MATERIALS: Tempera on paper
DIMENSIONS: 69.5 × 98.8 cm
INSCRIPTIONS: Signed, dated and titled on the verso, lower right: ‘Fabio Mauri, Verticale Orizzontale / disegno (schermo) 1957’
PROVENANCE: The artist
COLLECTION: Private collection, Rome
CATALOGUE: S_1957_3260
Belonging to the very first series of screens, the present work stands out from others in the group – consisting of a standard-sized sheet of white paper (70 × 100 centimetres) with a black border of approximately eight centimetres painted in tempera along the edges – for being made on canvas.In these works, Mauri introduces the concept of a schermo (screen) for the first time, turning the white monochrome into an empty surface potentially capable of containing any drawing or projection. Furthermore, the indication ‘Vertical / Horizontal’ suggests that the painting can be hung in both directions, freeing the work from the mere representation of the cinema screen. Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev writes that Mauri was a forerunner of ‘an artistic, sociological and philosophical debate around communication theory that would develop in the 1960s after his early, precocious reflections. From the very beginning, for Mauri the work was a “second-degree work”, a meta-work that conveys the experience of reality in a meta-real way, intended as a critical deconstruction of thought-manipulating mechanisms, as well as exploring identity of subject in a complex age of experiences pre-determined by narrative, filmic and comic-book representations, not to mention all other contemporary ideological apparatuses.’1
1. Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, ‘Nello schermo: insonnia per divere forme contrarie di universo’, in Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954–1994, catalogue of the exhibition (Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, 1994), edited by C. Christov-Bakargiev, M. Cossu, Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori / Carte Segrete, Milan / Rome, 1994, p. 20.
2020, Florence, Museo del Novecento, Fabio Mauri: Solo, 23 January – 30 April, curated by Giovanni Iovane, Sergio Risaliti.
Cesare Vivaldi, “Fabio Mauri”, in Fabio Mauri, exhibition catalogue, Studio d’Arte Toninelli, Rome, edited by Cesare Vivaldi (Rome: Studio d’Arte Toninelli, 1969), pp. 7–8.
Lara-Vinca Masini, “Mario Schifano ‘Inventario’”, in Mario Schifano. Inventario, exhibition catalogue, Galleria d’arte moderna Sangallo, Florence, edited by Lara-Vinca Masini (Florence, 1975), n.p.
Fabio Mauri, “La miserabilità e l'arte”, in La Tartaruga, no. 5–6, De Luca edizioni d’arte, Rome, March 1989, pp. 79–80.
Laura Cherubini, “Roma Anni '60. Attraverso le voci dei suoi protagonisti”, in Flash Art, no. 153, Giancarlo Politi Editore, Milan, December 1989, pp. 84–85.
Fabio Mauri, “Lo schermo”, in Pino Settanni, Ritratti in nero… con oggetto (Rome: Pieraldo Editore, 1989), p. 110.
Maurizio Calvesi, “Roma anni '60. Al di là della pittura”, in Roma Anni ’60. Al di là della pittura, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, edited by Maurizio Calvesi, Rosella Siligato (Rome: Edizioni Carte Segrete, 1990), pp. 13–14 (ill.).
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, “I prototipi: schermi. 1957-1994”, in Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954-1994, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu (Milan / Rome: Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori / Carte Segrete, 1994), pp. 78–83, 79 (ill.).
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, “Nello schermo: insonnia per diverse forme contrarie di universo”, in Fabio Mauri: Male e bellezza – Das Böse und das Schöne, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthalle, Klagenfurt, edited by Arnulf Rohsmann (Klagenfurt, 1997), p. 22.
Achille Bonito Oliva, “Fabio Mauri”, in Minimalia: Da Giacomo Balla a..., exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Querini Dubois, Venice, edited by Achille Bonito Oliva (Rome: Bocca Editori, 1997), p. 118.
Maria Silvia Farci, “Io sono uno schermo”, in Fabio Mauri. Picnic o il buon soldato, exhibition catalogue, Galleria La Tartaruga, Castelluccio di Pienza (Siena), edited by Plinio De Martiis (San Quirico d’Orcia, Siena: Editrice DonChisciotte, 1998), p. 34.
Marco Di Capua, “Schermo, 1970”, in Novecento. Arte e storia in Italia, exhibition catalogue, Scuderie Papali al Quirinale and Mercati di Traiano, Rome, edited by Federica Pirani (Milan: Skira, 2000), p. 524.
Fabio Mauri, “Les prototypes”, in Fabio Mauri. L’écran mental, exhibition catalogue, Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains, Tourcoing-Lille, edited by Dominique Païni (Lille, 2003), pp. 40–43, 84 (ill.).
Francesca Alfano Miglietti, “Fabio Mauri: schermi dal 1957 ad ora”, in Fabio Mauri. Schermi, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Milano, Milan, edited by Francesca Alfano Miglietti (Milan: Galleria Milano, 2007), pp. 9–14, no. 6 (ill.).
Gigliola Lai, “Fabio Mauri - Schermi”, in Trasalimenti: progetto per l’arte contemporanea, exhibition catalogue, Medieval village, Montepagano, Roseto degli Abruzzi (Teramo), edited by Gabriele Di Pietro (Roseto degli Abruzzi: Castellarte, 2007), p. 25.
Fabio Mauri, Scritti in mostra. L’avanguardia come zona 1958-2008, edited by Francesca Alfano Miglietti (Milan: il Saggiatore, 2008), p. 159 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri, “Schermo-Disegno”, in Fabio Mauri. L’insolubile, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Martano, Turin, edited by Liliana Dematteis (Turin, 2008), pp. 12, 35, 36 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri, Io sono un ariano (Milan: Lampi di stampa, 2009), pp. 30–31 (ill.).
Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, “Fabio Mauri. Arte e cinema (intervista)”, in Perché non parli? Le discipline dell’arte contemporanea raccontate dagli autori, edited by Giacinto di Pietrantonio, Francesca Guerisoli, Gabi Scardi (Cologno Monzese: Silvia Editrice, 2010), pp. 192–193.
Gianfranco Pangrazio, “Una nudità bella e orribile”, in Alfabeta 2, Year I, no. 2, Milan, September 2010, p. 26.
Laura Cherubini, “Schermi”, in Fabio Mauri. Ideology and Memory, edited by Studio Fabio Mauri (Turin: Bollati Boringhieri, 2012), pp. 25–27 (ill.).
Laura Cherubini, Eugenio Viola, “Fabio Mauri”, in C’era una volta a Roma: Gli anni Sessanta intorno a Piazza del Popolo, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo De Sanctis, Castelbasso (Teramo), edited by Laura Cherubini, Eugenio Viola (Milan: Maretti editore, 2014), pp. 86–88, p. 87 (ill.).
Laura Cherubini, Andrea Viliani, “La pittura è una storia italiana. Prima che la pittura ritorni: 1959-1979”, in Flash Art, Year 52, no. 343, Milan, March–April 2019, p. 38 (ill.).
