Autoritratto, 1968
GPO-0152
Self-Portrait
Photo emulsion on canvas, nylon thread
98 x 74 cm (two parts: 98 x 74 cm, 50 x 37 cm)
Baldassarre Collection
Overlapping the photograph with the black and white reproduction of Autoportrait (1650) by Nicolas Poussin, in the area corresponding to the painter's face, is a smaller canvas that doubles the detail of the head.
In the first note commenting on the work Paolini described it as follows: “Poussin's effigy coincides with that of the painter's Self-Portrait”,1 in which the “painter”, in a deliberately ambiguous way, is the Painter in a general sense, just like the author himself. Akin to Henri Rousseau's Autoritratto (GPO-0151), in this case as well the identification with Poussin, sealed by the title, proposes the subtraction of the personal image in favour of a "categorical" identity: instead of adding his own identity to that of the painters who preceded him, Paolini prefers to identify in general with the figure of the Painter (personified here in the example of Poussin). “The problem is subtracting my identity from its role and instead assuming it to fill an elective, historical, and hypothetical role”.2
In another publication, Paolini reformulated the matter in the following terms: “Autoritratto can refer to either a self-portrait by Poussin or my own self-portrait: the overlapping, in coincidence, of the two images, is like saying that it is useless and in vain to invent something of one's own […] when we can discover it in the past”.3
1 G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. 2121969, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Galleria De Nieubourg, 1969, n. pag.
2 G. Paolini in G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), p. 75 (revised translation, republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant [Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003], p. 234), reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019), p. 75.
3 G. Paolini interviewed by A. Bonito Oliva, in Paolini: opere 1961/73, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1973, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), p. 154.
Nicolas Poussin, Autoportrait, 1650, oil on canvas, 98 x 74 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
| 1969 | Milan, Galleria De Nieubourg, Giulio Paolini. 2121969, from 21 February, repr. |
| 1996 | Rome, French Academy, Villa Medici, Giulio Paolini. Correspondances, 13 March - 28 April, cat. no. 1, repr., referred to in the text by A. Pacquement p. 17, M. Fagiolo Dell’Arco pp. 40-41. |
| 1998-99 | Siena, Palazzo delle Papesse, Centro Arte Contemporanea, Itinere.1, 21 November 1998 - 30 January 1999, repr. in the exhibition guide n. pag. (exhibition view, image on bottom). |
| 2002 | Siena, Palazzo delle Papesse, Centro Arte Contemporanea, De Gustibus. Collezione privata Italia, 3 March - 12 May, repr. p. 116. |
| 2016 | Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Imagine. Nuove immagini nell’arte italiana 1960-1969, 23 April - 19 September, col. repr. p. 215 and on cover, referred to in the text by F. Pola p. 195; repr. also on a folded sheet attached to the invitation card, as well as on the exhibition poster. |
| 2017-18 | Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, È solo un inizio, 2 October 2017 - 14 January 2018, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 19, not repr. |
| • | G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. 2121969, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Galleria De Nieubourg, 1969; republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 218. |
| • | G. Paolini in G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), p. 74; republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by Id. (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 234; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019). |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with A. Bonito Oliva, "Dentro il linguaggio", in Paolini: opere 1961/73, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1973, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), p. 154. |
| • | G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), p. 74, repr. no. 66 p. 76; republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by Id. (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 234; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019). |
| • | Paolini: opere 1961/73, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1973, repr. n. pag. (with incorrect dimensions). |
| • | G. Paolini, Idem (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1975), repr. p. 36; new edition (Milan: Electa, 2023), repr. p. 62. |
| • | Catalogo nazionale Bolaffi d’arte moderna n. 10, vol. I: Critico-finanziario (Turin: Giulio Bolaffi Editore, 1975), repr. p. 379. |
| • | Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), repr. no. 103. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Mannheim, Mannheimer Kunstverein, 1977, commentary by P. Maenz p. 30, repr. p. 31. |
| • | Identité Italienne. L’art en Italie depuis 1959, edited by G. Celant (Paris-Florence: Centre Georges Pompidou and Centro Di, 1981), repr. p. 315. |
| • | G. Di Genova, Narcissus, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Istituto Italo-Latino Americano, 1982, n. pag., not repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. p. 28. |
| • | F. Poli, in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1984, n. pag., not repr.; republished as "L’io dell’artista, l’io della pittura", in Id., Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), pp. 14, 16. |
| • | A. Bonito Oliva, Dialoghi d’artista. Incontri con l’arte contemporanea 1970-1984 (Milan: Electa, 1984), repr. p. 216. |
| • | M. Scholz-Hänsel, "Das imaginäre Museum Giulio Paolinis", in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1986, vol. 2, pp. 9-10, repr. p. 7. |
| • | C. Owens, “Giulio Paolini”, in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, New York, Marian Goodman Gallery, 1987, repr. no. 7. |
| • | F. Poli, Giulio Paolini, op. cit. (Turin: 1990), repr. no. 76. |
| • | Copier-créer. De Turner à Picasso. 300 œuvres inspirées par les maîtres du Louvre, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Musée du Louvre, 1993, p. 197, repr. no. 134a p. 199. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Turin, GAM Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Turin: Hopefulmonster, 1999), col. repr. pp. 56-57 (exhibition view Siena 1998-99). |
| • | J. de Sanna, Forma. L’idea degli artisti 1943-1997 (Ancona-Milan: Universitaria Costa & Nolan, 1999), p. 111, not repr. |
| • | M. Dalla Bernardina, "Les autoportraits de Giulio Paolini", in Ligeia 29-32 (Paris), October 1999 - June 2000, pp. 9-10, not repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Premio Internazionale Koinè 2000 alla carriera, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti (Milan: Electa, 2001), col. repr. pp. 31-32 (exhibition view Siena 1998-99). |
| • | De te fabula. L’autoritratto contemporaneo, exhibition catalogue, Jesi, Palazzo dei Convegni (Jesi: Edizioni Artemisia, 2003), repr. p. 102. |
| • | Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, op. cit. (Milan 2003), repr. p. 219. |
| • | R. Buono, "Giulio Paolini e Stefano Di Stasio, e altre ipotesi di lettura del ‘doppio’ nell’Arte Contemporanea", in Il doppio, edited by R. Aragona (Naples: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 2006), p. 166, not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 152 p. 173, repr. |
| • | R. Perna, In forma di fotografia. Ricerche artistiche in Italia dal 1960 al 1970 (Rome: Derive Approdi, 2009), pp. 125-126, not repr. |
| • | F. Pola, "Media immateriali per materializzare il tutto. Fotografia e film nell'Arte Povera", in Arte povera 2011, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011), p. 604, repr. no. 315 p. 388. |
| • | M. Dantini, "Gradus ad Parnassum. Giulio Paolini, ‘Autoritratto’, 1969", in Palinsesti. Contemporary Italian Art On-Line Journal 1, no. 2 (Udine), 2011, p. 4, repr.; republished in Id., Geopolitiche dell'arte (Milan: Christian Marinotti Edizioni, 2012), pp. 103-104, not repr. |
| • | L. Meloni, Arte guarda arte (Milan: Postmedia Books, 2013), pp. 29, 57, 61, 136, not repr. |
| • | T. Migliore, "Ritratti ‘portratti’. Giulio Paolini e l’identikit dell’artista", in L’immagine che siamo. Ritratto e soggettività nell’estetica contemporanea, edited by M.G. Di Monte, M. Di Monte and H. de Riedmatten (Rome: Carocci editore, 2014), p. 132, not repr. |
| • | "Hypothesis for an Exhibition", exhibition catalogue, New York, Dominique Lévy Gallery, 2014, repr. p. 99. |
| • | G. Guercio, "Incipit immacolati: l’opera, l’artista e la sovranità dell’arte", in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Rome, MACRO Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma and London, Whitechapel Gallery (Rome: Quodlibet Edizioni, 2014), p. 65, repr. p. 71. |
| • | J. Meinhardt, "Vedere ed essere visti. Giulio Paolini e lo sguardo", in E. Franz et al., Giulio Paolini. Vedo e non vedo. In tema 1 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2014), pp. 98, 100, not repr. |
| • | F. Fergonzi, "‘Trasparenza etimologica’. Per una rilettura di Una lettera sul tempo (1968) di Giulio Paolini", in Giulio Paolini. Expositio, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2016), p. 35, not repr. |
| • | C. Zambianchi, "Riflesso nel tempo. Note sul senso della storia nell’opera di Giulio Paolini", in S. Bann et al., Il passato al presente. In tema 2 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2016), p. 34, repr. p. 103. |
| • | D. Viva, “La storia in abisso. Letteratura, fotografia e passato”, ibid., p. 74. |
| • | D. Soutif, “Filigrane. Paolini, il primo quadro e la storia dell’arte”, ibid., p. 106; republished in French in Les Cahiers du Musée national d’art moderne 137, Autumn, 2016, pp. 84, 86, repr. p. 84. |
| • | L. Vecere, In assenza. Appunti sull’autoritratto contemporaneo (Pisa: University Press, 2017), pp. 75-76, repr. p. 76. |
| • | N. Cullinan, "Towards a Poor Theater. Giulio Paolini’s Scenographies in the 1970s / Per un teatro povero. Le scenografie di Giulio Paolini negli anni ‘70", in TV70: Francesco Vezzoli guarda la RAI, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Fondazione Prada, 2017, p. 220, not repr. |
| • | G. Zanchetti, L. P. Nicoletti, Enrico Cattaneo. Fotografare un’idea (Milano: Silvana Editoriale 2023), repr. p. 28 (exhibition view Milan 1969). |
| • | D. Viva, “Molteplicità e ritratto: sovrapposizioni autoriali fra Italo Calvino e Giulio Paolini”, in California Italian Studies 12, no. 1 (Berkeley), biannual online journal, [October], 2023, pp. 10, 12, repr. p. 10. |
