De pictura, 1977
GPO-0345
Pencil and nails on primed canvas, black ink inscription on reversed canvas
Nine parts 60 x 90 cm each, overall dimensions 183 x 273 cm
Signed, titled, and dated on the recto, on the reversed canvas: “Giulio Paolini / De pictura / 1977”
Hauff Family Collection, Stuttgart
The installation requires the placement of nine framed elements placed at short intervals from each other to form a large rectangle comprising a unit of 3 x 3.
Nine framed elements placed at short intervals from each other reproduce the perspectival drawing of an exhibition exhibition space. The reversed central element evokes the verso of the painting displayed on the fourth side of this room. The side walls feature two other paintings, whose lifelikeness is proven by the nails along the outer vertical side. Akin to the reversed middle canvas, the nails draw the viewer's attention to the material plane, which at the same time opens and closes the space of the representation, on the threshold that divides the physical space on this side of the scene from the inaccessible one beyond the painting surface. The signature, the title, and the date of the work transcribed on the verso of the canvas in the middle certify the authenticity of the painting that escapes our gaze, and at the same time of the work that we see.
The work is the first version on canvas in the cycle De pictura, inaugurated with a version on paper made during the same year (GPO-0344), and later continued with four other variants on canvas made in 1978 (GPO-0367, GPO-0385) and in 1979 (GPO-0412, GPO-0417).
Title from Leon Battista Alberti, De pictura, 1435.
| 1977 | London, Lisson Gallery, Giulio Paolini, 12 April - 14 May. |
| 1977 | Mannheim, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Giulio Paolini, 31July - 28 August, not repr. |
| • | Art Actuel Skira Annuel N. 4 / Actual Art Skira Annual No. 4 (Geneva: Éditions Skira, 1978), repr. p. 75 (exhibition view London 1977). |
| • | Paul Maenz. Jahresbericht 1977 (Cologne: Galerie Paul Maenz, 1978), repr. n. pag. (exhibition view Mannheim 1977). |
| • | The Third Biennale of Sydney, exhibition catalogue, Sydney, The Art Gallery of New South Wales and The Australian Centre for Photography, 1979, repr. n. pag. (exhibition view London 1977). |
| • | P. Maenz, “10 Jahre Italien”, in Kunstforum International 39, monographic issue Italienische Kunst heute edited by M. Grüterich (Mainz), March, 1980, repr. p. 214 (exhibition view Mannheim 1977). |
| • | Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 1980, repr. p. 55 (exhibition view Mannheim 1977). |
| • | Il limite svelato. Artista Cornice Pubblico, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Mole Antonelliana (Milan: Electa, 1981), repr. p. 119, with a commentary by B. Maestri. |
| • | Del Arte Povera a 1985, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, Palacio de Cristal, Palacio de Velázquez, Parque del Retiro, 1985, repr. no. 94 p. 108. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 345 p. 355, col. repr. |
| • | F. Conzen, O. Salié, Corporate Collections (Cologne: Daab Media, 2012), col. repr. p. 425. |
| • | E. Franz, “‘Vedo e non vedo’”, in E. Franz et al., Giulio Paolini. Vedo e non vedo. In tema 1 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2014), pp. 26, 28, col. repr. p. 28. |
| • | E. Trincherini, Giulio Paolini. Delfo (IV), 1997. In collezione 2 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2015), p. 26, col. repr. p. 27. |
| • | Artist / Work / Lisson (London: Lisson Gallery, 2017), repr. p. 947 (exhibition view London 1977). |
| • | Paolini. I Grandi illustrati del Corriere della Sera. Arte contemporanea – I protagonisti 8, edited by F. Gualdoni (Milan: RCS MediaGroup S.p.a., 2022), repr. p. 19 (exhibition view Mannheim 1977). |
