If, 1970-71
GPO-0205
Photo emulsion on canvas
Nine parts 40.5 x 40.5 cm each, overall dimensions 122.5 x 122.5 cm
Signed, dated, and titled on the verso of the first canvas, upper stretcher bar: "Giulio Paolini / 1970-71 / If"
Goetz Collection, Munich
• 1977, Mannheim, Mannheimer Kunstverein: the installation with the elements arranged in a circle, thus alluding to the numbers on a clock, was one-off, and never repeated thereafter.
The photographic canvases placed at short intervals from each other so that they form a square reproduce the same time ninefold. The title is inspired by that of a full-length film by Lindsay Anderson (If, 1969), especially recalling the scene where the two young people, while gazing at the night-time sky over Oxford, imagine that at that very instant, somewhere in the universe, someone is uttering the exact same words that they are saying.
Image of the timepiece from Samuel Abraham Goudsmit, Robert Clairborne, Quarta dimensione: tempo (Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1967), p. 8 (”L’ora ufficiale americana”).
| 1977 | Rome, Galleria Sperone, Anselmo, Beuys, Chia, Clemente, Kosuth, Long, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Ontani, Paolini, Pisani, Salvo, from 16 February. |
| 1977 | Mannheim, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Giulio Paolini, 31 July - 28 August, not repr.; circular installation. |
| 1982 | Hamburg, Raum für neue Kunst, Giulio Paolini, 16 August - 15 October, cited in the checklist of exhibited works in the visitor's guide. |
| 1989 | New York, Hirschl & Adler Modern, Repetition, 25 February - 25 March, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 28 p. 79, repr. p. 27; circular installation. |
| 1997-99 | Bremen, Neues Museum Weserburg, Arte Povera. Arbeiten und Dokumente aus der Sammlung Goetz 1958 bis heute, 22 June - 7 September, touring to: Nuremberg, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, 2 October - 7 December; Cologne, Kölnischer Kunstverein, 14 February - 26 April 1998; Vienna, Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, 19 June - 30 August 1998; Göteborg (Sweden), Konsthallen, 19 September - 22 November 1998; Munich, Sammlung Goetz, 23 July - 18 December 1999 (part I), col. repr. p. 134, catalogue entry p. 232 (with incorrect technique). |
| 2002 | Karlsruhe, Städtische Galerie, Europaweit. Kunst der 60er Jahre, 14 April - 26 August, touring to: Halle, Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg, 29 September 2002 - 6 January 2003, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 208, repr. p. 155. |
| 2003 | Milan, Fondazione Prada, Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, 29 October - 18 December, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 403, repr. p. 327. |
| 2012-13 | Basel, Kunstmuseum Basel, Arte Povera. Der grosse Aufbruch, 9 September 2012 - 3 February 2013, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 67 p. 132, col. repr. p. 95, catalogue entry by S. Baier p. 94, referred to in the text by C. Meyer-Stoll pp. 24-26. |
| 2017 | New York, Hauser & Wirth, Arte Povera. Curated by Ingvild Goetz, 12 September - 28 October, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 261, col. repr. pp. 118-119 and 128-129 (exhibition views), 123, 250 (exhibition view Göteborg 1998). |
| 2018 | Tutto. Prospettive sull’arte italiana, Museion, Bolzano, 13 October 2018 - 24 March 2019, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 305, col. repr. pp. 79 (exhibition view), 224. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with M. Maloberti, "Giulio Paolini. Miramare", in Flash Art 49, no. 329 (Milan, Italian edition), October-November, 2016, p. 58. |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. p. 250. |
| • | Arte Povera. Arbeiten und Dokumente aus der Sammlung Goetz 1958 bis heute (Munich: Kunstverlag Ingvild Goetz, 1997), col. repr. p. 134, catalogue entry p. 232 (with incorrect technique); English edition Munich 2001: col. repr. p. 136, catalogue entry p. 244. |
| • | Chronos. Il tempo nell’arte dall’epoca barocca all’età contemporanea, exhibition catalogue, Caraglio, Il Filatoio (Caraglio: Edizioni Marcovaldo, 2005), repr. p. 84. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 205 p. 216, repr. |
| • | Arte Povera Seen by Ingvild Goetz (New York: Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2017), col. repr. pp. 118-119 and 128-129 (exhibition views New York 2017), 123, 250 (exhibition view Göteborg 1998), caption p. 261. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. p. 153 (exhibition view Mannheim 1977), col. repr. pp. 238-239 (exhibition view Milan 2003). |
