Parnaso, 1978
GPO-0395
Parnassus
Pencil and nails on primed canvas, debris
Central canvas 52.5 x 80 cm, overall dimensions on wall 160 x 244 cm
S.M.A.K., Ghent
Acquired in 1979, inventory no. 79 MHK 076
The perspectival vanishing point simulated by two trapezoidal canvases converges in the canvas in the middle, which is blank. The perspectival simulation is corroborated by the nails and by the thickness drawn in pencil along one vertical side of the trapezoidal canvases. Strewn about before the wall is debris that metaphorically simulates the fall of the "wall" that the gaze in "flight" beyond the threshold of the painting aims to pierce.
The title refers to the name of the mountain that in Greek mythology was consecrated to worshipping the god Apollo and was inhabited by the nine Muses. Figuratively, the citation locates the space of the representation (evoked by way of the perspectival construction) as belonging to the classical dimension of Art.
This work is part of six variants on the theme, made from 1977 to 1979 (GPO-0375, GPO-0384, GPO-0394, GPO-0395, GPO-0404, GPO-0416).
| 1978 | Brussels, Albert Baronian, Giulio Paolini, from 28 September. |
| 1980 | Ghent, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Kunst in Europa na ’68, 21 June - 31 August, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 174, repr. p. 142 (exhibition view). |
| 1982 | Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Museum Van Hedendaagse Kunst, 16 July - 5 September, catalogue entry by N. De Dauw and V.Van Durme pp. 399-401, repr. p. 400. |
| 1985 | Lisboa, Centro de Arte Moderna Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Exhibition-Dialogue on Contemporary Art in Europe / Exposição-Diálogo sobre a Arte Contemporânea na Europa, 29 March - 16 June, repr. p. 302. |
| 2014-15 | Gand, S.M.A.K., Collection Study III: Art in Europe after 1968, 13 September 2014 - 15 March 2015. |
| • | Biennale de la critique, exhibition catalogue, Antwerp, ICC Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, 1979, repr. n. pag. (exhibition view Brussels 1978). |
| • | Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst (Ghent: Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, 1982), entry by N. De Dauw and V. Van Durme pp. 399-401 (in Flemish, French, English, German), repr. p. 400; in the attached volume with technical data on the works (Catalogus Van de Verzameling) cited p. 38. |
| • | Catalogus van de collectie 1988 / Catalogue de la collection 1988 (Ghent: Museum Van Hedendaagse Kunst, 1988), cat. no. 359 p. 116, repr. p. 121. |
| • | L. Vecere, “Tracce del giardino”, in Dopopaesaggio. Figure e misure del giardino, edited by M. Scotini and L. Vecere (Siena: Associazione Culturale Castello di Santa Maria Novella and Maschietto & Musolino, 1996), pp. 30-31, repr. p. 29 (erroneously dated “1973” and erroneously installed). |
| • | S.M.A.K. Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent. The Collection (Ghent-Amsterdam: S.M.A.K. and Ludion, 1999), p. 255, repr. p. 121. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 395 p. 401, repr. |
| • | Baksteen / Brick, exhibition catalogue, Amersfoort, Kunsthal KAdE, 2022, col. repr. p. 256. |
