L’apparizione della Vergine, 1995-96
GPO-0770
The Appearance of the Virgin
Colour photo prints, plexiglas sheets, cello case, steel cable
Four photo prints and four plexiglas sheets 50 x 50 cm each, overall dimensions variable
Galleria d’Arte Moderna Achille Forti, Verona
Acquired in 2002, inventory no. 36702-4C-1661
The work envisages two ways of installing the elements on the ground, based on the exhibition room and the freedom to decide on the part of the museum that owns the work. The first solution, formulated by the artist in 1996, is limited to the four photographs of Picabia's Sainte Vierge II, each of them held down by a plexiglas sheet measuring 50 x 50 cm. The second solution, conceived by the artist in 2023, on the occasion of the presentation of the work in his solo show in Verona, includes a total of fifteen plexiglas sheets measuring 50 x 50 cm each and five plexiglas sheets measuring 100 x 100 cm each, arranged at random, together with a multitude of torn fragments of photographic reproductions.
• From 1996 to 2023: the arrangement on the ground is made up of four photographic prints each of which held down by a plexiglas sheet measuring 50 x 50 cm.
• 2023, Verona, Palazzo della Ragione: the installation on the ground of the four photographic prints each of which held down by a plexiglas sheet is integrated with sixteen other transparent sheets (eleven 50 x 50 cm each, five 100 x 100 cm each), arranged at random, and with a multitude of torn fragments of photographic reproductions.
On the ground four photographic units in a blue tone and each held down by a plexiglas sheet are placed close together to compose the image of Francis Picabia's Sainte Vierge II. An open cello case hangs in mid-air; the case is lined with blue velvet and is suspended from the ceiling by means of a steel cable, recalling the echo of a sound, absorbed in the ink blotch arranged on the ground.
In 2023, on the occasion of the presentation of the work at Palazzo della Ragione in Verona, the artist added to this basic situation other "echoes" and other "sounds", constituted by a large number of torn fragments of photographic reproductions of the works of other artists from various eras, scattered amidst the many plexiglas sheets, arranged randomly so that they are askew. The enlarged installation is expressed in a new title, Riapparizione della Vergine, which emphasizes the evolution and mutation of the work: “Each work is aware of the moment of its evolution, which can nonetheless be regenerated in the following phase",1 the artist remarks.
Hence, the arrangement on the ground contemplates two different options – sealed by two distinct titles, L’apparizione della Vergine and Riapparizione della Vergine – to be chosen based on the context and the curator's preference.
The title L’apparizione della Vergine associated with the image of Picabia's Sainte Vierge harkens back to a previous work, made in 1995 (cf. GPO-0761).
Francis Picabia, La Sainte Vierge II, 1920, Indian ink on paper, Bibliothèque Doucet, Paris.
| 1996 | Paris, Galerie Yvon Lambert, Giulio Paolini. L’Île enchantée, 6 January - 17 February. |
| 2001 | Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti, Giulio Paolini. Premio Internazionale Koinè 2000 alla carriera, 15 September 2001 - 6 January 2002, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 74, col. repr. pp. 54-55 (exhibition view Paris 1996), 67, referred to in the text by M. Disch p. 66. |
| 2002 | Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Palazzo Forti, Nuove acquisizioni, 21 April - 1 September, no catalogue. |
| 2002-03 | Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Palazzo Forti, Collezione Civica. Acquisizioni e donazioni recenti, 26 October 2002 - 9 March 2003, no catalogue. |
| 2004 | Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Palazzo Forti, Orizzonti aperti. Da Felice Casorati a Vanessa Beecroft. Opere in Collezione, 26 February - 5 September, no catalogue. |
| 2006-08 | Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Palazzo Forti, L’infinito dentro lo sguardo. Una collezione permanente, 24 March 2006 - 8 June 2008, no catalogue. |
| 2008 | Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Palazzo Forti, Confininfranti. Una collezione permanente. Acquisizioni 1997-2007, 20 June 2008 - 20 January 2009, no catalogue. |
| 2023-24 | Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Achille Forti, Giulio Paolini. Et in Arcadia Ego, 15 October 2023 - 25 August 2024, col. repr. pp. 14-15, 30-31, 66-67 (exhibition views), 69 (incorrect installation of the cello case), text by P. Nuzzo pp. 66-70, referred to in the texts by F. Rossi p. 17, P. Nuzzo p. 19, S. Raimondi p. 27; titled “Riapparizione della Vergine” and presented in an extended installation. |
| • | G. Paolini, “Et in Arcadia ego”, in Giulio Paolini. Et in Arcadia ego, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Achille Forti (Imola: Manfredi Edizioni, 2024), p. 29. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), col. repr. p. 326 (exhibition view Paris 1996). |
| • | A.M. Di Paolo, “I ‘paradossi’ obiettivi di Giulio Paolini”, in Stile arte 6, no. 53 (Brescia), November, 2001, col. repr. p. 26 (exhibition view 1996). |
| • | Palazzo Forti. La Galleria d’arte moderna di Verona 1982-2007, edited by S. Baldanza and P. Nuzzo (Venice: Marsilio Editori, 2007), col. repr. pp. 5 (exhibition view Paris 1996), 43. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 770 p. 783, col. repr. (exhibition view Paris 1996). |
| • | Arte povera 2011, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011), col. repr. no. 323 (exhibition view Paris 1996). |
