Cratilo, 1978

Archive number

GPO-0397

English title

Cratylus

Technique

Pencil and collage on framed photo print, pencil on wall

Dimensions

Framed photo print 61.5 x 51.5 cm, overall dimensions 180 x 65.5 cm

Collection

Dominic and Cordula Sohst-Brennenstuhl Collection

Acquisitions and loans

Since ca. 1990 on loan at Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg

Description

The framed photograph illustrates a seventeenth-century engraving of the Belvedere Hermes, reproduced in a life-size version and with its profile turned in the opposite direction in the drawing on the wall. The head of the drawn figure, hidden in the painting by the framed image, is evoked on the photograph via a collage that reveals it in the negative.
The title refers to the name of the Greek philosopher, who inspired Plato's famous dialogue on the problem of language.
The work is a variation on the theme developed in a first homonymous version in the same year (GPO-0387).

Sources

- Belvedere Hermes (Antinous), engraving after Giovanni Pietro Bellori, in Vita di Nicolas Poussin (1672).
• Belvedere Hermes (Antinous), Roman copy from the Age of Hadrian of a Greek original, marble, h 195 cm, Museo Pio-Clementino, Rome.

Exhibitions

1978	Brussels, Albert Baronian, Giulio Paolini, from 28 September.
1978-79	Cologne, Giulio Paolini, Galerie Paul Maenz, 16 December 1978 - 16 January 1979.
1980	Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Giulio Paolini, 10 April - 26 May, touring to: Oxford, The Museum of Modern Art, 8 June - 20 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works and repr. p. 57.
1982	Hamburg, Raum für neue Kunst, Giulio Paolini, 16 August - 15 Ocotber, cited in the checklist of exhibited works in the visitor's guide, not repr., referred to in the text by M. Kramer.
1984	Villeurbanne, Le Nouveau Musée, Giulio Paolini, 20 January - 18 March, vol. Images/Index repr. p. 74.
1985-86	Montreal, Musée d’art contemporain, Giulio Paolini, 7 July - 8 September, touring to: Vancouver, Vancouver Art Gallery, 29 November 1985 - 19 January 1986, same catalogue as for the solo exhibition in Villeurbanne 1984.
1986 (?)	Charleroi, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Giulio Paolini, 15 February - 30 March, same catalogue as for the solo exhibition in Villeurbanne 1984.
1992	Hamburg, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Words don’t come easy, 8-31 May, repr. no. 1.
2003	Magdeburg, Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, La Poetica dell’Arte Povera, 14 September - 7 December, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 63 p. 236, repr. p. 105 (exhibition view).
2005	Münster, Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Giulio Paolini. Esposizione universale, 1 October 2005 - 8 January 2006, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 89, repr. p. 83, referred to in the text by E. Franz p. 83.

Bibliography

•	Paul Maenz. Jahresbericht 1978 (Cologne: Galerie Paul Maenz, 1979), p. 31, repr.
•	Biennale de la critique, exhibition catalogue, Antwerp, ICC Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, 1979, repr. n. pag. (exhibition view Brussels 1978).
•	Art Actuel Skira Annuel N. 5 / Actual Art Skira Annual No. 5 (Geneva: Éditions Skira, 1979), repr. p. 72.
•	I. Tomassoni, “Giulio Paolini”, in Flash Art 94-95 (Milan, Italian edition), January-February, 1980, repr. p. 7.
•	Giulio Paolini. Premio Bolaffi 1980 (Turin: Giulio Bolaffi Editore, 1980), repr. p. 26.
•	P. Maenz, “10 Jahre Italien”, in Kunstforum International 39, monographic issue Italienische Kunst heute edited by M. Grüterich (Mainz), March, 1980, repr. p. 209.
•	D.A. Williams, “The eye of power. The works of Giulio Paolini”, in ZG 1 (London), 1980, n. pag., repr.
•	Avanguardia Transavanguardia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Mura Aureliane da Porta Metronia a Porta Latina (Milan: Electa, 1982), repr. no. 147 p. 92.
•	R. Di Caro, “L’interesse è interessato”, in Nuova società 210 (Turin), 1982, repr. p. 31.
•	Thoughts and Action. Joseph Beuys, Daniel Buren, Dan Graham, Bruce MacLean, Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Tokyo, The Japan Foundation, The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, The Laforet Museum (Tokyo: Flex Co. Ltd, 1982), repr. p. 114.
•	G. Celant, “Giulio Paolini et la cité de l’art”, in Art press 76 (Paris), December, 1983, repr. p. 31.
•	C. Grenier, “Giulio Paolini”, in Flash Art 3 (Milan, French edition), Spring, 1984, repr. p. 41 (erroneously titled “Ritratto dell’artista come modello”).
•	Coerenza in coerenza. Dall’Arte Povera al 1984, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Mole Antonelliana (Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1984), repr. p. 159.
•	B. Corà, “Tutto qui (o della preesistenza dell’opera in Giulio Paolini)”, in Giulio Paolini. “Tutto qui”, exhibition catalogue, Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1985), p. 20, repr. no. 30.
•	G. Celant, Arte Povera. Storie e protagonisti / / Art Povera. Histories and protagonists (Milan: Electa, 1985), repr. p. 228; idem in the reprint included in G. Celant, Arte Povera. Storia e storie (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011).
•	G. Celant, The Knot Arte Povera (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1985), repr. p. 236; Italian edition: Arte Povera (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1989), repr. p. 242; French edition: Arte Povera (Villeurbanne: Art Édition, 1989), repr. p. 250.
•	Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1986, vol. 2, repr. p. 33.
•	Galerie Albert Baronian in ICC, exhibition catalogue, Antwerp, ICC Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, 1988, repr. p. 9.
•	F. Poli, “Note di lettura”, in Id., Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), p. 40, not repr.; republished in Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), p. 65, not repr.
•	Konzeptkunst in der Hamburger Kunsthalle. Die Sammlung Elisabeth und Gerhard Sohst (Hamburg: Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1997), catalogue entry p. 86, not repr.
•	M. Steinhauser, “Latente Allegorisierung. Giorgio de Chirico und seine späten Adepten in Italien”, in Die andere Moderne. De Chirico, Savinio, exhibition catalogue, Düsseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2001), p. 160, not repr.
•	R. Krüger, Nach der Antike. Studien zur Antikenrezeption in der bildenden Kunst seit 1967 (Essen: Klartext, 2004), p. 61, not repr.
•	G. Di Genova, Storia dell’Arte Italiana del ‘900 per generazioni. Generazione Anni Quaranta, vol. 6.1 (Bologna: Edizioni Bora, 2007), pp. 16-17, repr. no. 8 p. 16.
•	M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 397 p. 403, repr.
•	Nothing is permanent. Albert Baronian, profession: galeriste, exhibition catalogue, Brussels, La Centrale électrique, Centre d’Art Contemporain de la Ville de Bruxelles, 2009, repr. n. pag.

Entry by Maddalena Disch, 28/02/2025