Giulio Paolini

Galleria Gian Enzo Sperone, Rome
Collection Angelo Baldassarre, Bari (acquired in the late 1970s)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Naples, Museo Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes, Giulio Paolini, 1978

Exhibition Catalogue, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum; Oxford, The Museum of Modern Art, Giulio Paolini, 1980, p. 56, illustration of another example in colour
Exhibition Catalogue, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, '60-'80: Attitudes/concepts/images, 1982, p. 186, illustration of another example
Exhibition Catalogue, Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Der Traum des Orpheus. Mythologie in der italienischen Gegenwartskunst 1967 bis 1984, 1984, pp. 76, 84, illustration of another example
Exhibition Catalogue, New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Transformations in Sculpture: Four Decades of American and European Art, 1985-6, p. 172, no. 112, illustration of another example
Exhibition Catalogue, London, Hayward Gallery, Falls the Shadow: Recent British and European Art, 1986 Hayward Annual, 1986, p. 93, illustration of another example in colour
Exhibition Catalogue, San Francisco, Museum of Modern Art, Second Sight: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Biennial IV, 1986, p. 47 and illustration of another example in colour on the cover
Francesco Poli, Giulio Paolini, Turin 1990, p. 91, illlustration of another example in colour
Exhibition Catalogue, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Het Beeld van Eeuw/A Century in Sculpture, 1992, p. 166, illustration of another example in colour
Exhibition Catalogue, Villeurbanne, Le Nouveau Musée; Toulouse, Centre Régionale d'Art Contemporain Midi-Pyrénées;  La Collection Christian Stein: Un regard sur l'art italien, 1992-3, p. 185, illustration of another example in colour
Turin, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, L'orizzonte: da Chagall a Picasso, da Pollock a Cragg. Capolavori dello Stedelijk Museum di Amsterdam, 1994-5, p. 119, illustration of another example in colour
Exhibition Catalogue, Naples, Palazzo di Capodimonte, Prospettiva del passato. Da Van Gogh ai contemporanei nelle raccolte dello Stedelijk Museum di Amsterdam, 1996-7, p. 79, illustration of another example in colour
Exhibition Catalogue, Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art; Tokyo, Museum of Contemporary Art; Tottori, Yonago City Museum of Art; Hiroshima, City Museum of Contemporary Art, Arte Italiana 1945-1995: il visibile e l'invisibile, 1997-8, p. 93, no. 58, illustration of another example in colour
Exhibition Catalogue, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Zielespiegel: bij wijze van catalogus, 1997-8, p. 66, illustration of another example in colour
Exhibition Catalogue, Venice, Palazzo Grassi, Where Are We Going? Opere scelte dalla Collezione François Pinault, 2006, p. 117, illustration of another example in colour
Germano Celant, Arte Povera, Turin 1985, p. 160 and illustration of another edition in colour on the cover
Maddalena Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato. Tomo primo 1960-1982, Milan 2008, p. 379, no. 374, illustration of another example in colour (specular image) 
Germano Celant, Arte Povera 2011, Milan 2011, no. 321, illustration of another example in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality of the red silk is brighter and more vibrant in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition having been recently conserved under the artist's supervision. Close inspection reveals a very small and faint crease in the photographic print to the left side of the Farnese Hercules's chest, which is inherent to the rolling of the print.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Emblematising the richest output of Paolini’s fertile engagement with antiquity, Nesso elegantly places a drawing of the Farnese Hercules’ face atop the equine physique of the mythological centaur Nessus. A masterpiece within the canon of Paolini’s sculptures, editions 2/3 and 3/3 of Nesso are held in permanent collections at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, respectively.

The title Nesso, also meaning “connection” in Italian, describes the metamorphic amalgamation of man with horse, photography with sculpture, and hero with nemesis. Giulio Paolini has said: “[i]n this work I experimented with a double combination, i.e.: between the two characters of the mythological story (the head of Hercules is grafted on the body of the centaur), but also between them and the red fabric (a bleeding shirt) whose function is to seal the two techniques that are peculiar to me, photography and plaster cast” (Giulio Paolini in conversation with Maddalena Disch, 1997). Ovid recounts in The Metamorphoses how Hercules slew Nessus but died by the centaur’s poisonous blood, which was secretly kept soaked in a tunic by his wife Deianeira. Nessus had tricked her into believing it was a love potion. An agent of tragic fate, Nessus’ bloodied tunic came to symbolise destiny. The crimson drapery of Nesso thus resonates with autobiographical meaning, implying that Paolini’s thematic interests and modes of visual expression are (here literally) bound by fate.

Considered a leading exponent of Arte Povera from its inception, Paolini shared his colleagues’ conceptual emphasis. According to Germano Celant, in 1970 “the analytical and geometric investigation seen in Paolini’s early works is followed by a passion for theatrical representation, an interest in the organization of the space of the stage and a predilection for quotation” (Germano Celant, Giulio Paolini: Work, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, collection website). Correspondingly, Paolini began investigating museums as places both recording and performing art. Classical imagery provided the cornerstone for his inquiry, signifying institutional sanction and the birth of Western art. Occasionally Renaissance works are equally important, themselves offering meditations on the Classical. Nesso, for example, is in dialogue with Giambologna’s infamous statue Hercules Fighting the Centaur Nessus (1595-1600), on permanent view in the Loggia in Florence. A moving display of physical struggle unto death, the dramatic violence of Giambologna’s composition is substituted by Paolini for the symbol that fatally connects the actors.

Strikingly rendered in blood red and plaster white, Nesso exemplifies Paolini’s finest work. It addresses, moreover, the postmodern doubt surrounding absolute originality that so captivated the artist. By photographically printing a historical drawing of the Farnese Hercules on its 'head', Paolini cannily inserts Nesso into a distinguished lineage of copies, prosthetics and erasures comprising this antique sculpture’s history. Unearthed at the Baths of Caracalla in 1546, the Farnese Hercules is an enlarged fourth century BCE reproduction of a bronze original, now lost. Upon its discovery, the left hand and forearm (today reconstructed in plaster) and the legs were missing. A pupil of Michelangelo’s created new legs, which remained in place until the end of the eighteenth century; today the replacements are displayed next to the statue.

Undoubtedly Paolini delighted in this tangle of challenges to pure originality, and wished to reference them in Nesso. Certainly his chosen media of photography and plaster cast – united in Nesso – testify to an appreciation of such complexity, each inherently capable of serial production. Embodying the artist’s profound identification with the classical mode, the present work thus does justice to the artist’s conceptual depths whilst demonstrating the absolute heights of his narrative and aesthetic talents.