The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler: A Catalogue Raisonné
- Submitting institution
-
University of Glasgow
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 32-02029
- Type
- H - Website content
- Month
- December
- Year
- 2020
- URL
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http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/180696/
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
1
- Research group(s)
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-
- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- This website contains 1000–15000-word entries on over 550 paintings worldwide, plus a catalogue of 1700 drawings, related period reviews, correspondence, and secondary literature. Developed over 7 years, it is an output from a project which began 40 years ago with MacDonald’s contribution to the 1980 Whistler Paintings catalogue raisonné (see statement on overlap). As an online resource enabling interrogation of Whistler’s paintings from multiple perspectives, linked to associated drawings, correspondence, exhibitions, reviews, technical data and analysis, it represents the results of complex and extended process of research, supported by awards from the Leverhulme Trust and the Lunder Foundation.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The output totally rewrites, re-organises, extends and updates MacDonald et al’s 1980 catalogue raisonné (Yale) to include extensive annotations, illustrations, and search mechanisms for paintings, titles, names, exhibitions, collections, etc. Works missing from the 1980 publication are included, plus re-attributions, refined/altered dates, exhibition reviews, identification of exhibits, sitters, and collectors, and links to correspondence and biographies in https://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence/, and https://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk/. Other new features include technical analysis of Glasgow, Tate, and other paintings. A linked summary catalogue of works on paper (based on, and extending her 1995 Yale catalogue raisonné is being added by MacDonald (for completion late 2021).
MacDonald wrote and edited this new catalogue raisonné and co-ordinated the work of the team of scholars, curators and conservators who contributed to the website (Dr. Petri, bibliography and digital image processing; Dr Townsend, medium and technique analysis in Tate and Glasgow holdings; Parkerson, picture frame analysis). She also prepared the new summary catalogue of works on paper, cross-referenced, and attached to the paintings, fully illustrated , with new attributions, dates, and updated provenance, that forms part of the output.
MacDonald authenticated (or demoted) and dated works, added contemporary exhibition reviews, plus recent scholarly discussions, checked and quoted from Whistler’s extensive correspondence of 10,000 documents, updated the bibliography, fully annotated and cross-referenced works.
The project benefitted from active collaboration with scholars, curators and conservators, and Glasgow colleagues. The principal remit of co-author Dr Petri (Hon. Research Fellow, GU) was to prepare a bibliography, including catalogues and journals, marked-up as ‘entities’ within the scheme designed by GU computer consultant Graeme Cannon. Major recent publications were consulted and referenced by MacDonald and Petri, and Petri also took and/or processed digital images (including rare archival images) and helped MacDonald investigate the exhibition history of some paintings, particularly Nocturnes. Dr Joyce Townsend (Tate Conservation; Hon. Prof. Research Fellow, GU) analysed the medium and technique of Tate and Glasgow paintings and checked MacDonald’s descriptions of techniques. Major recent innovations in technical analysis are reflected in the Glasgow painting findings, plus recent research by the Art Institute of Chicago and others. Dr Parkerson wrote a technical analysis of many picture frames and MacDonald added historical context.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -