His Being Until The 49th Year of Age in a Fantastic Hour
Giuseppe Penone
Italian, born 1947
1972
A long, narrow frottage in which Penone rubs a tree’s bark onto paper to record the living surface and the passage of time.
You confront a towering, pale scroll patterned with delicate vertical grooves, knots, and seams—an almost ghostly, tactile imprint of a trunk stretched into an elegant, repetitive rhythm.
Produced during the Arte Povera moment, the piece reframes sculpture as an indexical, process-based encounter with nature, making visible time, touch, and the human relationship to organic matter.
Medium
Frottage
Dimensions
composition 300 3/4 x 8 1/8" (764 x 20.7 cm)
rolled plate 2 3/8 x 10 x 10" (6 x 25.5 x 25.5 cm)
sheet 309 7/16 x 8 1/8" (786 x 20.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the Associates of the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books
Accession
1512.2001
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
