teil II: Gemälde, Skulpturen, Objekte, Zeichnungen: Vom Ende der 50er Jahre bis heute (Mönchengladbach: Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, 1980), p. 151, repr. |
| • | S. Kimpel-Fehlemann, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach. Führer durch zehn ausgewählte Räume (Mönchengladbach: Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, n.d.), n. pag., col. repr. (installation view at Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach). |
| • | Kurzführer durch das Städtische Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach (Mönchengladbach: Städtisches Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach and Verlag Wolfgang Heinen, 1988), p. 24, col. repr. p. 25 (installation view at Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach). |
| • | Kunst der Gegenwart. 1960 bis Ende der 80er Jahre. Bestandskatalog (Mönchengladbach: Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, 1988), p. 217, repr. |
| • | A. Mottola Molfino, Il libro dei musei (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1992), col. repr. no. XXIX (installation view at Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach). |
| • | E. Nüsser, Giulio Paolini – Liber Veritatis. Besucherblätter des Städtischen Museums Abteiberg, visitor’s guide (Mönchengladbach: 1993), repr. |
| • | Kurzführer Städtisches Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach (Mönchengladbach: Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, 1997), p. 28, not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 396 p. 402, repr. |
| • | J. Meinhardt, “Vedere ed essere visti. Giulio Paolini e lo sguardo”, 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), p. 102, col. repr. p. 95. |
