Cy Twombly Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings Vol. I includes works produced between 1948 and 1960, spanning both lesser-known early works produced in Virginia and heavily studied works such as Volubilus (1953). Heiner Bastian’s introductory text offers a robust overview of Twombly’s early career for those new to researching the artist. He positions Twombly relative to both Abstract Expressionism and his contemporaries Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, and his discussion of Twombly’s early scribbled canvases focuses on their use of allusion and their painterly, writerly, and luminous qualities. Bastian frames these early paintings as negotiating “passion and reason, erotics and discourse” (26), and introduces a small number of central references, including classical mythology and Ezra Pound’s poetry.

This volume catalogues many of Twombly’s early, sparse paintings, which are often diagrammatic in nature and lightly polychromatic. The first thirty paintings in the volume were produced either in Lexington, Virginia or at Black Mountain College, and help to contextualize the more routinely exhibited later paintings. It also includes photographs and documentation for destroyed and lost works. The archival documentation is especially valuable, as these materials are rarely reproduced elsewhere but offer clear and substantive connections to the other extant works produced at the same time. Note, however, that some works marked as whereabouts unknown have subsequently been recovered; see, e.g., Desert of Love (1959), the last work produced before his monumental Age of Alexander (1959–60). Updated provenance data can be found in Vol. VII (Addendum). Other works in Vol. I represent either early engagements with subjects of sustained interest throughout his career—such as Poussin, Narcissus, and Hero and Leander—or studies for later major paintings, including a series of Studies for the School of Athens (1960). It also includes his Sunset series (1957), an early instance of his repetition of preferred themes.

This volume is crucial for researchers working on Twombly’s early white canvases, and contains mostly artworks produced in either Lexington, VA or Rome. Bastian’s introductory essay is printed in both German and English. It also includes extensive biographical notes, bibliography, lists of one person exhibitions, group exhibitions, exhibition catalogues, monographs, and general literature until 1997, the date of publication. Related literature on this period of Twombly’s practice includes Cy Twombly Gallery: The Menil Collection, Houston, ed. Nicola Del Roscio and Julie Sylvester (2013), as many of the major works from this period are in the permanent collection of the Menil. Most major retrospective exhibition catalogues will include at least some discussion of works from this period; Cy Twombly: A Retrospective, ed. Kirk Varnedoe, is of particular use for its careful and detailed examination of this period.

(Publication description by Jamie Danis)

Cy Twombly Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings Volume I 1948–1960. Edited by Heiner Bastian. Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 1992. 311 pages; fully illustrated. English/German bilingual edition.