Ritratto dell’artista come modello, 1981
GPO-0445
A Portrait of the Artist as a Model
Pencil on primed canvas, on reversed canvas and on wall, plaster cast
Three canvases 200 x 130 cm each, overall dimensions variable
Tate, London
Acquired in 1981, inventory no. T03320
An overturned canvas, contained in the wall drawing of a room in perspective, is propped up against a plaster cast of the head of Praxiteles' Hermes, so that it appears to be held by the half-hidden figure, whose hands drawn on the stretcher are all that we see. Added to the scene are two other canvases of the same size, viewed from the recto and slightly farther back with respect to the central figure, thus suggesting the presence of two paintings in the virtual room drawn on the wall.
“Two faces in one, the artist is his model: by dint of chasing after it, of pursuing an ideal model, the artist ends up assuming its likeness”.1
The same theme was also developed in two previous variants, made in 1980 (GPO-0433, GPO-0434).
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2004), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 433 p. 444.
• Head: Praxiteles, Hermes and the Infant Dionysos, 350-330 BC, marble, h 215 cm, Archaeological Museum, Olympia.
| 1981 | Cologne, Galerie Paul Maenz, Giulio Paolini, 30 June - 1 August. |
| 1982 | London, Tate Gallery, A Selection of the Acquisitions, January-March, anonymous entry n. pag., not repr. |
| 1983 | London, Tate Gallery, New Art at the Tate Gallery 1983, 14 September - 23 October, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 70, repr. p. 22. |
| 2014 | London, Whitechapel Gallery, Giulio Paolini. To Be or Not to Be, 9 July - 14 September, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 155, repr. p. 119, entry by M. Disch p. 118, referred to in the text by I. Bernardi p. 92. |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2004), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 433 p. 444. |
| • | The Tate Gallery 1980-82. Illustrated Biennial Report (London: The Tate Gallery, 1983), p. 96, not repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. p. 77 (exhibition view Cologne 1981). |
| • | Tate Gallery 1980-82. Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions (London: The Tate Gallery, 1984), catalogue entry p. 192, repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1986, vol. 1, repr. p. 53 (exhibition view Cologne 1981). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 445 p. 455, repr. (exhibition view Cologne 1981). |
| • | L. Vecere, In assenza. Appunti sull’autoritratto contemporaneo (Pisa: University Press, 2017), p. 83, repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Del Bello ideale, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Fondazione Carriero (London: Koenig Books, 2019), repr. vol. 2 p. 52 (during the installation of the work, Cologne, 1981). |
| • | 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. 20 (during the installation of the work, Cologne, 1981). |
