A
catalogue raisonné is usually a definitive list of all the known works of an
artist. What makes a catalogue raisonné different from simply a catalogue is
that the catalogue raisonné contains notes and annotations that help to
identify a particular work of art. Physical descriptions, provenance (including
auction history), critical analysis of the work, and further sources on the
work are elements included in catalogues raisonnés to help the user to identify
the work, and, most importantly, authenticate the work [i]. If a work can be
properly identified using an authoritative catalogue raisonné, those to buy and
sell art can determine the value of a certain work and find out whether a work
could be stolen or a forgery. Catalogues raisonnés also help researchers to
study an artist’s complete oeuvre. Curators, art dealers, auction houses, art
historians, and provenance researchers can use catalogues raisonnés to learn
about the complete oeuvre of an artist and to authenticate works of art by that
artist. According to Jonathan Franklin, the term catalogue raisonné “originated
in Paris in the 1720s” from the dealer Edme-François Gersaint. From the
eighteenth century, the term “catalogue raisonné” was associated with
catalogues describing “single collections including many artists” as well as
catalogues focused on the works of one artist [ii]. This discrepancy still exists
today; some catalogues raisonnés are not lists of an artist’s body of work, but
are instead a list of the holdings of an institution, such as the online
catalogue raisonné of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Catalogues
raisonnés were exclusively print resources for centuries, meaning that new
catalogues raisonnés had to be printed when new works by an artist were
discovered. Recently, catalogues raisonnés have been appearing online. Online
catalogues raisonnés are beneficial in that they can be updated immediately,
and new information or artist’s works can be added quickly and efficiently .
However, enthusiasts, as opposed to foundations or scholars, are now creating
online catalogues raisonnés [iii]. These unauthorized catalogues raisonnés raise
issues of authenticity, and users of online catalogues raisonnés need to make
sure certain online catalogues raisonnés can be considered definitive sources.
5 Catalogues
Rasionnés to check out:
Gemini G.E.L.,
online catalogue raisonné of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.:
Roy Lichtenstein
Image Duplicator, from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation (contains digital images
of Lichtenstein’s works, which you can view chronologically): http://www.imageduplicator.com/
Jones, Dan Burne
(1975). The Prints of Rockwell Kent: Catalogue Raisonné. Chicago: Chicago
University Press.
Lochnan,
Katharine Jordan (1984). The etchings of
James McNeill Whistler. New Haven: Yale University
Press.
Matthews,
Nancy Mowll (1989). Mary Cassatt : the
color prints. New York: Abrams.
Resources
on Catalogues Raisonnés:
[i] What is a Catalogue Raisonné? From the New York Public Library: http://www.nypl.org/about/divisions/wallach-division/art-architecture-collection/catalogue-raisonne
[ii] Franklin, J. From Inventory to Virtual Catalog: Notes on the ‘Catalogue Raisonné’. Art Documentation 22, no. 1 (2003): 41–45.
[iii] Atwater,
E. (2012). The Changing Form of the Catalogue Raisonné: Hurdles of
Transitioning from
Print to Web. Art Documentation: Journal
of the Art Libraries Society of North America,
31(2), 186-198. doi: 10.1086/668111
[iv]International
Foundation for Art Research Catalogues Raisonné (search by artist to find
published and unpublished catalogues raisonné for that artist: https://www.ifar.org/cat_rais.php
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