Introduction
Marc Blondeau, Geneva; Thierry Meaudre, Paris
(p. 7-9)
© JRP|Ringier, the authors
The
Art Catalogue Index project springs from a collaboration between
two actors from the artworld, Marc Blondeau in Geneva (an expert and
consultant in modern and contemporary art) and Thierry Meaudre in Paris
(of the booksellers Librairie Lardanchet, specialists in art books and bibliophily).
The present work was compiled and realized by Noëlle Corboz
and Cécile de Pebeyre.
The
A. C. I.,
Art Catalogue Index aims to establish a complete listing of
all the catalogues raisonnés relative to artists born from 1780 and after
World War II. This publication is devoted to the so-called “modern period.”
Its starting point is 1780, the year that saw the birth of Jean Auguste
Dominique Ingres. Along with his contemporaries, Ingres was a witness to
and an actor in the evolution of a pivotal moment, one that leads us to
the artists of today.
A catalogue raisonné is a publication that serves as a reference work
with respect to the legitimacy of individual works of art, drawing up an
exhaustive list of either the totality of the artist's oeuvre (Antoine Louis
Barye), or the complete output by medium (Max Beckmann) or specific
period (Daniel Buren). Whatever the chosen form, the catalogue raisonné
must list for each work of art its technical aspects, provenance and history,
along with a complete bibliography (references and exhibition venues)
accompanied by its reproduction.
Pierre Encrevé, for example, offers a precise definition of the catalogue
raisonné in the 2007 re-edition of the complete paintings of
Pierre Soulages: “In a work of this type, the important thing is obviously the catalogue
in the strict sense of the term, i.e., the establishment of a chronological
list of all the canvases done by the painter and the publication of
a photographic reproduction of each, furnished with a scholarly notice
providing all that is known about the work (title, dimensions, fluid, support,
location, solo and group shows having exhibited it, provenance and
bibliography).”
(1).
For examples among the landmark catalogues raisonnés, we might mention
Alfred Robaut on Eugène Delacroix (1885), John Rewald on the
watercolors and paintings of Paul Cézanne (1983, 1996), and Georg
Frei and Neil Printz on Andy Warhol (2002–). We should also mention
Félix Vallotton's own record book, published in 1936, in which the artist
himself made an inventory of his own body of work.
We should distinguish two types of catalogues raisonnés:
– The catalogue raisonné of works listed by chronological order (Monet
by D. Wildenstein, 1974–1991).
– The catalogue raisonné of works presented thematically, embracing a
certain stylistic and iconographic coherence (
Théodore Géricault: étude
critique, documents et catalogue raisonné by G. Bazin, 1988–1997).
We have also taken into account two other types of publication that aren't
catalogues raisonnés strictly speaking:
– The inventory recording the totality of a given artist's production in
which bibliographic information and the exhibition venues appear as
lists in the back matter (
Emile Antoine Bourdelle in the series Les
Grands Sculpteurs).
– The series
I classici dell'arte (Rizzoli), which is published for a larger
audience in extensive editions and translated into several languages
(French, English, German, Spanish).
Painting, sculpture and works on paper are listed in the
A. C. I., as well
as contemporary media like photography, film, video, installation, performance
and happening. The decorative arts and architecture do not figure
in this publication.
In addition, we have chosen to register print catalogues raisonnés only
when a catalogue raisonné has already been published in the artist's main
medium. There exists a large number of catalogues covering the complete
works of engravers that are not found in the present volume but
which are exhaustively listed on the Print Council of America's webpage
(
www.printcouncil.org).
The
A. C. I. also features a scholarly introduction by Rainer Michael Mason
that details the evolution of the catalogue raisonné throughout its history.
Nowadays, whether one is a museum curator, art historian, art critic, librarian,
bookseller, student, collector, expert, auctioneer, gallery owner, or
dealer, the need to consult and use a catalogue raisonné is an absolute
necessity. It is an indispensable tool that provides access to historical and
bibliographic information.
The
Art Catalogue Index aims to complement existing sources of information;
it offers readers an exhaustive list of the catalogues raisonnés
that have been published until the end of 2008.
