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Jane Livingston (Editor), Andrea Liguori (Editor)
Description: Richard Diebenkorn: The Catalogue Raisonné (Volume 1: Essays and References)
Volume 1 of the catalogue raisonné includes five interpretive essays by scholars of Richard Diebenkorn’s work, a chronology of the artist’s life, and four exhaustive reference documents...
Author
Jane Livingston (Editor), Andrea Liguori (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
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Usage Guide
Volume 1
Volume 1 of the catalogue raisonné includes five interpretive essays by scholars of Richard Diebenkorn’s work, a chronology of the artist’s life, and four exhaustive reference documents. The sections titled “Studio Notes,” “Interviews and Statements by the Artist,” “Exhibitions,” and “Bibliography” are at once broadly inclusive and narrowly detailed; what we left out has been judged to be either insignificant or redundant. Although they do not quite provide a cultural history of Richard Diebenkorn’s artistic era, together they present a complex and deeply researched resource for anyone wishing to understand the artist’s life and career in the context of their place and time. Information that will help the reader use the chronology and reference documents is given at the beginning of each section. Throughout the essays and chronology in volume 1, many individuals are mentioned whose life dates are important; these dates appear in the general index.
Guide to the Catalogue Entries
The Richard Diebenkorn catalogue raisonné documents all of the artist’s unique works, including sketches; drawings; paintings on paper, board, or canvas; and sculptural objects known to the editors, project staff, and Catalogue Raisonné Committee. It is of course possible that works, even beyond ones we have indicated as whereabouts unknown, may emerge after the publication. Any additions or revisions to the catalogue raisonné after the publication of these volumes may be addressed through the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation website.
The entries are organized chronologically, grouped by medium. Within each year, drawings generally precede paintings and three-dimensional objects. Sixty-seven of approximately 150 works classified as juvenilia are included; monotypes have been excluded but will be included with print editions in a future publication.
TITLES
Diebenkorn rarely attached titles other than numbers or place names to his works. When an inscription by the artist on the back of a painting clearly indicates a title, we have used the inscribed title as the work’s title; full inscriptions, including such titles, are given in the inscriptions field in the entries. When researchers could not view the back of a work to verify that a title appears there, that work’s title, though it may exist as an inscription, is included only as the title. Numbers used in titles of paintings are assumed to be those assigned by the artist.
On rare occasions the artist titled works deliberately, and enigmatically, as with A Day at the Race (cat. 1242) or The Green Huntsman (cat. 1163). Even more rarely, he conveyed his intentions in a title, as in Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad (cat. 3642). Diebenkorn, and in some cases even other people, gave some works descriptive titles, such as Yellow Porch (cat. 3163) or Scissors and Lemon (cat. 2712), which were attached as a matter of convenience. “Other known titles” are listed when a work has historically been known by a title the artist did not assign to it. These are accompanied by the origin of the first known use of the title.
DATES
The artist did not physically date many of his works, especially works on paper; we supply dates he did notate on the work in the inscriptions field. In most cases, we can date works without inscribed dates to the year they were made based on circumstantial evidence, such as their appearance in a documented exhibition or studio photograph, or their association for the artist’s family with a particular location or event. For those works without an inscribed date and not definitively attributable to a given year, or even a given period, the editors have assigned circa dates, which have been approved by the family whenever possible. In each volume a number of works are catalogued as “n.d.” (no date) because they have been deemed too difficult to date even in a relatively wide range. Besides the n.d.-designated works incorporated sequentially within each volume, a group of undated works appears at the end of each volume.
MEDIUM
The medium given for each object is based on examination by the editors and family members, or by owners in response to our requests. The great majority of works are on paper, and their media are listed in order of prominence. In general, the term watercolor is used for a wide variety of media and sometimes includes what some would call gouache. Gouache is most often employed when the medium has been traditionally described as such by one or more owners. Ink refers to both linear and wash applications. Crayon includes every subdivision of the medium except Conté crayon, which is specified when known; graphite encompasses various pencils; and charcoal is identified when it is clearly evident. The term acrylic was used by the artist, and here it describes what is sometimes now called synthetic polymer.
Diebenkorn often used cut and pasted or taped elements in his works on paper. A few are clearly collages. Most of these works are not so profusely restructured as to be firmly labeled collages. Artworks that are not labeled collages, but contain cut and/or torn elements adhered to their surfaces, include the term pasted in their medium descriptions. When a section of paper is glued or taped to an edge of the original sheet to create a continuous rectangular or square surface, it is termed joined. Paper tape or masking tape is included as a medium when it is used on the recto of a work. Pasted paper in which surface color is inherent is termed manufactured colored paper. When a fragment of a word or image is incorporated, it is termed printed paper.
In general, paper brands or colors, or various types of boards, are not specified even when identifiable by sight, or by watermarks or other indicators. The artist tended to use standard art papers throughout his career. Works made on Mother’s Cookies (a thick coated surface he liked) or Pennzoil poster board are respectively referred to as “poster board (Mother’s Cookies)” and “poster board (Pennzoil).” He made a few works on translucent polyester sheets, which are noted as such. Other unconventional supports are also documented, including, but not limited to, a paper vinyl-record sleeve, calendar pages, and cigar box lids.
DIMENSIONS
Object dimensions are presented in inches, height preceding width, followed by their metric equivalents in parentheses. Dimensions are indicated in increments of one-eighth of an inch. Irregularly shaped works are described by their maximum dimension.
INSCRIPTIONS
All inscriptions in the artist’s hand on the front and back of a work are transcribed, with a slash mark used to indicate a line break. Words or phrases written by the artist in uppercase letters are transcribed as small capitals. Symbols and words indicating the work’s axis of orientation, and texts in the artist’s hand, such as titles and dedications, are included. The location of each recto inscription is identified (lower or upper right, left, or center); verso inscriptions are noted as “on reverse.” In the absence of an inscription, or when an inscription might exist on the back of an object that cannot be inspected, the catalogue entry does not include an inscription category. When an inscription is written on a mount that is not reproduced, it is transcribed in the entry text.
COLLECTION CREDITS AND PROVENANCE
Provenance was researched between the years 2000 and 2013. Diebenkorn owners as listed in these volumes reflect our knowledge as of the research cutoff date for each volume. The final dates for provenance research were: volume 2, 1 December 2012; volume 3, 1 June 2013; and volume 4, 31 December 2013. The owner of each work and the location, if authorized, are provided, followed by a full provenance history. The list of previous owners is given in chronological order, earliest to most recent. Galleries, dealers, consultants, or auction houses who held works on consignment or as agents appear in square brackets.
Private collection and Private collection (unverified): Every attempt was made to locate and contact the owner of each work, and identifying credits are recorded as directed by the owners. Owners who requested anonymity are cited as “private collection.” We could not locate some privately owned works and their owners, but we identified and contacted the selling agents of the works. In cases in which the gallery, dealer, or auction house attested to the sale of a work but we were not able to contact its owner, the qualifying term “(unverified)” is applied.
Provenance gaps: A single, known gap in provenance is indicated by an ellipsis in square brackets [ . . . ]. When a link between owners cannot be confirmed or denied, a question mark in parentheses (?) is used to indicate this possible gap in provenance.
Present owner unknown: In the absence of confirmation of continued ownership by an individual or his agent, “present owner unknown” is noted. In such cases the researchers were unable to confirm that a work is presently owned by the party who acquired it from the last identified owner or agent. The same phrase applies to works whose continued existence we were unable to verify.
Whereabouts unknown: Some works are known to the researchers only through a studio or installation photograph, slide, or published reference. There are a few extant photographs taken in the studio by the artist of works that appear to have been lost but were probably destroyed or painted over. Another few works remain unaccounted for but appear in early exhibition checklists. None of these works has a record of sale, and in that respect, they are different from works catalogued as “present owner unknown.” All works designated “whereabouts unknown” are listed in the “Index of Owners” section in volume 1.
Archival Study Collection: Some works have been designated for purposes of research and study only and will not be sold by the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation or Estate.
EXHIBITIONS
Select permanent collection exhibitions that were presented with titles and had published beginning and ending dates have been included in exhibition histories. We cite exhibitions with one venue in full. Exhibitions with two or more venues are identified in the entries as “traveling” and listed under the organizing venue or initial venue; the full list of venues for each exhibition appears in the “Exhibitions” section in volume 1.
Exhibitions research was terminated at a different date for each volume. Therefore volume 2 catalogue entries include exhibitions that opened by 1 December 2012; volume 3 entries, by 31 December 2013; and volume 4 entries, by 1 June 2015. A few exhibitions that do not appear in the catalogue entries may be found in “Exhibitions” in volume 1.
REFERENCES
A number of references included in catalogue entries do not appear in the bibliography in volume 1 because they are not substantive beyond the object cited or reproduced. Two publications are listed in abbreviated forms: newlin monograph 1987 refers to Richard Newlin, Richard Diebenkorn: Works on Paper (Houston: Houston Fine Art Press, 1987); and norland monograph 1987 refers to Gerald Nordland, Richard Diebenkorn (New York: Rizzoli International, 1987; revised edition 2001).
CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ AND RD NUMBERS
Each object is assigned a catalogue raisonné number that appears at the beginning of the catalogue entry. The objects are numbered based on the sequence of appearance in the catalogue raisonné.
In addition, each object is identified by an RD (Richard Diebenkorn) number at the end of the entry. The RD numbers are nonsequential identification numbers assigned by cataloguers beginning in 1996. These numbers serve as the primary identifiers for all original works, including those in archival collections, and are coded to all digital documentation held in the artist’s archives. They accompany Diebenkorn works shown and sold by galleries and at auction from 1996 to 2015, with the exception of editioned prints.
IMAGES
Ninety-five percent of the nearly 5,000 images in volumes 2, 3, and 4 have been digitally photographed between 2002 and 2015 expressly for this project. All of those images and ones made from older transparencies are reproduced here in full color. A consistent technology has been used for both taking and printing the new photographs. For more information about the photography process see “Notes on Photography.”
Credits for images provided by sources other than the catalogue raisonné staff appear in the photography credits at the end of volume 1.
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