The forum for scholars and professionals engaged in catalogue raisonné projects
Forthcoming Events
We are pleased to announce that our annual conference will be dedicated to the theme of ‘New Thinking About the Catalogue Raisonné’.
The conference will be held January 9, 2025, at Mishcon de Reya, Africa House, 70 Kingsway, London.
The event will be held both in-person and via online streaming.
Today, the field of cataloguing artworks is rapidly expanding and changing. New models continue to appear, from the Wildenstein Plattner Institute’s “Digital Corpus” to the Holt/Smithson Foundation's “Atlas" - which aims to catalogue a husband-and-wife artist pair; from the Hans Arp “Critical Survey” and Sophie Tauber-Arp online “Oeuvre Catalogue” to the “Modigliani Initiative”, we are witnessing a critical expansion beyond the term “catalogue raisonné” as well as a serious rethinking of its traditional and current approaches and uses. Reconsidering the role of the single independent expert on an artist, museums are now becoming involved and partnering in cataloguing oeuvres of artists (Rothko and Louise Bourgeois Works on Paper) and, in some cases, groups of museums are joining forces for this purpose, as in the “Van Gogh Worldwide Resource”. Digital scanning and 3-D copies of objects, such as those by Factum Foundation, offer an alternative approach to cataloguing and documenting art. Further, the digital turn to online catalogues has democratised information but at the same time has its own sets of risks regarding website technology and sustainability. Why and how are some contemporary archives, estates, and living artists rethinking the catalogue raisonné’s format and purpose? Why do so few women and non-binary artists have traditional catalogues? What can we learn from non-Western approaches, such as the Benin Digital Project or cataloguing of Native American art? What legal issues arise when we rethink the catalogue raisonné as a genre and topos, and how will this in turn affect the art market?
Keynote Address: Benin Digital Project
We are grateful to cogapp and Christie's for their generous support of the conference.
Conference Sponsors
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Recent Events
Spotlight on Authentication: Legal Issues and the Catalogue Raisonné
The International Catalogue Raisonné Association (ICRA) and the Art Lawyers Association (ALA) are delighted to invite you to this joint online panel discussion on Wednesday 23rd October, 2024 at 16.00 BST
Join ICRA and a distinguished panel of art lawyers from the ALA to discuss authentications and catalogues raisonnés from a legal perspective, focusing on the question of: “to authenticate or not?"
Many of our authors, artists, consultants, lawyers and estates have questions about this, and we had no time to get into the topic during the previous Spotlight. Many, as we know, are no longer authenticating and some lawyers are no longer advising authentication of artworks - why? What is at stake? Others still believe it is the only way. Is there a shift going on in the field of legal thinking about authentication? Are there landmark cases? Where does that leave catalogues raisonnés and their authors (including living artists preparing their own CR)?
You may register to attend the event by clicking here or find out more
Legal Issues and the Catalogue Raisonné
The International Catalogue Raisonné Association and the Art Lawyers Association are delighted to invite you to a joint online Spotlight on Legal Issues and the Catalogue Raisonné.
The session will be introduced by ICRA Chair Sharon Hecker and moderated by ICRA Board member Sarah Davis. Our distinguished panellists will be Steven Schindler (Founding Partner, Schindler Cohen & Hochman LLP), Pierre Valentin (Art Lawyer and CoFounder of ICRA), Amanda Gray (Partner, Mishcon de Reya LLP), and Martin Wilson (Chief Legal Counsel and Head of Fiduciary Services, Phillips).
Drawing Room Visit
Building on the success of the 2023 ICRA Annual conference, ‘On Paper’, ICRA would like to invite you to join Sharon Hecker, Matthew Stephenson and ICRA Board members on a visit to the new home of Drawing Room in Bermondsey to see the Drawing Biennial on Thursday 27th June
Visit to Louise Bourgeois' Easton Foundation
Image: Louise Bourgeois in the backyard of her home, New York, 1980. Photo: Mark Setteducati, © The Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Further to the ICRA December 2023 Annual Conference ‘On Paper’ and the presentation by Sewon Kang, archivist and cataloguer of Louise Bourgeois: The Complete Prints & Books, ICRA would like to invite members to join Sharon Hecker and Matthew Stephenson on a visit to the Easton Foundation and townhouse of Louise Bourgeois on 3rd May at 10.30am at 349 West 20th Street, New York.
Sewon will lead the visit, which usually lasts an hour. Due to the intimate nature of Bourgeois’s house, places are limited to ten places and offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Easton Foundation was established by Louise Bourgeois in the 1980s as a non-profit and charitable organization. Upon her death in 2010, at the age of 98, Bourgeois bequeathed her home and an adjacent townhouse to become the Foundation’s center.
For select visitors, the Foundation is pleased to present a comprehensive survey of photographs, exhibition announcements, and personal writings from Bourgeois’s life and career. These documents hint at the breadth and scope of the Louise Bourgeois Archive, and provide unique insight to the artist’s creative process. A selection of Bourgeois’s artworks from the Foundation’s extensive collection will also be on display, and the backyard sculpture garden will be open, weather permitting. In addition, Louise Bourgeois’s home, where many works were conceived or made, will be accessible by guided tour.
ICRA is a not-for-profit members’ association that brings together those involved in the creation, writing, editing, designing and production of catalogues raisonnés.
We facilitate collaboration between projects, the exchange of information about the technical and practical aspects of making a catalogue raisonné, the mentoring of the next generation of scholars, and the support of artists, their estates, collectors and the market on the challenges and responsibilities of creating catalogues raisonnés.
ICRA hosts events throughout the year for the benefit of its members including an annual conference.
For details of upcoming and past events please visit our Events page.
Many of the sessions from our annual conference were filmed and are available on our Youtube channel.