‎Cy Twombly, Edited by Nicola Del Roscio. Text by Arthur Danto‎
‎Cy Twombly: Catalogue Raisonn of Sculpture, Vol. I+II (complete set) ‎

‎Munich, Schirmer / Mosel, 2019 Two volumes, each in their own slipcase, linen binding and dustjacket, 349 + 352 pages, 35 x 26 cm, fully illustrated. English edition. ISBN 3888148758.‎

Reference : 68284

‎Cy Twombly Catalogue Raisonn of Sculpture Volume I, 1946?1997 Cy Twombly Catalogue Raisonn of Sculpture Vol. I encompasses the period from Twombly?s earliest sculptures to 1997, the date of publication. The introductory text by Arthur Danto, ?Monuments and Metamorphoses: The Sculptures of Cy Twombly,? centers on the transformations and metamorphoses Twombly enacted in producing his sculptures, offering a sustained consideration of the relationship between materiality and content. Danto characterizes Twombly as engaging in ?transformative play? (16), allowing the sculptures to be simultaneously abstract and representational. He also considers Twombly?s use of found objects and refuse, the Platonic and Homeric references in the sculptures, and the relationships between Twombly?s much better-known paintings and the then-rarely exhibited sculptures. Danto argues that the sculptures assume a uniquely significatory role in Twombly?s practice, existing in more legible relationships to Twombly?s beloved myths and historical references than his work in other media through the transformations of readymade materials. This essay is likely to be of particular interest to scholars researching Cycnus (1978), which Danto considers throughout. The entries in this volume of the catalogue raisonn will be of special interest to scholars and students researching Twombly?s recurring sculptural motifs, including panpipes, palm leaves, columns, and carts or chariots. The volume also highlights the many direct connections to his painting practice throughout the same time period, with the same subjects explored in multiple media: e.g., Orpheus serves as a subject of a 1979 sculpture as well as multiple paintings produced in the 1970s, and Twombly?s interest in boats surfaces in sculptures such as Winter?s Passage: Luxor (1985) synchronously with its sustained emergence in his paintings. Though his use of white to ?unify? his sculptures?as Danto and others term it?is prevalent throughout, this volume also meticulously catalogues Twombly?s use of polychromy. This ranges from small traces on otherwise-white sculptures to other relatively unknown but exceptionally vibrant works. His engagements with both Greco-Roman antiquity?especially Homer?and Egyptian mythology are prevalent throughout. Eight entries of sculptures completed before 1950 also offer a rare glimpse into Twombly?s early practice. The catalogue raisonn is an indispensable specialist resource for students and scholars researching any of these core features of Twombly?s practice. This volume is also particularly useful to those focusing on the artist?s time in Rome, Bassano in Teverina, Gaeta, and Jupiter Island, Florida; those focused on the artist?s time in Lexington, VA should primarily reference vol. II. For further reading, Kate Nesin?s Cy Twombly?s Things (2014) provides a foundational account of the sculptures and their materiality; the catalogues raisonn s and Nesin?s text together provide a vital orientation for scholars researching any component of Twombly?s sculptural practice. Achim Hochd rfer?s Cy Twombly: Das Skulpturale Werk (2001) also offers a detailed and productive account of the sculptures. Cy Twombly Catalogue Raisonn of Sculpture Volume II, 1998?2011 Cy Twombly Catalogue Raisonn of Sculpture Vol. II includes sculptures produced from 1998 until the artist?s passing in 2011. The introductory text by Nicola Del Roscio offers a vital account of the sculptures ?based, not just on curatorial or statistical facts, but on what Cy said about his works and circumstances, memories and experiences that infused their meaning? (7). Del Roscio also explores the connections between Twombly?s sculptures and his works in other media (e.g., photography) and references embedded in the sculptures (e.g., the Gaeta skyline) that might otherwise be opaque to those without similar firsthand knowledge of Twombly?s practice. The connections Twombly drew between his sculptures and nature, as well as his working practices in producing them (?practical, immediate, and of a pitiful brutality? [13]) are addressed throughout. This later set of sculptures includes rare instances of fully polychromatic sculptures without any white paint (e.g., Turkish Delight, 2000), many of which reflect a major thematic concern with Middle Eastern references present throughout the later sculptures. These are contextualized alongside the more austere white sculptures for which Twombly is best known. Though primarily of interest to researchers interested in the sculptures themselves, this volume also provides many vital connections to other aspects of Twombly?s practice. See e.g., the entry for Untitled (2001, cat. no. 43), which notes that ?the colored paper tissues [used in the sculpture] are leftovers the artist used to dry the paint during the production of his series Lepanto? (100). Despite consistent returns to funerary themes, many of the sculptures are lighthearted and witty, embodying what Danto calls ?a pervasive spirit of play? (15) in his introduction to Vol. I. The catalogue includes exceptional sections of particular interest, including a selection of tombstones the artist designed for close friends?echoing the funerary themes present throughout many of the sculptures?and a selection of rejected and unfinished sculptures, both of which will be of interest to researchers focusing on the artist?s process. This catalogue will also be helpful for scholars researching Twombly?s time in Lexington, Virginia and Pfaffikon, Switzerland, where many of these sculptures were produced. Many sculptures in both Vols. I and II were produced in Twombly?s residences in Italy as well (note, however, that most in Vol. II were produced in Gaeta rather than Rome or Bassano in Teverina). Vol. II also includes biographical notes, lists of one person exhibitions, one person exhibition catalogues, group exhibitions, group exhibition catalogues, monographs, and general literature (until 2019). As with volume I, this is an indispensable reference for students and scholars working on the sculptures or on any of their thematic and material connections to the rest of Twombly?s practice. For further reading, see Kate Nesin?s Cy Twombly?s Things (2014), a foundational account of the sculptures and their materiality. The catalogues raisonn s and Nesin?s text together provide a vital orientation for scholars researching any component of Twombly?s sculptural practice. Achim Hochd rfer?s Cy Twombly: Das Skulpturale Werk (2001) also offers a detailed and productive account of the sculptures.‎