Excerpt from ‘Inches Woven Per Day: A Tapestry Artist’s Records and the Catalogue Raisonné.’ This presentation posited an approach to catalogue raisonné research that accounts for, even embraces, some of the particularities of the tapestry medium, with tapestry artist Helena Hernmarck’s archive as example. Presented as part of the Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association panel at the College Art Association Virtual Conference, February 19, 2022.
> Detail from a handwritten spreadsheet created by Hernmarck to document tapestries woven 1993-2001.
Behind this body of work is a detailed record-keeping system Hernmarck has evolved throughout her career to support her artistic practice. [...] [These records] provide a foundation for the artist’s catalogue raisonné, and also raise a host of questions about the scope of this research and the form the project will take. Where does the catalogue raisonné process begin and end? How can the catalogue raisonné format be adapted to reflect both the artist’s body of tapestries and the record-keeping systems that support them? How do ideas of authorship, objectivity, and authoritativeness transform when primary documents present a substantial record of each work? What is the role of the catalogue raisonné scholar in seeing such a project to fruition?
