Early Dynastic (II), 1971-73
GPO-0257
Early Dynastic (II)
Enamelled wood, pencil on wall
Nine parts 121 x 29 x 29 cm each, nine parts 61 x 16 x 16 cm each, overall height of the columns placed one on top of the other 182 cm, overall dimensions site-specific
Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione (CSAC), Università di Parma
Gift of the artist, 1977, inventory no. 764
The design is binding except on walls where it is not possible to intervene.
• 2016, Parma, CSAC: the artist gives his permission to omit the drawing on the wall, owing to the fact that there are no plastered walls on which to produce the drawing.
The work involves the arrangement, at equidistant points on the diagonals of the room, of nine white-enamelled wooden elements, each of which consisting of two columns placed one on top of the other, the top column being half the size of the lower one. On the surrounding walls, axial to each element, a pencil drawing illustrates the life-size outline of each of the columns, so that the nine double columns are reflected in twelve wall drawings. The title alludes to the English term used to date an artefact in the days of the first Egyptian dynasties.
“I chose the classical form of the column as it is a basic architectural form, as well as the simplest way to give concrete form to a spatial element”. In this work (akin to the discourse I had developed in a similar way in Quattro immagini uguali (GPO-0194) it is a symbolic indication of the endless repetition given by a limited space”,1 Paolini remarks.
This work is the second of five variants – as indicated by the numbering in the title – made between 1971 and 1993 (GPO-0228, GPO-0257, GPO-0324 [reproduced in travertine, GPO-0354], GPO-0399, GPO-0713).
1 G. Paolini in the interview by M. Bandini, in Prospects. Note d’arte contemporanea redatte da Luciano Inga-Pin 1 (Milan), March-April, 1972, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini, 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 380.
| 1973 | Milan, Studio Marconi, Paolini: opere 1961/73, from 15 November, not repr. |
| 1976 | Parma, Palazzo della Pilotta, Sala delle Scuderie, Giulio Paolini, 11 March - 21 April, repr. on cover (exhibition view Milan 1973); without the wall drawing. |
| 1981 | Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Linee della ricerca artistica in Italia 1960-1980, 14 February - 15 April, cat. no. 282, repr. p. 221 (with incomplete title “Early Dynastic”, exhibition view Milan 1973). |
| 2010 | Parma, Palazzo del Governatore, Nove100. Arte, Fotografia, Architettura, Moda, Design, 16 January - 25 April, col. repr. p. 109 (incompletely titled and dated “Early Dynastic, 1971”), referred to in two texts by A.C. Quintavalle pp. 35, 59. |
| 2015-16 | Parma, Abbazia di Valserena, Museo dello CSAC, from 23 May; at first erroneously installed; the artist rectified the installation on April 2016; installation without the wall drawing. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with M. Bandini, “Giulio Paolini”, in Prospects. Note d’arte contemporanea redatte da Luciano Inga-Pin 1 (Milan), March-April, 1972, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini, 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 380. |
| • | G. Paolini, Idem (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1975), repr. pp. 62-63 (exhibition view Milan 1973, incompletely dated “1971”); new edition (Milan: Electa, 2023), repr. pp. 88-89 ((exhibition view Milan 1973, incompletely dated “1971”). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Premio Bolaffi 1980 (Turin: Giulio Bolaffi editore, 1980), repr. pp. 12-13 (exhibition view Milan 1973, detail, incompletely dated “1971”). |
| • | Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. p. 114 (exhibition view Milan 1973, detail, incorrectly titled and dated “Early Dynastic, 1971”). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. “Tutto qui”, exhibition catalogue, Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1985), repr. p. 135 (exhibition view Milan 1973, detail). |
| • | G. Paolini, Voix off (Mâcon: Éditions W, 1986), repr. pp. 6-7 (exhibition view Parma 1976; photomontage by the artist so that Disegno geometrico is the first work to appear in the book). |
| • | E. Lucie-Smith, Sculpture since 1945 (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1987), p. 129, repr. no. 149 (exhibition view Milan 1973, incompletely dated “1971”). |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. p. 83 (exhibition view Parma 1976, incompletely titled and dated “Early Dynastic, 1971”). |
| • | Enciclopedia italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti. Appendice V (Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana Treccani, 1995), col. repr. no. 2 plate no. VI (incompletely dated “1971”). |
| • | J. de Sanna, Forma. L’idea degli artisti 1943-1997 (Ancona-Milan: Universitaria Costa & Nolan, 1999), pp. 183-185, repr. n. pag. (exhibition view Parma 1976, incompletely dated “1971”). |
| • | M. Disch, “Early Dynastic. Cinque opere realizzate fra il 1971 e il 1993”, in Giulio Paolini. Early Dynastic, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Studio d’Arte Contemporanea Pino Casagrande (Milan: Skira editore, 2001), pp. 15, 18, repr. p. 18 (exhibition view Milan 1973). |
| • | G. Paolini, Quattro passi. Nel museo senza muse (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 2006), plate no. II (exhibition view Parma 1976, photomontage by the artist made in 1986 for Voix off, the French edition of his collected writings; incompletely dated “1971” on p. 140). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 257 p. 269, repr. (exhibition view Milan 1973). |
| • | CSAC! La guida (Parma-Milan: CSAC Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione Università di Parma and All Around Art, 2017), col. repr. p. 78 (installation view at CSAC Collection, Parma). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. pp. 142-143 (exhibition view Milan 1973), 147 (exhibition view Parma 1976). |
