Astrolabe, 1967
GPO-0127
Metal globe mounted on a plinth of burnished plexiglas
4.5 x 9 x 4.5 cm
Five editions of the work are attested to by the copies hitherto known of, and perhaps there are more. The numbering of the editions is unknown (it is not found on the work itself).
| 1 | Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini, Turin |
| 2 | Private collection, Turin |
| 3 | Private collection |
| 4 | Private collection |
| 5 | Marisa Volpi Collection, Rome |
| 1 | Gift of the artist, 25 October 2012, archive no. GPO-0127 |
The burnished plexiglas shape in the form of an oval, which materializes the shadow cast by the small metal globe, fixes the image in an infinitesimal position of the Earth's rotating motion.
The title, which refers to the homonymous work on paper (1921-22) by Francis Picabia, was also used for a work made during the same year (GPO-0127), and later for four other works (GPO-654, GPO-0743, GPO-744, GPO-758).
Title from Francis Picabia, Astrolabe, c. 1922, ink and watercolour on card stock, 73 x 55 cm, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.
| 1995 | Venice, Giardini di Castello, Padiglione Italia, Biennale di Venezia: XLVI Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte. Identità e alterità (exhibition: Identità e alterità. Figure del corpo 1895-1995, section: Impronte del corpo e della mente), 11 June - 15 October, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. IX.37 p. 512, repr. p. 542; edition indicated as “1” in this entry. |
| • | G. Celant, “Scultura 1967”, in Centro Arte 2, no. 2 (Milan), February, 1968, repr. p. 13 (erroneously titled and dated “Senza titolo, 1965”). |
| • | G. Celant, “Arte Povera”, in Arte Povera, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, Galleria de’ Foscherari, 1968, p. 6, not repr.; republished in Id., Arte Povera. Storie e protagonisti / Art Povera. Histories and protagonists (Milan: Electa, 1985), p. 54, not repr. |
| • | Arte Povera, exhibition brochure, Trieste, Centro Arte Viva - Feltrinelli, 1968, repr. |
| • | G. Celant, Arte Povera (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta Editore, 1969), p. 11, repr. p. 147 (as “Astrolabio (a F. P.)”); English editions: Art Povera (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1969) and Arte Povera. Conceptual Actual or Impossible Art? (London: Studio Vista, 1969), p. 9, repr. p. 147. |
| • | Rivista Rai 1-2 (Turin), 1972, repr. on cover (cover designed by G. Paolini; thematic number “Allarme ecologico”). |
| • | G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), p. 60, repr. no. 58 p. 58 (as “Astrolabe (II)”); republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by Id. (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), pp. 212, 214; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019). |
| • | F. Poli, Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), repr. no. 71 (as “Astrolabe (II)”). |
| • | D. von Drathen, “Giulio Paolini. Der blinde Blick des Sehers”, in Künstler. Kritisches Lexikon der Gegenwartskunst 33, no. 7 (Munich: Weltkunst-Bruckmann Verlag, 1996), 1996, p. 11, repr. p. 3. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), col. repr. p. 217. |
| • | Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, op. cit. (Milan: 2003), repr. p. 7 (as “Astrolabe (II)”). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 127 p. 149, col. repr. |
