The Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné

Isamu Noguchi in his Long Island City studio with “Red Untitled” (1965-66), © The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York

Artist:  Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988)
Scope:  Comprehensive
Years Covered:  1924 – 1988
Format:  Digital, accessible at http://catalogue.noguchi.org
Schedule:  Research has been ongoing for many years.  The first chapter of the publication premiered online in 2011.  New chapters will be added annually until research is complete (expected in 2018).
Database:  The Museum System (TMS)
Supported by:  The Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné is a project of The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York, with generous lead support from Tsuenko and Shoji Sadao.  Additional support from the Dedalus Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

CRSA:  What are some of the INCR’s primary resources?
INCR:  Noguchi was not very rigorous about studio inventories – very few were ever conducted, and he frequently changed galleries. Our project’s most consistent archival resource has been the artist’s extant archives, including more than 17,000 photographs of artworks, exhibitions, his various studios and travels.  In the late 1970s, Noguchi’s studio assistants also completed what became the first catalogue raisonné of his sculpture.  The Sculpture of Isamu Noguchi, 19241979: A Catalogue (Garland Press: 1980) was compiled with the help of Noguchi, and became the foundation for all future research and cataloging.

CRSA:  How do you hope the INCR might affect the public’s understanding of Isamu Noguchi?
INCR:  We hope that digital publication will offer a good sense of how extremely interdisciplinary and interrelated Noguchi’s practice was throughout his lifetime.  He worked in a variety of media and formats, ranging from discrete sculpture, to industrial design, stage sets and whole environments.  We’ve arranged the publication’s chronology in a way that shows what he was working on each year, alongside where he was traveling and exhibiting.  Some years will show the premier of a stage set, coinciding with the design of a table, as well as work in stone and wood.

CRSA:  What specific challenges do you face in researching Noguchi?
INCR: One that we are working on this year has to do with Noguchi’s work in bronze.  He would begin edition series with an original intent of the edition size, but only cast on-demand.  This is not an uncommon practice, but an added complication is that as he switched foundries every couple of years, and certain casts which began in the early 1960s were not revisited until the late 1980s.  This led to some errors in accounting in a series of more than 300 individual bronze sculptures.  It’s a tangled mess, but we’re working through it by reviewing foundry invoices and a tremendous amount of correspondence between Noguchi and his galleries, fabricators, and accountant.

CRSA:  Are you preparing additional content beyond artwork, exhibitions, bibliography and chronology?
INCR:  Not at this time, but our digital platform is flexible should we decide to add more content like audio, video, downloadable resources, etc.

CRSA:  Would you do anything extra if time and resources were unlimited?
INCR:  A fully digitized archive would be a tremendous help to our project and others researching Noguchi’s life and work.

CRSA:  Will updates be ongoing?
INCR:  We plan for updates and additions through at least 2018.

CRSA:  Would you consider adapting a print version?
INCR:  The Noguchi Museum has considered the possibility of publishing excerpts from the digital publication when research is complete.  We also hope that advances in digital press printing may make it possible to create a “print on demand” feature from our existing digital platform in the near future.

To learn more, visit The Noguchi Museum’s website at http://www.noguchi.org, or contact the The Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné by emailing catalogue@noguchi.org.

Robert Motherwell Painting and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1941 – 1991

After more than ten years of research and preparation, Robert Motherwell Painting and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1941 – 1991 was released by the Dedalus Foundation in fall 2012, published by Yale University Press, and printed in Verona by Trifolio.

In the process of publishing this extensive record of Robert Motherwell’s life and work, the Dedalus Foundation chose to film the task of printing this three-volume publication while the book’s authors oversaw the process in Verona, Italy, in May and June 2012.  As a result, we have an in-depth picture into the process of printing a seminal art publication.  View the video online:

Video realized by Elettra Bertucco & VRVideo http://www.vrvideo.net
Music: W.A. Mozart, Divertimento in D Major, K. 334: VI. Rondo. Allegro performed by Sandor Frigyes & Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

The Richard Diebenkorn Catalogue Raisonné

Richard Diebenkorn in his studio, 1968 – © The Richard Diebenkorn Foundation, Berkeley, Calif.

Artist:  Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993)
Scope: The Diebenkorn catalogue raisonné will be a comprehensive presentation of works by the artist. The 4 volumes of the catalogue raisonné will present some 4,900 unique artworks; primarily works on paper and paintings, but also a few mixed-media pieces and sketchbooks. RD was an active printmaker and there will be a future publication dedicated to his graphic works.
Database:  TMS from Gallery Systems
Print or Digital:  Print
Publisher: Yale University Press
Schedule:  When the project was first envisioned in the mid-90s, the estate was unaware of the full scope of the artist’s work and the level of effort needed to complete the project. It wasn’t until the Foundation established a relationship with Yale University Press–the only publisher to work on this scale for a mid-century artist–that we were able to develop a realistic sense of the time required for completion. Using a staggered schedule, two volumes on the artworks have been delivered to the editors and the last two volumes, the remaining artwork volume and the research volume with essays and supporting documents, will be wrapped up by the spring of 2014. The catalogue raisonné will go to press in 2016.
Organized by:  The Richard Diebenkorn Foundation, Berkeley, Calif.

CRSA:  What are some of the Richard Diebenkorn Catalogue Raisonné’s primary resources?
Carl Schmitz:  The estate’s records and library, communication with museums, galleries, and auction houses, and extensive research conducted at libraries and archives are some of our tangible assets. Our most valuable resource, however, is the Diebenkorn family’s involvement.

CRSA:  What is unique about the approach being taken with this catalogue raisonné?
CS:  There are two essential elements to our work on the catalogue raisonné for which we maintain the highest possible standards: the color accuracy of our reproductions and the thoroughness of our research. Richard Grant, the Foundation’s Executive Director and the artist’s son-in-law, has made a strong commitment to making sure that the color of the reproductions on the page are as accurate as possible to the artworks. A good deal of this comes from his memory of RD looking at poor quality reproductions and feeling like black and white may have been a fairer representation. Our charge is to get the color right and to that end we are performing all original digital photography while utilizing and continually exploring advanced color management.
On the research side, we have been at it long enough that it’s a good shock to the system when there are new publications and new research that really changes things. The recent biography of Diebenkorn’s colleague David Park done by Nancy Boas is one of those game-changers. It’s amazing to think that there are completely new things to be discovered about an artist like Park who we lost over 50 years ago. For Diebenkorn, we hope that the catalogue raisonné will become a widely used source for discovery of new ideas about an artist we lost 20 years ago. Some of these insights will come through the included essays written by John Elderfield, Ruth Fine, Steven Nash, Gerald Nordland, and our editor Jane Livingston. Other, more obscured pearls will be found in the chronology’s footnotes, a listing in the exhibition history, or a citation in the bibliography. A wealth of material will certainly be left on the catalogue raisonné’s cutting room floor, but it will be available to scholars in the Foundation’s archive. In the meantime, the research process that drives us up to that point will continue to be purposeful.

CRSA: What specific challenges do you face in researching Richard Diebenkorn?
CS:  We are at least somewhat fortunate that Diebenkorn didn’t often utilize non-traditional media and that he didn’t have a studio production line. This may have helped us avoid some of the difficulties involved in the authentication process. Being located in California can be a challenge given the distance to some wonderful resources like all of the New York Art Resources Consortium libraries and the Archives of American Art’s Washington headquarters, but this just means that we have to be efficient when there’s an opportunity to get out there. One of our goals is to help build more resources in the west.

CRSA: Are you preparing additional content beyond artwork, exhibitions, bibliography and chronology?
CS: There will also be essays and concordances, and a few planned special features include illustrations of items from the artist’s studio and a section dedicated to writings and statements by the artist.

CRSA: Are there plans for supplements? Would you consider adapting a digital version?
CS: We are still very much in the work of the 4 volumes that will be ink on paper but are constantly reflecting on future endeavors.

For more information, please refer to The Richard Diebenkorn Foundation’s website http://www.diebenkorn.org/