Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 12
For example:
The abbreviated form for an exhibition catalogue in the
Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1967 (circulating), Buenos Aires,
References gives the venue, exh. cat., and year, not separated by
cat. no. 6; Caracas, cat. no. 61; Bogotá, cat. no. 61; Mexico City, cat.
commas.
no. 6.
Errors or discrepancies in titles are cited in the references when
When the same institution originates two or more exhibitions in
the same year, the year is preceded by the month the exhibition started,
as a way of differentiating between the two exhibitions.
relevant, and alternative titles and foreign languages are also noted.
Auction catalogues are cited under Provenance rather than
under Exhibitions or References.
When the same institution originates two or more exhibitions in
the same month of the same year, the title of the exhibition is included
comments
along with the month and the year.
The Comments on the individual works are not interpretive in the
For example:
broad sense but are meant to clarify fairly specific issues. These
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell, September
include the following: variations in titles and dates; revisions and
1965 (traveling).
reworkings; information about early states; the sources and signifi-
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Robert Motherwell:Works on Paper,
cance of titles, including literary allusions and references; statements
September 1965 (circulating).
by Motherwell about the work; any special circumstances (such as a
If an exhibition did not have a proper catalogue, but only a
commission) surrounding the work’s inception or installation; the
checklist or a brochure, the expression “cat. no.” is nonetheless used to
sources of collage elements; and conservation or condition issues.
designate the numbers given in the exhibition checklist or other ephem-
For series of works done around the same time, the main body
era (our source for the “cat. no.” is described in the List of Exhibitions).
of information about the series is generally given in the Comments for
Errors or discrepancies in titles are noted as erroneous when
relevant. If a work was shown under an alternative title, this is noted in
Exhibitions, and foreign titles are also noted and translated.
the first work (or the first numbered work) in the series.
If a work is illustrated with a reproduction that is not of normal
quality and format, the source of the reproduction is mentioned in the
Comments (that it is from a Polaroid or black-and-white photograph,
references
for example, or from an auction catalogue or a color slide).
The References are listed in an abbreviated form, by author and year,
Photographs have provided important information about
and are arranged chronologically and alphabetically within each year.
the revision and dating of works. Unless stated otherwise, studio pho-
The abbreviated form corresponds to the author and year listed in the
tographs are from the Dedalus Foundation Archives. For photographs
full citation located in the Bibliography (see volume 1), which is also
taken by professional photographers, we cite the photographer’s
organized chronologically and alphabetically within each year by the
archive numbers whenever possible. Motherwell gave his own inven-
author and year. Each citation in the References includes the page
tory numbers to his prints of the photographs taken by Peter A. Juley
numbers on which the work is discussed, illustrated, or both.
& Son, which we cite; the Smithsonian American Art Museum has
When an author is cited in two or more references within a
subsequently posted the Juley photographs on its web site, using
given year, the citations are differentiated with the letters a, b, c, and
Juley’s negative numbers. So for Juley photographs we give both
so forth; these do not indicate order of importance, but rather how
Motherwell’s archive number for the print (which sometimes had cru-
the citations are alphabetized in the Bibliography.
cial information written on the verso) and the Smithsonian American
When Motherwell is quoted discussing a work in a published
Art Museum number, which always starts with “j000.” (In a few
source, this is indicated by an abbreviated form that contains
instances, there was no Motherwell archive number or no Smithsonian
Motherwell’s name and the source and year. The full citations for such
American Art Museum negative number; in those cases only a single
references are located in “Writings by the Artist,” in the Bibliography.
number is given.)
When a work is reproduced only as a comparative figure in an
When we describe a photograph as “early,” we mean that it
exhibition catalogue, or when it is listed in the catalogue but did not
was taken early in the work’s history—that is, at a time close to the
appear in the exhibition, the citation is given under References rather
creation of the work, or of a state of the work.
than in Exhibitions. (In citations to exhibition catalogues, only works
that were exhibited are listed under Exhibitions.) But in such a case,
the full citation to the exhibition catalogue will be found in the List of
Exhibitions rather than in the Bibliography.
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key to the catal o gu e e n t r i e s
