thumbnail|A volume from [[Graham Reynolds (art historian)|Graham Reynolds's catalogue raisonné of John Constable]]
A () or critical catalogue is an annotated listing of the works of an artist or group of artists and can contain all works or a selection of works categorised by different parameters such as medium or period.
A catalogue raisonné is normally produced by the artist or by a committee of family members, experts or academics, collectively known as "producers". The catalogue ordinarily contains a list of characteristics of an artwork such as the title, year of production, dimensions, medium and a description of the work, alongside an image of the work. Some catalogues also include scholarly commentary about each work or, sometimes, commentary about a piece from the artist. This information is relied upon by others to identify works and plays an important role in authentication.
While historically catalogues raisonnés have been produced as physical books, there is a shift towards catalogues existing only in digital form, such as those of the artists Isamu Noguchi, Paul César Helleu, Martin Wong, and Roy Lichtenstein.
Depending on the nationality of the artist or the country in which the catalogue's producers are based, other terms may be used which include: "critical catalogue", "complete works", œuvre, catalogo razonado, catalogo ragionato, catalogo generale, opera completa and Werkverzeichnis.
Etymology
The term catalogue raisonné is French, meaning "reasoned catalogue" (i.e. containing arguments for the information given, such as attributions), but is part of the technical terminology of the English-speaking art world. The spelling is never Americanized to "catalog", even in the United States. The French pluralization catalogues raisonnés is used. A team of 25 professionals created the three-volume catalogue raisonné of American painter Robert Motherwell over the course of 11 years led by the Dedalus Foundation and published by Yale University Press in 2012.
Once a catalogue raisonné has been created, the producers continue to meet periodically as new works are discovered or submitted to them for their consideration. Members of the public, museums and galleries can all propose work for the consideration of the producers. However, there is no collective body to decide on the authority of a given catalogue raisonné publisher which can sometime result in more than one catalogue being produced for the same body of work. The work of the artist Amedeo Modigliani is the subject of at least five catalogues raisonnés.
The catalogue raisonné is often described as the "definitive" catalogue of an artists work. However, some producers choose to only certain works in their catalogues. Some producers will not consider juvenile works of an artist or ephemera for inclusion in the catalogue raisonné. Some artists, such as Roy Lichtenstein have some works recognised by their catalogue producers as potentially genuine but are not included in their respective official catalogues due to being unfinished, abandoned or destroyed.
Authentication
The New York Times has described catalogues raisonnés as the "supreme arbiter of the genuine and fake". This has led to some catalogue raisonné producers being the targets of lawsuits, bribes and death threats. The art historian Dr Bendor Grosvenor criticised the decision to destroy the painting. Art dealer and TV Presenter Philip Mould said of the decision "I would now [think] three times or more before sending [works] to Paris. Ugly acts like the one proposed by the Committee can have the effect of damaging the progress of art history."
The reality of more than one body creating competing catalogue raisonné can sometimes lead to rivalries that can lead to anomalous listings. During the process of authenticating a waterscape by Pierre-Auguste Renoir currently on display at Picton Castle, two of the artist's competing catalogue producers, the Wildenstein Institute and Bernheim-Jeune, reached different conclusions about the painting's authenticity. It is reported that Guy-Patrice Dauberville of Bernheim-Jeune said of the matter "[The Wildenstein institute] would be thrilled to turn [the Renoir] down." A journalist at the time said the rivalry between the two is "now out in the open" and described it as "ugly".
In 2013 Christian Parisot, the president of the Modigliani Institute, responsible for the Catalogue of Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani, was arrested for knowingly issuing certificates of authenticity to forged artworks.
Examples
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Artist
!Catalogue Raisonné Title
!Producers
!
|-
|Andy Warhol
|Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962-1987
|Frayda Feldman, Claudia Defendi, Jörg Schellmann
|
|-
|Salvador Dalí
|The Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings by Salvador Dalí
|Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí
|
|-
|Pol Bury
|Pol Bury: Online Catalogue Raisonné
|Gilles Marquenie, Pol Bury Research Center, Patrick Derom Gallery
|
|-
|Catalogue Raisonné de l’œuvre peint et dessiné de Jeanne Hébuterne
|Daniel Wildenstein, Marc Restellini, Instiut Restellini
|
|}
See also
- Catalogues of classical compositions, the same practice in music
Explanatory notes
References
Further reading
- Art Books: A Basic Bibliography of Monographs on Artists (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) by W. Freitag; Publisher: Routledge; Second Edition (1 April 1997)
- Judging the Authenticity of Prints by The Masters: A Primer for Collectors by David Rudd Cycleback
External links
- The Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association
- The International Foundation for Art Research's database of catalogues raisonnés
- Authentication in Art 2014 Guidelines on Catalogues Raisonnés
- Online catalogues raisonnés of artists, Inventozen