Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

L'impronta del disegno, Anulare destro (The Imprint of Drawing, Right Ring Finger)

Giuseppe Penone

L'impronta del disegno, Anulare destro (The Imprint of Drawing, Right Ring Finger)

2001
84 5/8 x 55 1/8 inches (2149 x 1400 mm)
Graphite pencil and etching ink on paper, mounted on canvas.
2007.78

Gift of the Modern and Contemporary Collectors Committee.

© Giuseppe Penone / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Notes
Though Penone is best known as a sculptor who began his career as a member of the Arte Povera group in Italy in the late 1960s, drawing has always been at the core of his practice. This is one of ten drawings---one for each finger---in which Penone extended each line of his fingerprint (at center) into a concentric pattern that eventually filled most of the sheet. The choice of a paper with a rough grain and the necessity of maintaining the spacing between the lines lend the gesture a tension that, as the artist said, "gives a necessity to the line." The final image resembles the growth rings of an ancient tree---a beautiful visualization of the fusion of man and nature that is central to Penone's art.
Inscriptions/Markings
Signed and dated in graphite, at lower left of the paper that is folded around the stretcher, "Giuseppe Penone 2001".
Classification
Century Drawings