Meridiana, 1986
GPE-0060
Sundial
Lithograph
Two plates 20 x 30 cm each
20 x 30 x 30 cm
Signed on the recto of the plate with the image of the timepiece, on the right side, bottom right (on the ruler): “Giulio Paolini”
Autograph numbering on the recto of the plate with the image of the timepiece, on the right side, bottom centre (on the ruler)
90 in Arabic numerals from 1/90 to 90/90
10 in Roman numerals from I/X to X/X
Editrice Inonia, Rome
The graphic work was produced by the publishing house Inonia, Rome – founded in 1980 by Bruno and Liana Corà – on the occasion of the publication of the anthology of writings and interviews by Paolini titled Ancora un libro. The volume edited by Corà inaugurated the series Inclinazione all’arte of the Libri di A.E.I.U.O., an offshoot of the publishing house Inonia. The printing of the graphic edition in 1986 preceded the printing of the book in January 1987.
Grey cardboard box, blank, 21.5 x 15.5 cm. Contains the two folded plates and a copy of the artist's book Ancora un libro.
Giulio Paolini, Ancora un libro, edited by Bruno Corà (Rome: Editrice Inonia, 1987). Inclinazione all’arte series, no. 1, 21 x 15 cm, 96 pages, paper binding, transparent paper dust jacket. Introduction by Bruno Corà, anthology of writings by and interviews with the artist 1983-86 (the interviews in a language other than Italian are republished in the original version), no illustrations. Limited edition of 1000 copies, of which 100 numbered and signed are accompanied by the edition, in hard slipcase.
The colophon of the book includes information regarding edition size.
The two plates opened at a right angle must be arranged so that they touch, again at a 90-degree angle – on a plinth or some other support surface – so that the eight sides generate four complete images.
The multiple consists of two plates, printed on the recto and on the verso, folded in the middle, to be displayed so that, arranged at right angles and brought close together at 90° angles, the images of the one are completed by those of the other. The images thus obtained join the typical motifs of the artist's iconographic repertoire: an eye, a hand, a watch, the sea at dusk, a ruler, a star map, a terrestrial globe. Each side of the two plates also bears the squaring of the surface (defined by the diagonals outlined in red, by the arches drawn using a compass, and by the median axes traced in pencil) recalling Disegno geometrico (1960, GPO-0001), the potential container of every image possible.
The title recalls the ancient tool used to measure time based on the position of the sun, understood here as the device used to measure the topical moment when all the parts converge in a situation of ideal equilibrium. The circular dynamic and the various rounds, the lines of the squaring evoking that of a meridian, as well as the cosmic iconography1 can be seen as clues in the search for the "exact time", when the incongruous elements are composed to suggest an image.
1 As concerns Paolini’s prints, the cosmic iconography appears here for the first time. The star chart represents the greatest aperture of the visual field imaginable, while the terrestrial globe (in Meridiana significantly represented in the area corresponding to the pupil of the eye, as well as in the point where the red diagonals converge) is for Paolini a simulacrum of the world seen as the ensemble of all the subjects possible, a symbol of Everything. The eye that reflects the interior of the theatre designed by Claude Nicolas-Ledoux of Besançon is a characteristic motif introduced by the artist in 1986, cf. GPO-0570 and among the prints GPE-0059).
• Eye: engraving portraying the interior of the theatre at Besançon designed by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux; reproduction from Claude Nicolas Ledoux, L’Architecture 2 (Paris: 1804), p. 113.
• Image of the timepiece from Samuel Abraham Goudsmit, Robert Clairborne, Quarta dimensione: tempo (Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1967), p. 8 (”L’ora ufficiale americana”).
| 1989 | Turin, Salone del Libro, Impressions graphiques. Progetti e collaborazioni editoriali di Giulio Paolini, 12-18 May, cat. no. 11 (section “Edizioni a tiratura numerata”), repr. |
| 1992 | Bonn, Bonner Kunstverein, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das graphische Werk 1967-1992, 24 February - 29 March (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 61). |
| 1993 | Winterthur, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das druckgraphische Werk 1967-1992, 16 January - 7 March (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 61). |
| 1995 | Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian / Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Múltiplos e Obra Gráfica 1969-1995, 16 March - 28 May, not repr. in the exhibition brochure (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 61). |
| 1996 | L’Aquila, MUSPAC Museo Sperimentale Arte Contemporanea, L'Arte Povera italiana, 1-13 July, no catalogue; edition 53/90. |
| 1996 | Apolda, Kunsthaus Apolda Avantgarde, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques, 27 September - 27 October (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 61). |
| 1997 | Göppingen, Kunsthalle, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das graphische Druckwerk 1967-1995, 9 March - 13 April (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 61). |
| 2001 | Milan, Association Jacqueline Vodoz et Bruno Danese, Impressions Graphiques. L’opera grafica di Giulio Paolini, 1967-2000, 17 May - 22 June, not repr. |
| 2001 | Strasbourg, CEAAC Centre Européen d’Actions Artistiques Contemporaines, Giulio Paolini, 13 October - 23 December, no catalogue. |
| 2002 | Modena, Biblioteca civica d’arte Luigi Poletti, Giulio Paolini. Pagine, 20 September - 23 November, col. repr. pp. 62-63 (caption p. 92, (with incorrect date "1987"); artist’s proof. |
| 2006 | Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Libri Books Bücher, 29 April - 30 July, no catalogue. |
| 2011 | Bologna, Aula Magna della Biblioteca Universitaria, Libro / Opera. Viaggio nelle pagine d'artista. La collezione di Danilo Montanari, 16 September - 12 October, repr. p. 152 (with incorrect date "1986" for the book that includes the print). |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. p. 253 (erroneously dated “1987”). |
| • | Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 61, repr. (artist’s proof). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibion catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), repr. p. 278. |
