The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonne 1948-1997 [Hardcover]

It is the nature of the biz that catalogues raisonne need to be refined and updated over time. This is especially true of the attempts to catalogue the work of print artists. Some artists such as Warhol and Dali will likely never have definitive raisonnes of their legitimate work never mind that which is falsely attributed to them. It is a never ending battle on the part of researchers to continue to ferret out critical information relating to edition sizes, media (including the various kinds of paper a print might have been done on) etc., and by the collector and dealer to keep up with the changes made over time. One merely accepts that revised editions will appear making earlier tomes on the subject obsolete. What a pleasure then, to find a reference that has the look and feel of a truly comprehensive study of an artist's work. Mary Lee Corlett, the editor of this excellent book, seems to have done her homework so well that it is unlikely that a 3rd edition of this book will be necessary anytime soon, if ever. It helps that she is an industry insider (a researcher of the Modern Prints and Drawings dept. at the National Gallery of Art) thus had access to other critical insiders and the full cooperation of the Lichtenstein estate. This book containing more than 400 illustrations, the overwhelming majority in color, proposes to document all of the limited edition prints of the artist as well as his posters, unlimited prints, periodical and book material. Along with the usual technical information each entry has a helpful comment section that gives important information about the work. It makes for an excellent and comprehensive survey of the artist's work as well as an 'art' book that is a pleasure to flip through for a deeper appreciation of the artist's work. In my opinion this is almost the perfect art reference/raisonne. The only things that I wish it included are some full page reproductions so that one might get a feel for the scale of some of the grander pieces, and that the paper stock had a gloss finish rather than the semi-matte finish it has. Otherwise this is a stupendously good effort.