Giulia Suardi

The aim of the Troubetzkoy Archive Project (TAP) is to establish a central database as the basis for a documented and reliable online Catalogue Raisonné, which provides complete and easily accessible information to a wide audience of experts or even art lovers. The inherent complexity of constructing a Catalogue Raisonné, combined with the vastness and relative dispersion of Troubetzkoy’s ‘oeuvre’, make the undertaking highly challenging but certainly fascinating. In any case, we see it as an overdue effort to celebrate the work of a sculpture’s genius and revive his fame.

Catalogue Raisonné

The Catalogue Raisonné is a journey that involves the heart and the intellect. It requires all the love for the artist and passion for his work, together with scientific rigor, method in research and accuracy of information. The International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) defines Catalogues Raisonnés as “scholarly compilations of an artist’s body of work […] critical tools for researching the provenance, attribution, and authenticity of a work of art”¹ The New York Public Library describes a “catalogue raisonné [as] a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known works of an artist either in a particular medium or all media” and provides a comprehensive list of information that should be considered,  including: title and title variations, dimension, date, medium, current location, owner, provenance, exhibition history, condition, bibliography and literature, critical assessments, description of the work, signatures of the artist and a list of works attributed, lost, destroyed, and fakes². Not all of this information is always readily available, while in specific cases different inputs may be needed, thus requiring a rigorous yet flexible approach. In essence, according to Prof. Brian Allen, one of the founding members of the International Catalogue Raisonné association (ICRA), “Catalogues Raisonnés are the building blocks of art history […] The absence of a reliably established corpus of works by a given artist inevitably leads to misattributed works continuing to be reproduced and discussed in error”³ .

The process of compiling a Catalogue Raisonné usually takes several years, considering the research, organization of information, writing, printing, and publishing. The update process, to incorporate any new discoveries or new information, can be even more complex and problematic. This is the reason why other forms of creation and diffusion are taking over from the traditional, physical Catalogue Raisonné.

Online Catalogue Raisonné

Printed catalogues are normally elaborate, illustrated publications, with a high production cost and an equivalent high consumer price, which relay information crystallized at the time of publication. The creation and printing of any updates require long intervals. Needless to say, many printed Catalogues Raisonnés must have several volumes in order to stay up to date, even if this procedure takes many years.

For this reason, in the last five years, the art world has witnessed a key shift in the study and documentation of artworks. Digital Catalogues Raisonnés have significantly gained ground as a valid alternative to printed catalogues, as they make it easier to update catalogues more rapidly and frequently and at a lower cost. Henry Moore’s online Catalogue Raisonné, for example, has announced that they will update through 2020 a section of the artist’s output.

Some online Catalogue Raisonnés require a fee to be able to access, although others are free: as an example, for Paul Cezanne’s Catalogue Raisonné you only need to register as a new user to enter the website, while the Edward Burne-Jones Catalogue Raisonné, which went live in August 2020, does not even require registered users. In the majority of cases, all you need is your laptop.

Moreover, high resolution images are usually a concern, as they are among the elements that cost the most when publishing a printed Catalogue Raisonné. Uploading a high-resolution image on an online data management system would be a win-win: it does not have an associated cost and the quality of the image on a screen is sharper and could potentially provide the option of close-ups on specific details.

All this makes an online Catalogue Raisonné more accessible for professional users and other viewers.

Sources, guidance, aims

The Troubetzkoy Archive Project benefits from a primary and proprietary source represented by the extensive archive of John Grioni, the Italian scholar who dedicated fifty years of his life to an unpublished study of the works of Paul Troubetzkoy. Furthermore, since its inception in 2019, the project takes advantage of a close collaboration with the Museo del Paesaggio of Verbania (on the Lake Maggiore in Italy, where the artist was born) which holds about 340 of Troubetzkoy’s works, and will also benefit from contact with other museums and collectors who hold or have held the artist’s works.

The Troubetzkoy Archive Project will be managed by an internal team coordinated by James Drake and Giulia Suardi, and guided by an advisory board, chaired by Alexander Kader FSA, Co-Worldwide Head of European Sculpture and Works of Art, Sotheby’s, London. Other board members include Federica Rabai and Stefano Martinella from Verbania, Anne-Lise Desmas from the Getty Museum and other acknowledged experts on Troubetzkoy, who will ensure constant support and scientific rigor to the project.

All in all, the Troubetzkoy Archive Project TAP is committed to delivering an online Catalogue Raisonné, resulting from a research of all available sources, with clear elements supporting the provenance of the complete corpus of Paul Troubetzkoy’s works. This will be offered for consultation to academics, auction houses and art galleries, dealers, collectors and any other beholder interested in the artist’s works. Thanks to the online mode, we are determined to give each user easy access, great image quality, more timely updates, at more acceptable overall costs for the entire chain from production to final use. All this, with the genuine hope of bringing the personality and work of a great artist again to the fore.

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[1] ICRA, Why Have a Catalogue Raisonné?, https://icra.art/about/catalogue-raisonne/why-have-a-catalogue-raisonne

[2] IFAR, Users Guide, https://www.ifar.org/users_guide.php.

[3] New York Public Library, What is a Catalogue Raisonné?, https://www.nypl.org/about/divisions/wallach-division/art-architecture-collection/catalogue-raisonne

References:

International Catalogue Raisonné Association, www.icra.art, accessed 30 November 2020.

International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR), www.ifar.org, accessed 30 November 2020.

New York Public Library, www.nypl.org, accessed 30 November 2020.

He had natural talent: his fluidity in sculpting impressed anyone who sat for him or watched his quick and “rough” technique. Svetlana Domogatskaya notes how, when Troubetzkoy became professor at the Academy of Sculpture in Moscow, “the phrase ‘to model à la Troubetzkoy’ meaning modeling quickly, exuberantly, lively and cheerfully became a catch-phrase among Moscow sculptors”¹ . His sculpting ‘signature’ is unmistakable, not only in statuettes, which are best remembered out of Troubetzkoy’s artistic production, but also in his large works and public monuments.

Certainly, Troubetzkoy was an independent man with a strong personality. A lover of animals and nature, and a firm believer in vegetarianism, he used to keep wolves and bears in his St. Petersburg studio. He was a man who never followed others and stayed true to his values. His vision of life and culture made him exempt from any external influences: he did not attempt to study techniques, read books or listen to the art critics of the time. He was only focused on shaping the material for his works.

Great international fame

Paul Troubetzkoy, son of a Russian Prince and an American lyric singer, born, raised and educated in Italy, was for his entire life a citizen of the world. His aristocratic origins and exposure to great artists, musicians and writers of the time, such as Bernard Shaw, Tolstoy, Toscanini and Caruso, pushed him to travel the world, moving from Italy, to Paris, Russia and Hollywood, portraying the glamorous international elite of the time. After many years of travel, he became, effectively, one of the most highly regarded society portraitists of the 19^th and 20^th century and a master of “portrait-statuettes”, which became, in a way, his “trademark” and paved the way for a vibrant trend.

In the early years of his education in Italy, he was enthusiastically accepted by the circles of Milanese culture and successfully exhibited his first “statuette” at the Brera Academy, also participating in bids for large public monuments, acclaimed by art critics.

Years later, his entry into the static Moscow art scene sparked a heated debate between traditional academics and the circles of progressive artists that followed him, considering him the initiator of the New Moscow School of Sculpture, a turning point in Russian sculpture. His success was great in portraying the nobility and the Muscovite upper-class, as shown by several portraits of his great friend Leo Tolstoy, or of Prince Galitzin and Princess Gagarina with a Child (today at the Tretyakov Gallery) and others. Likewise, memorable monuments were commissioned from him, such as the Monument to the Tsar Alexander III in St. Petersburg, a choice that outraged the Russian academics, who were excluded.

 The apex of his career, however, was reached on the Parisian and American scene of the 20^th century. In Paris, where he had already won in 1900 the Grand Prix at the Universal Exposition, he attended the Société des Nouvelles Peintres et Sculpteurs, chaired by Rodin, and obtained visibility and positive feedback from the critics of the Salon of 1906. The real essence of his success though, was the enthusiastic welcome and admiration from the Parisian and American society, of which Troubetzkoy portrayed important personalities, not least his friend George Bernard Shaw, Anatole France, several members of the Vanderbilt family (who opened many doors to him in the USA), Franklin D Roosevelt and the actress Mary Pickford.

The shine fades

Back to his native lake, the last years of his life were less dazzling, characterized by a few exhibitions in Italy and a progressive transition to oil painting. Perhaps his independence and international flair, which ensured him success and admiration, turned out to be limiting factors in preserving his fame after his glorious years. Troubetzkoy had been through the years overshadowed by his peers, such as Auguste Rodin or Medardo Rosso, considered by critics to be the major players of the post-impressionist style.   His unconventional attitude in comparison to his fellow artists might have made him appear as a kind of “external visitor” in the artistic scene of the time. His being in any nation and none, certainly did not help in giving him a place that could be considered completely ‘his place’ and recognized as such by every beholder. It is not by chance that, even in the successful exhibition at the Paris Salon of 1906, Troubetzkoy was regarded as an exponent of the Russian school by Rodin and by art critics (thus limiting, in good faith, his artistic stature.

A man and an artist to celebrate

Paul Troubetzkoy is a man and artist who must be celebrated, whose greatness must be fully recognized. He was a genius of sculpture, creative, protective of his independence, curious about the world and people around him, an artist with an overflowing personality but completely dedicated to his sculptures, a natural talent, an innovator and recognized as such, but perhaps not as well remembered as he fully deserves. This is the profile of a man and an artist that the Troubetzkoy Archive Project would like to give new life to. Troubetzkoy’s production is vast and not yet entirely identified. For this reason, a Catalogue Raisonné, which aims to bring it all together with passion and academic rigor, is the most suitable tool to give renewed recognition and a legacy to this forgotten genius.

References

Paolo Troubetzkoy la Collezione del Museo del Paesaggio. Museo del Paesaggio, Verbania. Pressgrafica Srl, 2017.

[1] Domogatskaya, Svetlana. Paolo Troubetzkoy and Russia. Tretyakov Gallery Magazine, issue n. 2, 2009.

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