'New Thinking About the Catalogue Raisonné'  ICRA Conference, January 2025 

• Limited number of in-person seats available 
• Discounts for ICRA members 
• Tickets cover the full day of talks, panels and presentations and include refreshments, hot lunch and a post-conference drinks reception. 
• The conference will be streamed live for those unable to attend in person; these tickets are also discounted for members.

If you’d like to apply for membership of ICRA to access reduced price tickets and other members events, please click here  or contact us at info@icra.art

About:

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—to 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 democratized information but at the same time has its own sets of risks regarding website technology and sustainability. And the traditional print catalogue raisonné, such as those published by Yale University Press and Art Publishing Inc., continue to have an enduring value and has lasted for centuries. Why 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?

Among the confirmed speakers and panellists are:

Keynote: Digital Benin: Anne Luther + Godfrey Ekhator in discussion with Alex Morrison, COGAPP

Mark Eastment, Editorial Director: Art and Architecture. Yale University Press London.

Toby Treves, Founder, Art Publishing Inc., previously a collection's curator at Tate, co-author: Lucian Freud: Catalogue Raisonné of the Prints, 2022 and Peter Lanyon: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings and Three-dimensional Objects, 2018, Lucian Freud: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 2025.

Martin Postle, Senior Research Fellow, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, co-author: Sir Joshua Reynolds: A complete catalogue of his paintings, 2000 and upcoming Joseph Wright of Darby catalogue raisonné.

Susan J. Cooke, Art Historian, Research Editor, David Smith Sculpture: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1932–1965, 2021 and Editor, David Smith: Collected Writings, Lectures, and Interviews, 2018.

Lisa Le Feuvre, Executive Director of Holt/Smithson Foundation.

Adam Lowe, Director & Founder, Factum Arte & Factum Foundation

Arie Hartog, Director, Gerhard-Marcks-Haus and author: Hans Arp Sculpture: A Critical Survey and Sophie-Tauber Arp Oeuvre Catalogue/

Marin R. Sullivan, Director of Research and the Harry Bertoia Catalogue Raisonné, Harry Bertoia Foundation

Leslie Koot and Julia May Boddewyn, Founding Directors, Modigliani Initiative

Elizabeth Gorayeb, Executive Director, Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Tom Wesselman Digital Corpus, Gauguin, Monet and Renoir digital Catalogue raisonnés.

Huffa Frobes-Cross, Project Manager, Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Tom Wesselmann Digital Corpus & Florine Stettheimer Catalogue Raisonné.

Benno Tempel, General Director, Kröller Müller Museum, Partner Van Gogh Worldwide

Sebastiano Barassi, Head of Henry Moore Collection & Programmes

Frances Fowle, Emeritus Professor of Nineteenth-Century Art, University of Edinburgh, co-author (with Michael Clarke) of French Paintings 1500-1900 National Galleries of Scotland, 2022

Giovanna Bertazzoni, Chairman, Christie’s Europe

Amanda Grey, Art Lawyer, Partner, Mishcon de Reya

Simon Chadwick, Art Lawyer, Partner, Mishcon de Reya

Andrea Rose, Author, Leon Kossoff: Catalogue Raisonne of the Oil Paintings, 2021

With thanks to our sponsors Mishcon de Reya, Christie's and cogapp for their generous support. 

ICRA Board of Directors

Sharon Hecker, Chair

Matthew Stephenson, Deputy Chair

Alex Morrison

Edith Devaney

Sarah Davis