This large reference volume includes forty-three essays on Twombly’s practice, many of which are well known and frequently cited throughout the literature on the artist. It contains both primary source materials—e.g., Charles Olson’s 1952 letter to Robert Creely about Twombly—and secondary scholarly materials—e.g., Kirk Varnedoe’s essay for his 1994 exhibition catalogue Cy Twombly. The following authors are included in the volume: Brooks Adams, Giorgio Agamben, Dore Ashton, Roland Barthes, Heiner Bastian, Gottfried Boehn, Palma Bucarelli, Copeland C. Burg, Klaus–Peter Busse, Lawrence Campbell, Ester Coen, Arthur C. Danto, Demosthenes Davvetas, Suzanne Delehanty, James Fitzsimmons, Achim Hochdörfer, Richard Hoppe-Sailer, Richard Howard, Max Kozloff, Susan C. Larsen, Robert Motherwell, Manfred de la Motte, Frank O’Hara, Charles Olson, Octavio Paz, Robert Pincus-Witten, Marcelin Pleynet, Stuart Preston, Prudence B. Read, Pierre Restany, Katharina Schmidt, David Sylvester, Harald Szeemann, Kirk Varnedoe, Vice, Emilio Villa, and Cesare Vivaldi. The entries cover the full breadth of Twombly’s oeuvre until date of publication (2002) and many offer personal insights as well. The texts are arranged by date of publication, with the seven earliest texts dating to 1951 and the latest dating to 2001. The volume also includes a list of references, plates, and biographies of each author included.

This is an extensive reference volume likely to be of use to scholars researching any period or medium of Twombly’s practice. Some of the essays included in this volume were also originally published in exhibition catalogues that are now out of print and may be difficult to access, such as Susan C. Larsen’s “Cy Twombly: Works on Paper, 1954–1976,” originally published by the Newport Harbor Art Museum in a now rare catalogue. Other essays, such as Varnedoe’s introduction to his 1994 MoMA catalogue, remain easily accessible online. Scholars interested in this volume may also consult other major catalogues and monographs, such as: Mary Jacobus’s Reading Cy Twombly: Poetry in Paint (2016); Thierry Greub’s Inscriptions (2022), Cy Twombly: A Retrospective, ed. Kirk Varnedoe (1994); Cy Twombly: Œuvres sur papier 1973–1977, Musée de Grenoble (2023); and Cy Twombly: Making Past Present, eds. Christine Kondoleon and Kate Nesin (2020). 

(Publication description by Jamie Danis)

Writings on Cy Twombly. Edited by Nicola Del Roscio. Schirmer/Mosel, 2002; 320 pages, 28 colour plates, hardcover. English edition.