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Fleurs de poète (H. R.), 1967

Archive number

GPO-0135

Technique

Fluorescent tempera on primed canvas, pencil inscription on reversed canvas

Dimensions

210 x 210 cm

Inscriptions by the artist

Signed, titled, and dated on the recto, on the reversed canvas: “Giulio Paolini / Fleurs de poète (H. R.) / 1967”

Collection

Private collection

Description

A small reversed canvas inserted in a opening made in the middle of a larger primed canvas shows the signature, title, and date for the same work, while all around it dots of fluorescent tempera evoke the floral composition by Henri Rousseau cited in the title (The Poet’s Flowers, 1890).
The inscription on the reversed canvas entrusts to the memory or to the imagination the vision of the painting that the artist limits himself to suggesting in the virtual space of the representation.

Sources

Title from Henri Rousseau, Fleurs de poète, 1890, oil on canvas, 38 x 46 cm, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon.

Exhibitions

1968	Rome, QUI Arte Contemporanea, Fabro, Kounellis, Paolini, from 24 April, cited in the checklist of exhibited works, not repr.
1983	Portofino, Civica Galleria d’Arte, Raccolta Silvio Castelli, [unknown dates], col. repr.

Artist’ writings

•	G. Paolini in the interview with C. Lonzi, "Giulio Paolini", in Collage 7 (Palermo), May, 1967, p. 45 (passage omitted in successive publications of the interview); original version republished in C. Lonzi, Scritti sull'arte (Milan: Et al./Edizioni, 2012), p. 523.

Bibliography

•	Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), repr. no. 70.
•	D. Smetana, "Nella vecchia Milano. Un modo giovane di vivere con l’arte", in Casa Vogue 100 (Milan), November, 1979, pp. 178 ff., col. repr. (installation view at the home of a private collector).
•	Raccolta d’arte di Silvio Castelli ([Milan]: n.d.), col. repr. p. 23 (with incorrect technique "oil on canvas" and erroneously dated "1971").
•	Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), repr. p. 209.
•	M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 135 p. 156, repr.
•	L. Iamurri, Un margine che sfugge. Carla Lonzi e l’arte in Italia 1955-1970 (Macerata: Quodlibet, 2016), p. 143, not repr.
•	L. Iamurri, Giulio Paolini. Teresa nella parte di Giovanna d’Arco in prigione (tavola ottica), 1969. In collezione 5 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2018), p. 26, repr. p. 28.