Catalogue entry

Description

The work involves the arrangement, at equidistant points on the diagonals of the room, of four white-enamelled wooden elements, each of which consisting of two columns placed one on top of the other, the top column being half the size of the lower one. On the surrounding walls, axial to each element, a pencil drawing illustrates the life-size outline of each of the columns, so that the four double columns are reflected in eight wall drawings. The title alludes to the English term used to date an artefact in the days of the first Egyptian dynasties.
“I chose the classical form of the column as it is a basic architectural form, as well as the simplest way to give concrete form to a spatial element”. In this work (akin to the discourse I had developed in a similar way in Quattro immagini uguali GPO-0194) it is a symbolic indication of the endless repetition given by a limited space”,1 Paolini remarks.
The same theme was developed later in four other variations – numbered in the title – which are distinguished for the materials, the number of columns, and whether or not there is a drawing on the wall (GPO-0257, GPO-0324 [reproduced in travertine, GPO-0354], GPO-0399, GPO-0713).

1 G. Paolini interviewed by M. Bandini, in Prospects. Note d’arte contemporanea redatte da Luciano Inga-Pin 1 (Milan), March-April, 1972, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini, 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 380.

Exhibitions

1972	Turin, Galleria Notizie, Giulio Paolini, from 26 January.
1975	Rome, Galleria L’Attico, Allestimento di lavori di De Dominicis, Kounellis, Mattiacci, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Ontani, Paolini, Pascali, Patella, Pisani, Prini, 6-27 May.
1977	Rome, Galleria L’Attico, 15 June - 15 September, cited in the checklist of exhibited works in the exhibition brochure.
1987	Spoleto, Chiesa di San Nicolò, L’Attico 1957-1987. 30 anni di pittura, scultura, musica, danza, performance, video, 1 July - 30 August, repr. no. 37 (exhibition view Turin 1972), referred to in the exhibition chronology p. 194.
2003	Milan, Fondazione Prada, Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, 29 October - 18 December, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 403, repr. pp. 346-347 (exhibition view Turin 1972).
2011-12	Milan, Triennale di Milano, Arte Povera 1967-2011, 25 October 2011 - 29 January 2012, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 681 (with incorrect dimensions of the columns "180 x 20 x 30 cm" each), col. repr. no. 319 (exhibition view Milan 2003).
2013	Rome, Galleria L'Attico, Back to Black, 24 May - 27 September.

Artist’ writings

•

G. Paolini in the interview with M. Bandini, “Giulio Paolini”, in Prospects. Note d’arte contemporanea redatte da Luciano Inga-Pin 1 (Milan), March-April, 1972, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), pp. 160-161.

Bibliography

•	G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), pp. 97, 100, repr. no. 89 pp. 98-99 (exhibition view Turin 1972); republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by Id. (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), pp. 324, 348; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019).
•	Albers, Arman, Arp, Balla, Bill, Burri, Christo, Fabro, Fontana, Gris, Herbin, Kandinsky, Klein, Léger, Manzoni, Melotti, Miró, Nigro, Paolini, Picabia, Rotella, Scarpitta, Soto, Tanguy, Tàpies, Tinguely, Twombly, Vasarely. Scelta di opere a cura della Galleria Notizie di Torino, dello Studio Bellini di Milano e dello Studio “C” di Brescia (Turin: n.d.), repr. no. 112 (exhibition view Turin 1972).
•	M. Volpi Orlandini, “L’artista dell’avanguardia che piace allo storico dell’arte”, in Bolaffiarte 4, no. 31 (Turin), June-July, 1973, p. 86, repr. p. 87 (exhibition view Turin 1972); republished in Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), pp. 85-86.
•	T. Trini, “Giulio Paolini, un decennio. Parte prima: Il vero e il visibile”, in Data 3, nos. 7-8 (Milan), Summer, 1973, repr. p. 66 (exhibition view Turin 1972).
•	Catalogo nazionale Bolaffi d’arte moderna n. 9, vol. III: Segnalati Bolaffi 1974 (Turin: Giulio Bolaffi Editore, 1974), repr. p. 109 (exhibition view Turin 1972).
•	A.C. Quintavalle, “Paolini: scritture”, in Giulio Paolini, op. cit. (Parma: 1976), p. 56, not repr.
•	Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue (Mannheim: Mannheimer Kunstverein, 1977), commentary by P. Maenz p. 40, repr. p. 41 (exhibition view Turin 1972).
•	Identité Italienne. L’art en Italie depuis 1959, edited by G. Celant (Paris-Florence: Centre Georges Pompidou and Centro Di, 1981), p. 382, repr. (exhibition view Turin 1972).
•	G. Celant, “‘Del bello intelligibile’: l’architettura paoliniana”, in Il limite svelato. Artista Cornice Pubblico, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Mole Antonelliana (Milan: Electa, 1981), p. 17, not repr.; republished in Giulio Paolini. Del bello intelligibile, exhibition catalogue, Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, 1982, p. 114, not repr.
•	A. Mammì, I. Panicelli, “Giulio Paolini. Bibliografia”, in Giulio Paolini. La Casa di Lucrezio, exhibition catalogue, Spoleto, Palazzo Rosari Spada (Casalecchio di Reno: Grafis Edizioni, 1984), p. 16, not repr.; republished in Markus Lüpertz, Giulio Paolini: figure, colonne, finestre, exhibition catalogue, Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli, 1986, p. 79, not repr.
•	F. Poli, “Note di lettura”, in Id., Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), p. 30, not repr.; republished in Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), p. 47, not repr.
•	M. Bandini, “Quegli anni Settanta a Torino”, in Flash Art 24, no. 162 (Milan, Italian edition), June-July, 1991, pp. 90-91, not repr.; international edition: 24, no. 160, October, 1991, p. 107, not repr.
•	M. Mininni, Arte in scena. La performance in Italia 1965-1980 (Ravenna: Danilo Montanari Editore, 1995), pp. 130-131, not repr.
•	S. Bann, “Giulio Paolini”, in Rewriting Conceptual Art, edited by M. Newman and J. Bird (London: Reaktion Books, 1999), pp. 180-181, not repr.
•	C. Christov-Bakargiev, Arte Povera (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1999), repr. p. 134 (exhibition view Turin 1972).
•	J. de Sanna, Forma. L’idea degli artisti 1943-1997 (Ancona-Milan: Universitaria Costa & Nolan, 1999), pp. 183-185 (in general on the group of works titled Early Dynastic), not repr.
•	M. Disch, “Early Dynastic. Cinque opere realizzate fra il 1971 e il 1993”, in Giulio Paolini. Early Dynastic, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Studio d’Arte Contemporanea Pino Casagrande (Milan: Skira editore, 2001), pp. 15-16, repr. p. 17 (exhibition view Turin 1972).
•	A. Zevi, Peripezie del dopoguerra nell’arte italiana (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 2005), p. 342, not repr.
•	M. Bandini, M.C. Mundici, M.T. Roberto, Luciano Pistoi: “inseguo un mio disegno” (Turin: Hopefulmonster editore, 2008), repr. p. 204 (exhibition view Turin 1972).
•	M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 228 pp. 236-237, repr. (exhibition view Turin 1972).
•	G. Celant, Arte Povera. Storia e storie (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011), p. 65, text taken from the author’s 1972 monograph on Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press), repr. (exhibition view Turin 1972).
•	Artisti nello spazio da Lucio Fontana a oggi: gli ambienti nell'arte italiana, exhibition catalogue, Catanzaro, Complesso Monumentale del San Giovanni (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2013), repr. p. 172 (exhibition view Milan 2011).
•	L. Meloni, “Praticare lo spazio: environment, azioni e ambienti negli anni Settanta”, in Anni Settanta. La rivoluzione nei linguaggi dell’arte, edited by C. Casero and E. Di Raddo (Milan: Postmedia Books, 2015), p. 146, not repr.
•	C. Macchi, “‘Il cavo del pensiero’, drawing as enlightened thought in Arte Povera: exposure and underexposure”, in Towards Visibility. Exhibiting Contemporary Drawing 1964-80, edited by J. Enckell Julliard (Paris: Musée Jenisch and Vevey e Roven Éditions, 2015), p. 141, not repr.
•	Giulio Paolini. Expositio, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2016), repr. p. 13 (exhibition view Milan 2011).
•	M.G. Messina, “Strade parallele di Marisa Volpi e di Giulio Paolini, 1968-1973”, in Ricerche di storia dell’arte 124 (Rome), 2018, pp. 106, 107, repr. p. 107.

Early Dynastic, 1971