Partitura (Orfeo), 1976
GPO-0328
Score (Orpheus)
Pencil and collage on paper, plexiglas sheets, music stands
Three sheets of paper and three plexiglas sheets 30 x 42 cm each, overall dimensions 145 x 135 x 45 cm
Titled, signed, and dated on the recto of the folded sheets: “Partitura (Orfeo)” (sheet on the music stand to the right), “Giulio Paolini / 1976” (sheet on the music stand to the left)
Private collection, Florence
On three music stands arranged in a row two folded sheets of drawing paper reveal the title (music stand to the left) as well as the signature of the artist and the date of the work (music stand to the right). On the music stand in the middle, the open "score" shows a drawing of the same three music stands, with two torn reproductions of Orfeo (1793-96) by Antonio Canova. These images are arranged in the area corresponding to the folded side of the sheets on the three music stands, and arranged so that the two figures, reproduced from different points of view, seem to chase their image in a circle.
In the artist's own words: "The two figures of Orpheus open up the horizon on which the three music stands reappear in a drawn version. The Orpheus to the left hides behind itself the part of the sheet that is folded on the music stand to the left; and the same is true of the Orpheus to the right. The transcription on the music stand in the middle thus marks the moments by way of which, from the perception of the image we arrive at the vision of the work".1
The same theme was developed in a variant made during the same year (GPO-0340).
1 G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. Le ‘opere a venire’, Proceedings of the encounter with the artist on 28 April 1981, Accademia di Belle Arti “Pietro Vannucci”, Perugia, 1982, p. 8 (quote revised by the artist, June 2004).
Antonio Canova, Orfeo, 1793-96, marble, 193 x 86 cm, Museo Correr, Venice.
| 1976 | Rome, Palazzo Taverna, Incontri Internazionali d’Arte, Giulio Paolini. Partitura (Orfeo), 25 May. |
| 2000 | Catanzaro, Complesso Monumentale del San Giovanni, Mitici Sessanta. Aspetti della ricerca, 22 September - 12 November, col. repr. p. 113. |
| 2001 | London, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Beyond Infinity. The arte povera after the arte povera, 31 May - 29 June, col. repr. (incorrect installation). |
| 2003 | Rome, French Academy, Villa Medici, Incontri... Dalla Collezione di Graziella Lonardi Buontempo, 26 September - 2 November, col. repr. p. 155, entry by F. Guida p. 269 (with incorrect description of the work).. |
| 2009 | Rome, MACRO Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma, Love Letters: ampliamento e allestimento della nuova collezione del MACRO, 15 July - 4 October 2009. |
| 2010 | Rome, MACRO Museo d'Arte Contemporeanea Roma, A Roma, la nostra era avanguardia, 23 January - 5 April, col. repr. p. 162. |
| 2012 | Rome, MACRO Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma, Omaggio a Vettor Pisani, 16 March - 2 September. |
| • | G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. Le “opere a venire”, proceedings of the meeting with the artist, Accademia di Belle Arti “Pietro Vannucci”, Perugia, 28 April 1981 (Perugia: 1982), p. 8. |
| • | AD. Le più belle case del mondo 2, no. 11 (Milan), April, 1982, col. repr. pp. 151-153 (installation view at the home of a private collector, Rome). |
| • | P. Tedeschi, “Roma. Una Collezione d’arte contemporanea”, in Vogue Italia 13 (Milan), March, 1986, col. repr. pp. 536-537 (installation view at the home of a private collector, Rome). |
| • | Roma in mostra 1970 1979. Materiali per la documentazione di mostre azioni performance dibattiti, edited by D. Lancioni (Rome: Edizioni Joyce & Co., 1995), cat. no. 656 p. 100, not repr. |
| • | La contemporaneità dell’arte. XII Biennale Internazionale di Scultura di Carrara, exhibition catalogue, Carrara, Museo della Scultura (Modena: Edizioni Logos, 2006), col. repr. p. 240. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 328 p. 337, col. repr. |
| • | A. Soldaini, “‘Cos’altro c’è da dire?’”, in Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), col. repr. p. 37. |
