Cy Twombly : Bilder Paintings 1952 - 1976, Volume I, Frankfurt: Propylaen Verlag, 1978.

This book is Cy Twombly’s first catalogue raisonné covering his body of paintings from 1952-1976, which in my humble opinion is his best era of work. Unlike the name suggests, there were no additional volumes. Illustrated with 98 color plates, each thoroughly documented.

Cy Twombly (1928–2011) ranks among the most prominent US painters to emerge in the 1950s, a period of radical experimentation in American and European art. Combining gestural strokes of paint, broad areas of empty space, and words scribbled in a nearly illegible hand, Twombly’s work can be enigmatic, even perplexing. Making sense of it requires an appreciation of his attitudes toward history, place, and cultural memory.

The work covered in this book really exemplifies how Twombly approached art through the lens of ancient Greek and Roman culture, a consistent source of inspiration throughout his career. He avoided centers of modern art like New York, moving to Italy in 1959. There he engaged creatively with the enduring legacy of antiquity, infusing his work with provocative allusions to mythology, poetry, and archaeology. By exploring the classical past, Twombly followed a long tradition in American and European art. His great contribution lay in linking his understanding of ancient art and literature to late-twentieth-century modernist practice, translating historically remote references into a bracingly contemporary artistic idiom.

First Edition. Text in German by Heiner Bastian translated to English. Fine condition in a fine French-folded jacket.