Cratilo, 1978
GPO-0387
Cratylus
Photographic reproduction, plexiglas sheet, pencil on wall
180 x 70 cm
Dismantled work
The figure drawn on the wall, seen from behind and associated with a plexiglas sheet that it seems to hold before it, gazes at a hypothetical painting, evoking a stand-in for the viewer. In the trajectory of its gaze is a reproduction of the torso of the Eros of Centocelle, hanging on a wall behind a plexiglas sheet. The antique torso is the model for the drawn figure, which reproduces the profile in natural size, however in a specular way and completed in the arms and lower part of the body.
The title refers back to the name of the Greek philosopher, who inspired Plato's famous dialogue on the problem of language.
The same theme was reformulated in a variant from the same year (GPO-0397).
Eros of Centocelle, Roman copy of the 4th century BC Eros by Praxiteles, h 79 cm, Musei Vaticani, Rome.
| 1978 | Turin, Galleria Christian Stein, Giulio Paolini. Il giudizio di Paride, from 8 May. |
| 1984 | Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Der Traum des Orpheus. Mythologie in der italienischen Gegenwartskunst 1967 bis 1984, 16 May - 1 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 176, repr. p. 89 (exhibition view Turin 1978). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 387 p. 393, repr. (exhibition view Turin 1978). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. O.D.E., exhibition catalogue, Monforte d’Alba (Cuneo), Castello di Perno (Alba: Fondazione Mancini Carini, 2022), repr. p. 125 (exhibition view Turin 1978). |
