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The digital catalogue raisonné: When form is function

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Carina Evangelista
Carina Evangelista*
Affiliation:
Chuck Close Catalogue Raisonné Artifex Press, 109 West 21th Street, New York, NY 10001, USA
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

A catalogue raisonné is the definitive, comprehensive, and annotated compilation of all the known works of an artist. Beyond the necessary, meticulous task of compilation of information, which typically takes years to complete, the need to keep the information updated is a perpetual concern. Because the lives of artworks continually evolve as ownership changes and exhibition and literature histories expand, publishing a catalogue raisonné in print presents a real challenge in keeping information current. This challenge is even more pronounced for active, living artists whose works completed subsequent to a published catalogue raisonné would require the publication of a new volume. A catalogue raisonné being ‘definitive’ actually evolves constandy, warranting a format that can accommodate that very flux. The Chuck Close catalogue raisonné, launched and maintained as an online publication, is used here to illustrate the advantages of digital publishing for catalogues raisonnés.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 40 , Special Issue 2: Catalogues raisonnés, collection catalogues and the future of artwork documentation , 2015 , pp. 17 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2015

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References

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