Cy Twombly Catalogue Raisonné of Drawings Vol. 5 covers only 1970 and 1971, an unusually concentrated period of production for the artist. Nicola Del Roscio’s introductory essay, “The Atmosphere and People Around Cy, 1970–1971,” describes his studio practice in detail. Del Roscio notes that despite the compressed timeframe, the volume includes works produced “in the Bowery studio in New York; Lexington, Virginia; Captiva Island, Florida; Anacapri; and the Via Monserrato in Rome” (8). He likewise reflects on Treatise on the Veil (1970), a series executed synchronously on canvas and on paper, and notes that the period marked the advent of major interest from collectors in acquiring Twombly’s works. There are additional anecdotes about exhibitions from 1970 and 1971.

The catalogue opens with more of Twombly’s so-called “blackboard” works, which are accompanied by formally similar—though blue and white, rather than grayscale—Roman Notes (1970). Though the studies for Treatise on the Veil (1970) are most directly connected to the paintings of the same name, there are formal echoes and resonances with other moments in Twombly’s oeuvre, including the unfinished vertical green paintings catalogued in Vol. VII (Addendum) of the catalogue raisonné of paintings (see specifically Study for Treatise on the Veil, cat. no. 76). The works in this volume will be of interest to those focused on collage or multimedia elements in Twombly’s work, including his use of stamps in Treatise on the Veil and his use of readymade elements such as postcards throughout. Recurrent themes include Leda and the swan, and his Untitled (Ramifications) (1971) contains the diagrammatic qualities familiar throughout his oeuvre.

Those consulting this volume might do so alongside related exhibition catalogues such as Cycles and Seasons, ed. Nicholas Serota (2008). Cycles and Seasons covers relevant material specifically in Nicholas Cullinan’s essay “Fade to Grey: Treatise on the Veil”; similarly, Cy Twombly: Paintings and Drawings 1954–1977, Whitney Museum of American Art (1979) includes works from this period. There is also a dedicated catalogue for Treatise on the Veil published by the Menil Collection, Houston (2019). For more on Orpheus, see Mary Jacobus, Reading Cy Twombly: Poetry in Paint (2016) and Judith E. Bernstock, Under the Spell of Orpheus: The Persistence of a Myth in Twentieth-Century Art (1991). See also Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, “Cues from Cy Twombly,” in Cy Twombly Gallery: The Menil Collection, Houston, eds. Nicola Del Roscio and Julie Sylvester (2013) for more on the veil motif.

(Publication description by Jamie Danis)

Cy Twombly Catalogue Raisonné of Drawings Volume 5 1970–1971. Edited by Nicola Del Roscio. Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 2015. Fully illustrated. English edition.