Digital-Born Catalogues Raisonnés and Networked Art Histories

Abstract

Catalogue raisonné projects published solely in hard-copy formats represent more traditional—dare I say, market-driven and sustaining—approaches in the field of art history, whereas digital iterations might enable a reimagining of the genre itself. As a form, the catalogue raisonné obviously privileges maker-centered methodologies and, in paper versions, especially affirms positivist approaches by aiming to embody the authoritative, final reference on a given artist. Such print projects often materialize this authority through the inclusion of heavy, oversize tomes, luxurious color illustrations, and multiple volumes. As physically manifested in the outcome, these scholarly enterprises are time consuming, expensive, prestigious, and not intended to be (at least frequently) revisited or redone. Digital-born editions, in contrast, are flexible, living, and adaptive, enabling the incorporation of, or at least connection to, other critical questions beyond production. When digitally conceived, could a catalogue raisonné exist in a larger network of methodological concerns, spaces, and epistemologies that might expand both the stakes and the number of stakeholders involved?