Astrolabe, 1989-94
GPO-0743
Collage on black paper, plexiglas shape, marble sphere
10 x 60 x 60 cm
Centro per la Scultura Contemporanea Torre Martiniana, Cagli
Acquired in 1997
An elliptical plexiglas sheet with a sphere of veined black marble at its centre is placed on a larger square sheet so that it is slightly staggered in relation to the elliptical space reproduced in the colour image, torn in half, and held down on a black sheet of paper under the plexiglas sheet (the two half images are inverted with respect to each other). The sphere-globe serves as a hinge for the rotatory dynamic suggested by the whole.
The same theme was formulated in an earlier variant, made in 1989 (GPO-0654), which is distinguished by the different orientation of the two torn halves of the image.
The title – taken from a drawing by Francis Picabia (Astrolabe, 1922) and used by the artist for the first time in 1967 – can also be found in four other works (GPO-0125, GPO-0127, GPO-0744, GPO-0758).
View of the entrance hall of the Umaid Bhavan Palace, Jodhpur; reproduction from Andrew Robinson, Maharajah. L'India dei principi e delle regge (Milan: Rizzoli, 1988), pp. 132-133.
| 1997 | Cagli, Centro per la Scultura Contemporanea Torre Martiniana, opening exhibition of the Museum, from 27 September, repr. p. 30. |
| • | Quaderni di scultura contemporanea 18, no. 6-7 (Rome: Edizioni della Cometa, 1997), repr. p. 115. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 743 p. 757, repr. |
