L’altra figura, 1979-80
GPO-0419
The Other Figure
Two plaster casts, one fractured plaster cast, white plinths
Two casts 151 x 44 x 54.5 cm each, two plinths 60 x 50 x 50 cm each, overall dimensions 211 x 125 x 75 cm
The work was executed in a numbered edition of three plus one artist's proof. Following the variable dates of “1979”, “1980”, and “1979-80” – hitherto impossible to verify – the official date of the work remains “1979-80”.
| 1/3 | The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo |
| 2/3 | Private collection, Ancona |
| 3/3 | Private collection, courtesy Vitart S.A. |
| A.P. | Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini, Torino |
| 1/3 | Acquired in 1993, inventory no. MS 3595 |
| A.P. | Gift of the artist, 25 October 2012, archive no. GPO-0419 |
The two plinths are askew in relation to each other, so that the gazes of the two figures cross.
Two plaster casts of Bertel Thorvaldsen’s Hebe (1812), each of which on a plinth, are arranged so that they face each other, but slightly askew. Each of the figures holds one or more fragments from a third identical cast.
“Rather than exchanging a gesture of offering, each of the two figures appears as if they were wondering whether those remains might not be a part of themselves, or perhaps the parts of ‘another figure’, after all, identical to them”.1
The same theme was developed in five subsequent versions, made between 1983 and 1988 (GPO-0501, GPO-0530, GPO-0577, GPO-0578, GPO-0519).
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. 419 p. 427.
Bertel Thorvaldsen, Hebe, 1806, marble, Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen.
| 1984 | Venice, Giardini di Castello, Biennale di Venezia: XLI Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte. Arte allo specchio, 10 June - 9 September, general catalogue: cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 61 (dated “1979”), not repr.; catalogue Arte allo specchio: cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 54 (dated “1979”), not repr.; artist’s proof. |
| 1985 | Liège, Place Saint-Lambert, Place Saint- Lambert. Investigations, 17 September - 5 November, cat. no. 20, repr. (exhibition views, work not installed by the artist); edition 3/3. |
| 1986 | Charleroi, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Giulio Paolini, 15 February - 30 March, not repr. (same catalogue as for the solo exhibition in Villeurbanne 1984); edition 3/3. |
| 1994 | Oslo, Museet for Samtidskunst, Norwegian and International Contemporary Art from the Collection, 30 April - 11 September, no catalogue; edition 1/3. |
| 1995 | Brussels, Artiscope, Les occasions manquées, 10 January - 30 April; edition 3/3. |
| 2000 | Oslo, Museet for Samtidskunst, L’altra figura. Giulio Paolini. Art in Context 3, 4 March - 4 June, repr., essay by J. Lund pp. 21-25; edition 1/3. |
| 2004 | Oslo, Museet for Samtidskunst, Aspects of the Collection. 8: Arte Povera ++, 10 January - 28 March, repr. p. 23, catalogue entry by K. Hellandsjø pp. 22-23; edition 1/3. |
| 2012 | Florence, Galleria dell'Accademia, Arte torna arte, 8 May - 9 December, repr. p. 169, catalogue entry by A. Iori p. 168; artist’s proof. |
| 2015 | Oslo, Museet for Samtidskunst, Poor Art – Rich Legacy. Arte Povera and parallel practices 1968-2015, 13 March 2015 - 28 February 2016, no catalogue; edition 1/3; erroneously installed on platforms arranged in contact with and parallel to each other. |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2004), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 419 p. 427. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Werke und Schriften 1960-1980 (Lucerne: Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1981), repr. n. pag. (dated “1980”). |
| • | M. Vescovo, “Politeismo dei valori: valori e forme del politeismo”, in Color 1, no. 2 (Turin), November-December, 1983, repr. p. 12. |
| • | H. Friedel, “Giulio Paolini. Der doppelte Blick”, in Der Traum des Orpheus. Mythologie in der italienischen Gegenwartskunst 1967 bis 1984, exhibition catalogue, Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, 1984, p. 72, repr. p. 73 (dated “1980”). |
| • | Arte allo specchio. XLI Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte. La Biennale di Venezia, edited by M. Calvesi (Venice: Edizioni La Biennale di Venezia, 1984), repr. p. 103 (exhibition view Venice 1984, dated “1979”). |
| • | C. Christov-Bakargiev, “Arte Povera 1967-1987”, in Flash Art 137 (Milan, international edition), November-December, 1987, repr. p. 69 (exhibition view Venice 1984). |
| • | F. Alfano Miglietti, “Arte Concettuale e Arte Povera”, in Id., Arte in Italia 1960-1985 (Milan: Giancarlo Politi Editore, 1988), repr. p. 85 (exhibition view Venice 1984). |
| • | L. Van den Abeele, “Laurent Busine”, in Artefactum 7, no. 35 (Antwerp), September-October, 1990, repr. p. 45 (exhibition view Charleroi 1986). |
| • | Terskel / Threshold 5, no. 12 (Oslo), May, 1994, p. 13, repr. p. 28 and on cover (incorrect installation, dated “1979”); edition 1/3. |
| • | M. Unterdörfer, Die Rezeption der Antike in der Postmoderne: der Gipsabguss in der italienischen Kunst der siebziger und achtziger Jahre (Weimar: VDG Verlag und Datenbank für Geisteswissenschaften, 1998), pp. 32 (in general on the group of works titled L’altra figura), 49-50, 179-180, cat. no. 40 pp. 142-143 (dated “1980”), repr. no. 46 p. 229. |
| • | L.V. Masini, L’arte del Novecento. Dall’Espressionismo al Multimediale, vol. XI: L’Arte come idea (Florence-Rome: Giunti and Gruppo Editoriale Espresso, 2003), col. repr. no. 2849 p. 558 (exhibition view Venice 1984). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 419 p. 427, repr. |
| • | E. Volpato, “Iconografie della malinconia”, in Collezioni. Volume terzo: Allestimento 2011-2013, edited by D. Ecche (Turin: GAM Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea and Umberto Allemandi & C., 2012), p. 209, not repr. |
| • | S. Bann, “Apoteosi di Omero. Da Paolini a Ingres”, in S. Bann et al., Il passato al presente. In tema 2 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2016), pp. 125-128, 132, 135, repr. p. 129. |
| • | I. Bernardi, “Sulla soglia. Giulio Paolini e la Biennale di Venezia”, in Crocevia Biennale, edited by F. Castellani and E. Charans (Milan: Scalpendi Editore, 2017), p. 242, not repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. pp. 184-185 (exhibition view Charleroi 1986). |
| • | G. Paolini, Eccomi. Qui dove sono (Turin: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini, 2025), col. repr. pp. 52-53 (installation view at the artist’s home). |
