Parnaso, 1978
GPO-0404
Parnassus
Pencil and nails on primed canvas
Central canvas 40 x 60 cm, overall dimensions 120 x 185 cm
Signed, titled, and dated on the verso of the central canvas, upper stretcher bar: “Giulio Paolini / Parnaso 1978”
Lorié Collection, Antwerp
The vanishing point simulated by two trapezoidal canvases converges in the central canvas, which features a drawing of a winged figure intent upon holding down or showing a “painting”. The perspectival simulation is corroborated by the nails and by the thickness drawn in pencil along one vertical side of the trapezoidal canvases.
The title refers to the name of the mountain that in Greek mythology was consecrated to the worship of the god Apollo and was inhabited by the nine Muses. Figuratively, the citation locates the space of the representation (evoked by way of the perspectival construction) as belonging to the classical dimension of Art.
This work is part of six variants on the theme, made from 1977 to 1979 (GPO-0375, GPO-0384, GPO-0394, GPO-0395, GPO-0404, GPO-0416).
Figure from Joseph Beunat, Empire Style Designs and Ornaments (London: Dover Pictorial Archives, 1974), no. 41.
| 2013 | Brussels, Galerie Albert Baronian, Arte Povera, 7 September - 9 November, not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 404 p. 412, col. repr. |
