Ingalls Library & Museum Archives

This index is the type of reference text that librarians and researchers rejoice over.  The A.C.I. was compiled and realized by Noelle Corboz and Cécile de Pebeyre under the direction of Marc Blondeau and Thierry Meaudre.  The subtitle defines it succinctly, “Catalogues Raisonnés & Critical Catalogues of Artists 1780-2008,” and further, “Painting, Sculpture, Works on Paper, Prints, Contemporary Media.”  Entries are alphabetical by artist name, with place and date for birth and death.  Bibliography proceeds chronologically from date of publication, with separation for genre.  Details of publication are included, as well as ISBN number.  A thoughtful introduction tracing the history and evolution of the catalogue raisonné written by Rainer Michael Mason is also presented.  An author index follows, linking to the corresponding artist.  Prior to the release of this volume, art reference librarians relied on the Wolfgang M. Freitag text Art Books: A Basic Bibliography of Monographs on Artists, published in 1997.  This more up to date volume will indeed be a boon to research.  The A.C.I. will be shelved behind the reference desk for ease of access.

This catalogue raisonné unites a fairly disparate body of Warhol’s graphic work, the record covers he designed for LP records.  This is the second publication on this somewhat esoteric topic and the first in English; an earlier German title exists, a former dissertation published in 2001.  While the literature on Warhol is formidable, we hold over 100 exhibition catalogs on the artist alone, this collection is compelling.  The arc of the work is fascinating, from the early modernist sketches at the beginning of his career to the pop art portraits that close the volume.  Represented here are his most famous covers, for the Velvet Underground and Nico and the Rolling Stones, as well as the less well known covers he did for John Cale and Debbie Harry and others.  A number of inclusions seem curious at first, including that of Andy Warhol’s Index, a book which is justified in this collection because of the enclosed flexi disk of recorded material.  Nonetheless, this is a fine catalog, highlighting yet another example of Warhol’s massive oeuvre.  NC1883.3.W37 A4 2008

The work of Spanish born painter José Guerrero is presented in this catalogue raisonne in vivid detail.  Though he is known for his later abstract imagery, the first volume of this set deals with his formative years as a painter.  Covering 1931 to 1969, the text displays an artist in transition, from realistic scene and landscape painter to burgeoning abstract artist.  By the 1950s, Guerrero is in New York, and leaving the influence of Picasso behind for Kline, Rothko, and Motherwell.  His work follows in the second volume, from 1970-1991, exhibiting his trademark vibrant colors and brushwork.  Guerrero died in 1992, his work in prominent collections, including the Guggenheim and the Whitney.   The two volume set is available in the library catalog, ND813.G7685 A4 2007.  The library also holds two clipping files on the artist, and numerous texts.

Though the details of Pieter Bruegel’s life are not entirely known, the literature on his oeuvre is significant.  Newly published, Bruegel: the Complete Paintings, Prints and Drawings is a welcome addition.  In the 32 page introduction the author Manfred Sellink addresses some of the inconsistancies of Brugel’s life story.  The artist’s work follows, in paintings, drawings, and prints, followed by posthumous prints, and problematic attributions.  Most entries are briefly annotated, while major works extend over several pages.  Illustrations are reproduced with numerous details.  A short bibliography follows.  A note from the author states that, “it is not the aim of this book to provide as complete a list as possible of all references for each work,” continuing, “it is very much the question as to whether that aim would indeed be worthwhile in view of their highly varying quality.”  The catalogue closes with three indices, a topographical index to paintings and drawings, an index of works, and an index of proper names.  Located in recent acquisitions.  N6973.B68 A4 2007

The catalogue raisonné is an essential part of art research.  Translated from French, the latter term raisonné means methodical, rational.  When combined with the former, the phrase defines as a descriptive, analytical list or catalog.  Many of these volumes present as just that, a complete listing of all known works by an artist.  Completeness being what it is, there are often multiple printings and revisions to these texts. Newly published, N.C. Wyeth: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings is a fascinating two volume set on the painter and illustrator.  The first one hundred pages of the text is devoted to a biography of the artist and a discussion of his techniques.  His work is split up in the remaining eight hundred pages by medium, as such, illustrations, murals and architectural decoration, commercial work, landscapes, still life, portraiture and private paintings, and ending with a miscellaneous section titled other work.  Newell Convers Wyeth was born in 1882 in Needham, Massachusetts, the son of a merchant.  At a young age he began a course of study with the illustrator Howard Pyle, supporting himself by selling his work to magazines like the Saturday Evening Post.  Wyeth excelled in producing work for publications, of which many are presented here.  This sense drama, scene, and composition informed his work throughout his life.  The author, Christine B. Podmaniczy is the Associate Curator of N.C. Wyeth Collections at the Brandywine River Museum.  The two volume set is in recent acquisitions, in the center of the reading room.  ND237.W94A4 2008

Here in folio, the murals of Rivera present as close to the epic originals as possible. With numerous double page foldouts, detail images from within the paintings, and outline panels labeling the subjects, even a casual fan of the artist will easily become engrossed in Rivera’s work. Within each chapter, essays by the authors accompany photographs of the artist and mural in progress. The artist’s study sketches prove particularly interesting. The book closes with a chapter on Rivera’s easel paintings and a chronology of his life and work. This volume is the English translation of the original Spanish edition by Luis-Martin Lozano, director of the Museo de Art Moderno and the artist’s grandson Juan Rafael Coronel Rivera. Weighing in at 19 pounds, the book is at times difficult to handle. Book supports are available at the reference desk, to cradle this heavy tome. ND259.R5 A4 2007