MATERIALS: Embroidery on silk
DIMENSIONS: 100 × 70 cm
PROVENANCE: The artist
COLLECTION: Fabio Mauri Estate, Rome
CATALOGUE: M_1974_830
A ‘potentially’ multiple work, produced as a single copy, composed of a found scarf featuring a photograph of Mao Tse-tung and Ho Chi Minh shaking hands. The image is framed by a white cardboard mount, which reads: ‘Alors/true photo embroidered in 600 million copies made by machine on Chinese silk cm. 42 × 49’. After Vomitare sulla Grecia (inv. 979), L’anagrafe (inv. 232) and Der Politische Ventilator (inv. 205), Mauri continued his series of ‘Political Multiples’ thus: ‘Proust (the name comes from the exhibition where it was shown), the portrait of Mao Tse-tung and Ho Chi Minh, printed on silk, was a natural multiple, naturally political. The only artistic contribution to its discovery was to have envisaged the edition.’1 From 1996, Proust was displayed on various occasions as part of an installation comprised of works in Cina Asia Nuova (inv. 444) and Baule enigmatico (inv. 674).
1. F. Mauri, ‘Multipli politici’, in Fabio Mauri. Opere e azioni 1954–1994, catalogue of the exhibition (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome), edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu, Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori e Carte Segrete, Rome, 1994, p. 132.
1974, Brescia, Acme Studio, Proust.
1994, Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954-1994, 21 June – 5 October, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu.
1995, Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma in mostra 1970-1979, 13 September – 2 October, curated by Daniela Lancioni.
1996, Rome, Opera Paese, Opera Paese, 9 November.
1997, Klagenfurt, Kunsthalle, Fabio Mauri. Male e bellezza / Das Böse und das Schöne, 24 April – 30 June, curated by Arnulf Rohsmann.
2003, Tourcoing-Lille, Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains, Fabio Mauri – L’écran mental, 1 March – 27 April, curated by Dominique Païni.
2012, Milan, Palazzo Reale, Fabio Mauri – The End, 19 June – 23 September, curated by Francesca Alfano Miglietti.
2018, Castelbasso (Teramo), Fondazione Malvina Menegaz, Fabio Mauri 1968-1978, 22 July – 2 September, curated by Laura Cherubini.
2025-2026, Milan, Triennale Milano, Fabio Mauri. De Oppressione, 3 December 2025 – 15 February 2026, curated by Ilaria Bernardi.
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. 130–133 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri: Male e bellezza – Das Böse und das Schöne, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthalle, Klagenfurt, edited by Arnulf Rohsmann (Klagenfurt, 1997), p. 101 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri, Scritti in mostra. L’avanguardia come zona 1958-2008, edited by Francesca Alfano Miglietti (Milan: il Saggiatore, 2008), pp. 102–105 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri, Io sono un ariano (Milan: Lampi di stampa, 2009), pp. 347–352 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri. The End, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Reale, Milan, edited by Francesca Alfano Miglietti (Milan: Skira, 2012), p. 68 (ill.).
Federica Boràgina, Fabio Mauri. Che cosa è, se è, l’ideologia nell’arte (Catanzaro: Rubbettino editore, 2012), pp. 83–85, no. 22 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri. Arte per legittima difesa, exhibition catalogue, GAMeC, Bergamo, edited by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio (Bergamo: GAMeC Books, 2016), p. 44 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri 1968-1978, exhibition catalogue, Fondazione Malvina Menegaz, Castelbasso (Teramo), edited by Laura Cherubini (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2018), pp. 51–53 (ill.).
Mu6: Fabio Mauri a Castelbasso, Year XIII, no. 36, L'Aquila, August 2018, p. 2 (ill.).
