GPO-0418

Display

For its installation the work is placed on a plinth (50-60 x 160 x 60 cm) made of plexiglas or white-painted wood. The plinth is arranged in a slightly oblique position in relation to the wall (neither perpendicular, nor parallel, nor close); ideally, it should be in one corner, at least 60 cm from the wall. When it is on the plinth the work should be turned so that it is parallel to the longitudinal side. The columns can be hinged to the plinth from the inside for greater stability.

Description

The long sheet of paper with torn edges wrapped around the plaster casts of two Corinthian columns depicts the life-size drawing of a male figure just as it is being fully revealed, that is, when the way the paper is wrapped around the column makes the right hand, outlined on the reverse side of the sheet, correspond to the right arm.
“Caryatid subverts the conventional notion of the term, according to which a three-dimensional element serves as a support element for an architectural structure. Here, instead, it is the very architecture that serves as a convenient support for the drawn image, producing the instant during which the body of the figure is joined to the hand and finds stability: in other words, the instant during which the drawing as such achieves its own complete definition. A definition that, among other things, is momentary, given that the way the sheet unfolds presupposes the continuous flow of other countless definitions of other countless drawings”.1
The same theme was also developed in two subsequent versions, made in 1980 (GPO-0422) and in 1984 (GPO-0516).

1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2004), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 418 p. 426.

Sources

Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, Jeune homme, marchant, de profil à droite, early 19th century, black chalk and stump with white highlights on blue paper, 59.3 x 36.1 cm, Musée Bonnat-Helleu, Bayonne; reproduction from Dessins français du XIXe siècle du Musée Bonnat à Bayonne. LXIX exposition du Cabinet des Dessin, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Musée du Louvre (Paris: Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1979), p. 82, plate 112.

Exhibitions

1981	Paris, Musée national d’art moderne Centre Georges Pompidou, Identité italienne. L’art en Italie depuis 1959, 25 June - 7 September, repr. p. 624.
1982	Paris, Musée national d’art moderne Centre Georges Pompidou, Choix pour aujourd’hui. Regard sur quatre ans d’acquisitions d’art contemporain, 9 October - 29 November, repr. p. 35 (incorrect installation).
1990	Marseilles, Musée Cantini, “Arte Povera”. La collection du Musée national d’art moderne Centre Georges Pompidou, 16 October - 5 December, no catalogue.
1992	Paris, Musée national d’art moderne Centre Georges Pompidou, Manifeste. 30 ans de création en perspective, 18 June - 23 September, not repr.
1998-99	Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, La Collection du Centre Georges Pompidou: un parcours au Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 18 June 1998 - 19 September 1999, not repr.
2016	Paris, Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou, Un Art Pauvre, 8 June - 28 August, no catalogue.

Artist’ writings

•	G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2004), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 418, p. 426.

Bibliography

•	Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 1980, repr. p. 45.
•	B. Marcelis, “Giulio Paolini in Amsterdam”, in Domus 607 (Milan), June, 1980, repr. p. 49.
•	Il Grande Disegno, exhibition catalogue, Fiesole, Palazzina Mangani (Florence: Fratelli Alinari Editrice, 1983), repr. p. 86.
•	Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. p. 117.
•	An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, exhibition catalogue, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1984, repr. p. 238.
•	Giulio Paolini. La Casa di Lucrezio, exhibition catalogue, Spoleto, Palazzo Rosari Spada (Casalecchio di Reno: Grafis Edizioni, 1984), col. repr. p. 41 and on cover.
•	B. Blistène, “L’Arte Povera dans les collections du Musée national d’art moderne”, in Les Cahiers du Musée national d’art moderne 13 (Paris), 1984, pp. 86-87, repr. (incorrect installation and erroneously dated “1980”).
•	G. Paolini, “Trionfo della rappresentazione”, in Furor 12 (Geneva), October, 1984, repr. no. 8.
•	Del Arte Povera a 1985, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, Palacio de Cristal, Palacio de Velázquez, Parque del Retiro, 1985, repr. no. 100 p. 114.
•	Paolini. Melanconia ermetica, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Galerie Maeght Lelong, 1985, repr. p. 22.
•	Italia Aperta, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, Fundación Caja de Pensiones, 1985, repr. no. 42 p. 122.
•	On Language and Ecstasy. A Generation in Italian Art, exhibition catalogue, Jyväskylä, Alvar Aalto-Museo, 1985, col. repr. p. 130.
•	G. Celant, The Knot Arte Povera (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1985), repr. p. 160; Italian edition: Arte Povera (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1989), repr. p. 166; French edition: Arte Povera (Villeurbanne: Art Édition, 1989), repr. p. 174.
•	Italian Cultural Institute. San Francisco 1980-1985 (San Francisco: The Italian Cultural Institute, [1985]), repr. p. 2.
•	S. Bos, “Contours of Sculpture”, in Sonsbeek 86. International Sculpture Exhibition, exhibition catalogue, Arnhem (Utrecht: Veen-Reflex, 1986), pp. 38-39, not repr.
•	Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1986, vol. 2, col. repr. p. 34.
•	La Collection du Musée national d’art moderne (Paris: Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1986), catalogue entry by B. Blistène p. 463, repr. (erroneously dated “1980” and incorrect installation).
•	Turin 1965-1987. De l’Arte Povera dans les collections publiques françaises, exhibition catalogue, Chambéry, Musée Savoisien, 1987, cat. no. 36 pp. 76-77, repr. (erroneously dated “1980” and incorrect installation).
•	Giulio Paolini. De l’atelier à l’exposition, exhibition catalogue, Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 1987, repr. p. 61.
•	Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Nagoya, Institute of Contemporary Arts, 1987, repr. p. 25.
•	G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. p. 115.
•	Europa oggi. Arte contemporanea nell’Europa occidentale / Europe now. Contemporary Art in Western Europe, exhibition catalogue, Prato, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea (Florence: Centro Di and Electa, 1988), repr. p. 160.
•	G. Joppolo, Arte povera. Actualité des arts plastiques 76 (Paris: Centre National de Documentation Pédagogique, 1988), p. 53, repr. p. 28 (incorrect installation).
•	Neoclassico. La ragione, la memoria, una città: Trieste, edited by F. Caputo and R. Masiero (Venice: Marsilio Editori, 1990), repr. p. 23; complementary volume to the exhibition catalogue Neoclassico. L’attualità: arte, architettura, design, Trieste, Civico Museo Revoltella, Galleria d’Arte Moderna (Venice: Marsilio Editori, 1990).
•	F. Poli, Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), col. repr. no. 96.
•	Eighty. Sculpture des années 80 / Sculpture of the 80’s ([Belgium]: Eighty Publications, 1990), col. repr. p. 154.
•	D. Semin, Arte Povera (Paris: Éditions du Centre Georges Pompidou, 1992), p. 43, repr. p. 40 (erroneously dated “1980” and incorrect installation); republished in 2016, p. 56, repr. p. 57 (erroneously dated “1980” and incorrect installation).
•	M. Bouisset, Arte Povera (Paris: Éditions du Regard, 1994), repr. p. 19 (erroneously dated “1980” and incorrect installation).
•	G. Joppolo, L’Arte Povera. Les années fondatrices (Paris: Fall Edition, 1996), p. 44 (erroneously dated “1980” and incorrect intallation), not repr.
•	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. 257.
•	M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 418 p. 426, col. repr.
•	J. Lageira, Centre Pompidou Musée national d’art moderne. Peintures et sculptures (Paris: Éditions Scala, 2000), col. repr. p. 114 (erroneously dated “1980” and incorrect installation).
•	Giulio Paolini. Early Dynastic, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Studio d’Arte Contemporanea Pino Casagrande (Milan: Skira editore, 2001), col. repr. p. 34.
•	L.V. Masini, L’arte del Novecento. Dall’Espressionismo al Multimediale, vol. XI: L’Arte come idea (Florence-Rome: Giunti and Gruppo Editoriale Espresso, 2003), repr. no. 2855 p. 559.
•	Collection Art Contemporain (Paris: Éditions du Centre Pompidou, 2007), catalogue entry by J. Lageira p. 348, repr.
•	V. Biasi, Architetture del bianco. Viaggio teorico-creativo attorno alle lingue del bianco (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2009), repr. p. 102 (erroneously dated "1980" and incorrect installation).
•	S.M.S. Cammarata, “‘Identité italienne 1981’. Storia e significati di una mostra”, in L’uomo nero. Materiali per una storia delle arti della modernità 17, n.s, no. 17-18 (Milan), February (Milan - Udine: Mimesis Edizioni, 2021), p. 285, repr. p. 284 (exhibition view Paris 1981).
•	P. Tillet, L’espace vertical (Bruxelles: La Lettre Volée, 2022), pp. 107-108, repr. no. 36 p. 106.
•	P. Repetto, “Oltre il visibile”, in Giulio Paolini. O.D.E., exhibition catalogue, Monforte d’Alba (Cuneo), Castello di Perno (Alba: Fondazione Mancini Carini, 2022), p. 40, col. repr. p. 48 no. 14.
•	C. Blumenfeld, “On naît artiste, on ne le devient pas”, in The Art Newspaper 48 (Paris, French edition), January, 2023, repr. p. 27.
•	S.M.S. Cammarata, “Strappare una foto. Le Cariatidi di Giulio Paolini”, in Studi di scultura. Età moderna e contemporanea 6, no. 6 (Naples), 2024, pp. 277-280, 287, 288, col. repr. p. 276.

Cariatide, 1979