Mimesi, 1975
GPO-0284
Mimesis
Photo prints in plexiglas cases
Two parts 49 x 41 cm each, overall dimensions variable
Private collection
Unlike the versions of Mimesi consisting of two sculpted busts facing each other (GPO-0283, GPO-0317, GPO-0318), in the three photographic variants (GPO-0284, GPO-0285, GPO-286) the specular confrontation is formulated by two portraits, framed in plexiglas cases of the exact same size as the portraits, and placed on two opposite walls. The life-sized, colour subject taken from an old master painting is distinguished by the fact that it is always a face gazing at us: "it is looking into the lens, at us and/or towards us",1 Paolini remarks. In this case the images reproduce the Girl with a Pearl Earring (ca. 1665) by Jan Vermeer.
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2003), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 284 p. 296.
Johannes Vermeer, Meisje met de parel, c. 1665, oil on canvas, 44.5 x 39 cm, Mauritshuis, The Hague; reproduction from L’opera completa di Vermeer. Classici dell’arte 11 (Milan: Rizzoli, 1967), plate XXXV.
| 1975 (?) | Verona, Galleria Ferrari, Giulio Paolini, 29 November 1975 - 7 January 1976, repr. n. pag. |
| 1978 | Naples, Museo Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes, Giulio Paolini, from 9 February, no catalogue. |
| 1984-85 | Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli, Ouverture, 19 December 1984 - February 1985, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 76 p. 131 (erroneously dated “1980”), col. repr. pp. 62-63 (exhibition view, details). |
| 1992-93 | Villeurbanne, Le Nouveau Musée, La collection Christian Stein. Un regard sur l’art italien, 24 June - 31 October, touring to: Toulouse, CRAC Centre Régional d’Art Contemporain Midi-Pyrénées, Labège-Innopole, 19 January - 28 March 1993, cited in the checklist of exhibited works and col. repr. pp. 176-177, catalogue entry p. 289. |
| 1995 | Mira, Riviera del Brenta, Villa Widmann Foscari, Itinerario. Giulio Paolini, Domenico Bianchi, Bernhard Rüdiger, 8 June - 18 July, vol. Itinerario, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 34, col. repr. p. 20 (exhibition view). |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2003), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 284 p. 296. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria Ferrari, 1975, repr. n. pag. |
| • | Paolo Mussat Sartor Fotografo 1968-1978. Arte e artisti in Italia (Turin: Stampatori Editore, 1979), repr. pp. 178, 179 (exhibition view Naples 1978). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Casa di Lucrezio, 1981-84, visitor’s guide (Rivoli: Castello di Rivoli Museo d’arte contemporanea, 1987), repr. (exhibition view Rivoli 1984-85, detail). |
| • | La collection Christian Stein. Un regard sur l’art italien (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée and Art Édition, 1992), col. repr. pp. 176-177, catalogue entry p. 289. |
| • | M. Bandini, “Christian Stein: una vita per l’arte”, in Anteprima Torino 4, no. 12 (Turin), December, 1998, col. repr. p. 29 (installation view at the gallery-cum-house of Christian Stein, Turin, detail). |
| • | D. Sung, Arte per la vita, in Case da abitare 48 (Turin), June, 2001, col. repr. p. 87 (installation view at the gallery-cum-house of Christian Stein, Turin, detail). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 284 p. 296, repr. (exhibition view Naples 1978). |
| • | S. Bann, “Apoteosi di Omero. Da Paolini a Ingres”, in S. Bann et al., Il passato al presente. In tema 2 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2016), p. 132, repr. p. 141. |
| • | Paolo Pellion di Persano. La semplice storia di un fotografo / The simple story of a photographer, exhibition catalogue, Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea (Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2024), repr. pp. 45, 163 (exhibition views Rivoli 1984-85). |
