Liber veritatis, 1979
GPO-0415
Pencil on reversed canvas and on wall, red pencil on primed canvas and on wall, collage on wall, torn photo prints
Two canvases 120 x 120 cm each, overall dimensions on wall 280 x 530 cm
FER Collection
From 11 November 1999 to 22 August 2002 on loan at Museum für neue Kunst, Karlsruhe
The drawing on the wall reproduces in perspective – starting from the eye of the figure outlined to the right – the vision of the two canvases, one seen from the recto, the other from the verso, which in turn feature the same perspectival drawing, but from the opposite point of view. The figure wearing a toga holds the torn photographic fragments of another work (De pictura, 1979, GPO-0417, exhibited in the same show for which the work was made), while scattered on the floor are other fragments of the same image.
The figure wearing a costume is a stand-in for both the viewer and the author, who both, for Paolini, coincide in a single gaze. The visual angle drawn in red pencil is a distinctive motif to formulate the work as a specular device of the gaze that captures it. The juxtaposition of one canvas from the verso and another from the recto suggests a 360-degree panoramic view, which between the two extremes includes an endless number of intermediate poses and images that can be associated with the blank canvas, underscoring the idea of the work as the “liber veritatis” of its potential configurations.1
This is the last work in the group of three variants on the same theme, developed between 1978 and 1979 (cf. GPO-0396, GPO-0406).
1 The expression “liber veritatis” harkens back to the title of the notebook of drawings in which, starting in 1636, Claude Lorrain recorded his paintings, reproducing them faithfully.
• Figure from Thomas Hope, Costumes of the Greeks and Romans (New York: Dover Publications, 1962), plate 285 (“Roman dresses”).
• Title from Claude Lorrain, Liber Veritatis, 1636-82, British Museum, London.
| 1979 | Milan, Studio Marconi, Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, 18 October - 25 November, repr. pp. 100-101, referred to in the texts by C. Bertelli pp. 9-10, G. Vattimo pp. 15-16. |
| 1980 | Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Giulio Paolini, 10 April - 26 May, touring to: Oxford, The Museum of Modern Art, 8 June - 20 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works and repr. p. 60; exhibited only in Amsterdam. |
| 1983-84 | Essen, Museum Folkwang, Werke aus der Sammlung FER, 9 December 1983 - 22 May 1984, repr. p. 118 (catalogue published as Die Sammlung FER – The FER Collection). |
| 1999 | Karlsruhe, Museum für neue Kunst, Werke aus den Sammlungen FER, Froehlich, Grässlin, Weishaupt, from 4 December, no catalogue. |
| 2003 | Magdeburg, Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, La Poetica dell’Arte Povera, 14 September - 7 December, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 64 p. 236, repr. pp. 97, 100-101 (exhibition views). |
| 2014 | London, Whitechapel Gallery, Giulio Paolini. To Be or Not to Be, 9 July - 14 September, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 155, repr. p. 113 (exhibition view Milan 1979), catalogue entry by M. Disch p. 112, referred to in the text by I. Bernardi p. 92. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with M. Bourel, “Giulio Paolini, contemplateur donc”, in Art press 164 (Paris), December, 1991, p. 22; republished in Italian in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), p. 261. |
| • | I. Tomassoni, “Giulio Paolini”, in Flash Art 94-95 (Milan, Italian edition), January-February, 1980, p. 6, not repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Werke und Schriften 1960-1980 (Lucerne: Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1981), repr. n. pag. (exhibition view Amsterdam 1980). |
| • | C. Ferrari, “Giulio Paolini”, in Luoghi del silenzio imparziale, exhibition catalogue [In labirinto], Milan, Palazzo della Permanente (Milan: Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, 1981), p. 111, not repr. |
| • | Identité Italienne. L’art en Italie depuis 1959, edited by G. Celant (Paris-Florence: Centre Georges Pompidou and Centro Di, 1981), repr. p. 607. |
| • | Arte italiana 1960-1982, exhibition catalogue, London, Hayward Gallery, 1982, repr. p. 175. |
| • | S. Isler, Del bello intelligibile. Semiotische Analyse zu sechs Werken von Giulio Paolini, PhD dissertation (Zurich: Philosophische Fakultät I der Universität Zürich, 1983), pp. 189, 191, 198-213, not repr. |
| • | Die Sammlung FER - The FER Collection, edited by P. Maenz (Cologne: Verlag Gerd de Vries, 1983), repr. p. 118, cited in the list of works from the collection p. 185. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. pp. 140-141. |
| • | Il modo italiano, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, 1984, vol. 1, repr. p. 22. |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. pp. 52-53. |
| • | F. Poli, Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), repr. no. 94. |
| • | Giulio Paolini al Palazzo della Ragione, exhibition catalogue, Padua, Salone del Palazzo della Ragione (Milan: Fabbri Editori, 1995), repr. p. 26. |
| • | M. Disch, “Giulio Paolini. Hors-d’oeuvre", in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by Id. (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), pp. 81-82, 88, 109, repr. no. 11. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), repr. p. 27. |
| • | G. Di Genova, Storia dell’Arte Italiana del ‘900 per generazioni. Generazione Anni Quaranta, vol. 6.1 (Bologna: Edizioni Bora, 2007), p. 13, not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 415 p. 423, repr. |
| • | R. Ferrario, Giulio Paolini. Un viaggio a distanza (Busto Arsizio: Nomos Edizioni, 2009), p. 96, repr. pp. 98-99. |
| • | L’arte moderna in Intesa Sanpaolo. L’ultimo novecento, edited by C. Pirovano and F. Tedeschi (Milan: Intesa Sanpaolo and Mondadori Electa, 2013), p. 223 (referred to in the catalogue entry by F. Tedeschi related to the cycle of the Studi per “Liber Veritatis”), not repr. |
| • | J. Lageira, “Giulio Paolini. Ut pictura poesis”, in Id., Regard oblique. Essais sur la perception (Brussels: La Lettre volée, 2013), pp. 93, 97, 100-101, repr. p. 94. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. O.D.E., exhibition catalogue, Monforte d’Alba (Cuneo), Castello di Perno (Alba: Fondazione Mancini Carini, 2022), repr. pp. 106-107 (exhibition view Milan 1979). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. p. 164 (exhibition view Milan 1979). |
