This exhibition catalogue, produced by Galerie Karsten Greve, was produced alongside a solo exhibition that traveled to The Mayor Gallery, London and Galerie Ulysses, Vienna. The catalogue contains no discursive text or essays. It is comprised of the following reproductions: a photograph of the artist in Saba, Yemen in 1983 taken by his son Alessandro Twombly, Untitled (1983) (with inscriptions: “Sylvae, Anabasis, Virgilian views”), four iterations of Anabasis (1983),(Nike) Androgyne (1983), Nike Androgyne (1983), Lycian (Drawing) (1983), Untitled (1983), two iterations of Formian Dreams + Actuality (1982–83), two iterations of Proem (1983), and Untitled (1983) (with inscription: “Xenophon”). Note that inscriptions on many of these works indicate that they were initiated in 1981 or 1982 and completed in 1983.

The accompanying exhibition took place at Galerie Karsten Greve from January 27 to March 25, 1984. In addition to the works reproduced in this catalogue, the exhibition included Gaeta Set (For the Love of Fire and Water) (1981). The catalogue was produced in an edition of 2000 numbered copies, with 100 signed by the artist.

The works in this exhibition appear in Volume VII of the catalogue raisonné of drawings. Formian Dreams + Actuality appears in Michelangelo Castello, “I tambura di pietra,” in Tema Celeste: Rivista D’Arte Contemporanea (1984). For more on Proem, see Cy Twombly, ed. Jonas Storsve (2016); for more on Anabasis, references to Nike, and other related works, see Cy Twombly: Making Past Present, eds. Christine Kondoleon and Kate Nesin (2020). For more on this period in Twombly’s practice generally see, e.g., Demosthenes Davvetas, “The Erography of Cy Twombly” (1989).

(Publication description by Jamie Danis)

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Cy Twombly at Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne (January 27 – March 25, 1984).

Cy Twombly. Published by Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, 1984.