Passe-partout, 1988
GPO-0631
Pencil and collage on paper
Twenty-four parts 35 x 50 cm each, overall dimensions 181 x 256 cm
Private collection
The assemblage of twenty-four elements placed at short intervals portrays the drawing of a room in perspective with two paintings on the side walls. An empty cut-out in the area corresponding to a hypothetical painting on the back wall – the painting is offered and held by the valet – allows for a glimpse of the (real) wall behind him. As the title suggests, the assemblage simulates a passepartout which frames a rectangle in the wall, thereby emphasizing the absence of the central subject.
This theme was also formulated in a variant from the same year (GPO-0630), which is distinguished by the valet's position and the absence of the collage around the rectangle at the centre.
| 1988-89 | Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Giulio Paolini, 24 November 1988 - 26 February 1989, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 95, not repr. |
| 1989 | Milan, Galleria Christian Stein, Anselmo, Kounellis, Zorio, Penone, Paolini, June. |
| • | F. Poli, Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), repr. no. 133. |
| • | D. Paparoni, “Oggetto e cosa”, in Tema Celeste 25 (Syracuse), April-June, 1990, repr. p. 39; international edition, no. 24, January-March, 1990, repr. p. 43. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Il “Teatro” dell’opera, exhibition catalogue, Pesaro, Galleria Franca Mancini (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1991), repr. p. 103 (with incorrect caption; erroneously cited in the checklist of exhibited works). |
| • | La collection Christian Stein. Un regard sur l’art italien (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée and Art Édition, 1992), repr. p. 196, catalogue entry p. 296. |
| • | 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. 27. |
| • | D. Sung, “Arte per la vita”, in Case da abitare 48 (Turin), June, 2001, col. repr. p. 84 (installation view at the gallery-cum-house of Christian Stein, Turin). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Premio Internazionale Koinè 2000 alla carriera, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti (Milan: Electa, 2001), repr. p. 70. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 631 p. 649, col. repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. p. 207 (exhibition view Rome 1988). |
