We’re pleased to announce the launch of the WPI Digital Library, a resource long envisioned by the teams at the Wildenstein Plattner Institute and Navigating.art. The Digital Library’s collection comprises digitized sales catalogues, exhibition catalogues, and catalogues raisonnés with a focus on paintings, drawings, sculpture, and prints by European artists active from the 18th through the 20th century.
The Digital Library integrates the vast collection of sales catalogues previously on the WPI Sales Catalogues Database, forty-seven catalogues raisonnés and artist monographs published by the historic Wildenstein Institute, and, available to the public for the first time, 972 exhibition catalogues of exhibitions held at the Wildenstein Galleries from 1911 to 2012, totaling over 25,000 digitized publications. The Digital Library will expand its holdings as the WPI continues to identify and prepare additional resources, including books, exhibition catalogues, periodicals, artists’ monographs, and catalogues raisonnés.
In addition to the features that were available on the Sales Catalogues Database (i.e., detailed indexing, full-text search capabilities, high-quality digitized images), the Digital Library offers:
- Expanded search filters
- Advanced search results sorting
- More comprehensive metadata, including OCLC numbers for select publications
- Full-text OCR search across all publications in multiple languages
- …and continued development of features as Digital Library resources are integrated with other WPI digital catalogues raisonnés and archives
This incredible digital resource not only offers researchers an improved interface and search management, it also serves as a foundational infrastructure for resource-sharing across WPI digital projects and other institutions. For an in-depth look at the Library’s design and features, visit Navigating.art for “Advancing free scholarly access to art historical research materials: announcing the WPI Digital Library”.
Exhibition Catalogues: Available for the First time
The Digital Library is home to a collection of 972 exhibition catalogues, published by the Wildenstein Gallery from 1911 to 2012. While the Wildensteins are known primarily for their galleries in Paris and New York, they also maintained locations in Tokyo, Buenos Aires, and London. This collection also features an assortment of catalogues that document Wildenstein exhibitions organized with international partner institutions in Houston, Texas; Lima, Peru; and Johannesburg, South Africa—just to name a few. This expansive collection helps trace the impact of the Wildenstein Gallery on the international art market. Find a selection of catalogues from this collection below.
Churyo Sato
While many of exhibitions held at Wildenstein Tokyo showcased the work of French masters (such as Albert Marquet, Camille Corot, and Raoul Dufy), a couple were dedicated to Japanese artists, including the sculptor Churyo Sato in 2012 — the year after his death. He worked primarily in bronze to create his representational and naturalist sculptures, inspiring frequent comparisons to Rodin. The catalogue’s introduction notes that the “Wildenstein & Co. in New York hosted the first Sato exhibition in the United States” in 1983 — also available on the Digital Library. The catalogue for the New York City exhibition includes an essay by Masayoshi Honma, which delves into Sato’s personal history as both an artist and prisoner of war.
Luciano Ventrone
At the London Gallery on Bond Street, from May 8–31, 1989, Wildenstein & Co. presented a series of still lifes by the Italian master Luciano Ventrone, whose “paintings must be considered within the context of the cultural and art-historical moment of their creation, a moment of strong reaction — which began in the early seventies — against the non-figurative, or abstract, language which then had absolutely predominance in Italy and the western world.” Cabbages, grapes, fig leaves, pomegranates, melons…are all arranged and rendered with startling precision. Though the artist himself would refute the label of “hyperrealist”, each work can easily be mistaken for a photograph. The catalogue features each still life reproduced in full color, and an introduction by renowned art historian and specialist in Italian Renaissance painting Federico Zeri.
Vilhelm Hammershøi
The retrospective Vilhelm Hammershøi: Painter of Stillness and Light was held at the Wildenstein & Co. New York gallery for the month of January 1983 before traveling to The Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. (February 12–March 27, 1983). Directed by Hanne Finsen (Director of the Ordrupgaard Collection in Copenhagen), this show is an exceptional example of joint intention and cultural diplomacy. Finsen documents Hammershøi’s ebb and flow of acclaim in both his native Denmark and abroad in her foreword; Danish novelist Thorkild Hansen considers the artist’s restrained palette in the subsequent essay. Works featured in the catalogue include portraits, landscapes, and interiors that seem lost in thought.