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Cy problem (II), 1971

GPO-0210

Cy Problem (II)

Photographic fragments applied to primed canvas

140 x 100 cm

Dismantled work

The pieces of a photograph torn into four parts, reproducing a work by Cy Twombly representing a rectangle delineated in white against a black background,1 are arranged so that they are slightly distant from the four corners of a primed canvas, thus heralding the framing of a work to come.
With respect to the first version of the same subject made in 1967 (GPO-0130),
Cy problem (II) is larger and the torn pieces are positioned differently.

1 This is the first part of the triptych Problem I, II, III (1966) exhibited at the Galleria Notizie in Turin in February 1967.

Cy Twombly, Problem I, II, III, 1966, oil-based house paint and wax crayon on canvas, three elements: 200 x 122 cm, 200 x 108 cm, 200 x 112 cm, Museum für moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main; reproduction from Cy Twombly, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Galleria Notizie, February, 1967, n. pag.

An Exhibition of New Italian Art, exhibition catalogue, Belfast, The Arts Council of Northern Ireland Gallery, 1973, repr. n. pag. (cropped at the bottom).
M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 210 p. 221, not repr.
Entry by Maddalena Disch, 29/04/2026