MATERIALS: Branding on leather suitcase, enamel on canvas
DIMENSIONS: Approx. 75 × 85 × 40 cm
Suitcase: 25 × 66 × 40 cm
Painting: 50 × 76 cm
PROVENANCE: The artist
COLLECTION: Fabio Mauri Estate, Rome
CATALOGUE: O_1971_325
An open leather travel bag rests on the ground. A black canvas picture emerges from inside, with the inscription ‘THE END’ in white at its centre. A label hanging from the handle of the bag specifies ‘Vera pelle ebrea’ (Real Jewish skin). The strap of the left front pocket is fire-branded ‘Aus 4171’, a reference to Auschwitz concentration camp and a prisoner number. The work was part of the ‘Ebrea’ exhibition-installation (inv. 3476), which rendered the dystopia of a Nazi-ruled world where, reduced to mere organic matter, racialised bodies were commonly used to make furniture and objects.
1971, Venice, Galleria Barozzi, Ebrea, opening 1 October, curated by Furio Colombo, Renato Barilli.
1971, Brescia, Galleria Acme Studio, Ebrea, opening 30 October (travelling: 1971, Venice).
1971, Parma, Galleria La Steccata, Ebrea, opening 18 November (travelling: 1971, Venice).
1971, Rome, Galleria La Salita, Ebrea, opening 9 December (travelling: 1971, Venice).
1974, Milan, Galleria Cenobio Visualità, “D.P.V.”: Ebrea, 13 February.
2018, New York, Hauser & Wirth, With Out, 25 January – 7 April, curated by Olivier Renaud-Clément.
Fabio Mauri, Der Politische Ventilator (Milan: Achille Mauri – Krachmalnicoff, 1973), p. 40 (ill.).
Francesco Poli, “Ebrea e il Muro Occidentale di Fabio Mauri”, in XLV Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte: Punti cardinali dell’arte, exhibition catalogue, La Biennale, Venice, edited by Achille Bonito Oliva (Venice: Marsilio, 1993), p. 48.
