Note to the Reader

Percy, Ann

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Note to the Reader

Ann Percy (Editor)

James Castle: A Retrospective

Note to the Reader

Author

Ann Percy (Editor)

PublisherPhiladelphia Museum of Art

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23015

Note to the Reader

Titles

The works by James Castle appearing in this catalogue are untitled, as the artist, lacking spoken or written language, did not title them. For purposes of identification each object has been given a descriptive title. When a specific typography, whether drawn or collaged, appears on a work, such as on Castle’s book covers or in his word pieces, that typography has been mimicked in the title description.

Dates

Castle’s large oeuvre is almost entirely undated. As is discussed in the first essay, he did not date his works, and although many of the found papers he used for his supports bear dates or can be dated, we cannot be certain that he used these papers right away, since he often kept materials and supplies for some time. His supports therefore provide only a terminus post quem for the work they carry.

Materials

All of Castle’s works were created using found materials. He employed recycled papers and cardboards as drawing supports and as materials for constructions and books, and his primary drawing medium was a mixture of stove soot and saliva. He also created color works, deriving his color from found and occasionally from store-bought materials, as the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s paper conservators and conservation scientists have been able to demonstrate for the first time. Their technical examination and scientific analyses of a number of Castle’s works, as well as of some of the working materials saved by his family after his death, have allowed us to provide more accurate descriptions of the artist’s works than was possible heretofore. Full medium descriptions appear in the Checklist of the Exhibition, with shortened forms employed in the illustration captions throughout the catalogue. While most of the medium descriptions were developed from examination of the actual works of art, many had to be derived from photographs. The latter may include inaccuracies or irregularities that will require revision in the future.

Dimensions

Dimensions are given in both inches and centimeters, with height proceeding width. Castle’s constructions are treated as flat works, since their depth is negligible. Book dimensions describe individual pages. All works were measured in inches, with these dimensions converted to centimeters after the fact. The conditions for taking the measurements varied, so that complete accuracy was not always possible, particularly given the irregular outlines of most of Castle’s supports. Measurements were thus rounded to an eighth of an inch so as not to imply a preciseness that was seldom achievable (sight measurements taken of framed pieces are indicated as such).

Checklist of the Exhibition

In the checklist, works are grouped both by medium (those executed in soot and spit, in color, as collaged or drawn text works, as paper and cardboard constructions, and as handmade books) and by subject (farmscapes, interiors, figures, objects, and so on). The checklist is numbered for ease of use; these numbers do not reflect the way the works were displayed in the exhibition.

In the medium descriptions, “gray/tan cardboard” refers to cardboard that is gray on one side and tan on the other side.

Castle often drew on the backs of his pieces; these drawings have been described in the checklist whenever the verso was visible to the cataloguer. Similarly, when it could be determined that the artist used printed paper or cardboard supports, such as product packaging, this has been noted in the medium descriptions.

The six-digit numbers assigned to each of Castle’s works by the J Crist Gallery when the artist’s oeuvre was placed under their care (e.g., 0156.40) are included in the checklist, located in the next-to-last line of the entry, above the figure number. Works that entered collections before this time were not assigned an inventory number.

Notes

The acronym FSTAART stands for Foundation for Self-Taught American Artists.

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