Tomba del tuffatore, 1984-85
GPO-0538
The Tomb of the Diver
Collage on paper, painted and framed glass sheets, painted glass fragments on wall
200 x 300 cm
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart
Acquired in 2001, inventory no. F 01/514
Nine blue-painted framed glass elements, trapezoidal in shape and differently sized, are arranged on a wall to look like an illusory body of water seen in perspective. In the area of the two elements in the middle, the blue glass sheets are shattered, their pieces scattered about, as if to attest to the “fall” of the winged figure, reproduced upside down in the photographic collage.1
The title alludes to that of the wall painting preserved at the Archaeological Museum of Paestum (The Tomb of the Diver, 5th century).
1 The outlined figure reproduces the Genius of Antonio Canova, used for the first time in Aria, 1982-83 (GPO-0502) and reiterated here featuring a different arrangement for the wings.
• Figure: Antonio Canova, Genio funebre from the Sepolcro di Clemente XIII, 1787-92, marble, 820 x 630 x 254 cm, Basilica di San Pietro, Rome; reproduction from L’opera completa di Canova. Classici dell’arte 213 (Milan: Rizzoli, 1976), plate XI.
• Wings: Antonio Canova, Genius on the right of the Cenotafio degli Stuart, 1817-19, marble, 560 x 280 x 140 cm, Basilica di San Pietro, Roma; reproduction from L’opera completa di Canova. Classici dell’arte 213 (Milan: Rizzoli, 1976), plates LVIII and LIX.
• Title from the Tomba del Tuffatore, 5th century BC, detached fresco, Museo archeologico nazionale, Paestum.
| 1985 | Rome, Galleria Pieroni, Giulio Paolini. Giochi d’acqua, from 15 February. |
| 1986 | Rome, EUR Palazzo dei Congressi, XI Quadriennale di Roma. Emergenze nella ricerca artistica in Italia dal 1950 al 1980, 16 June - 16 August, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 456, repr. p. 165. |
| 1988 | Erice, “La Salerniana”, ex Convento di San Carlo, Mediterranea. Il mare, i luoghi, i miti, l’ornamento nell’arte italiana d’oggi, 30 July - 2 October, repr. pp. 72-73. |
| 2003 | Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Licht und Schatten. Photo-Kunst 1852-2002, 22 March - 15 June, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 66 p. 104 (erroneously titled “Icaro”), col. repr. p. 69, entry by A. Henning. |
| • | Il Giardino d’Europa. Pratolino come modello nella cultura europea, exhibition catalogue, Florence, Palazzo Medici Riccardi and Pratolino, Villa Demidoff (Milan: Mazzotta Editore, 1986), repr. p. 178. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 538 p. 549, col. repr. |
| • | Galleria Pieroni 1970-1992 ([Spoltore]: Di Paolo Edizioni, 2016), repr. p. 270 (exhibition view Rome 1985). |
| • | S. Zuliani, “Un tuffo infinito. Tracce e visioni della Tomba del Tuffatore nell’arte italiana tra i due secoli”, in A. Pontrandolfo, E. Greco, F. Napoli et al., Un tuffo infinito 1968-2018. Cinquant’anni dalla scoperta della Tomba del Tuffatore (Paestum: Fondazione Paestum Onlus, 2018), pp. 45, 48-49, col. repr. 47, 48 (detail). |
