A catalogue raisonné could be considered as an act of recovery, built from scattered archives, family memory, and chance encounters. Tracking an artist's full body of work means deciding, piece by piece, whether something is destroyed or simply unlocated, and living with the uncertainty that distinction requires.
In this episode, art historian Erika Schneider discusses her years-long project to build a digital catalogue raisonné of Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller's work, now spanning more than 265 sculptures across twenty public collections. Schneider describes mapping Fuller's life and career using ArcGIS, her method for sourcing fragmentary addresses and exhibition records in Paris, and her 2022 Panorama article examining the deletions and corrections Fuller made to her own scrapbook. She also traces the aftermath of the 1910 fire that destroyed much of Fuller's early work, including the fate of The Impenitent Thief, and reflects on her ongoing conversations with Fuller's descendants as new pieces and archives continue to surface.
This special series of Atelier was produced in conjunction with a three-day symposium dedicated to celebrating the work and life of Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller. Across these conversations, we bring together scholars, curators, and other special guests to revisit her legacy and situate it within its historical moment.
The symposium and podcast series were made possible with support from the Columbia Global Paris Center and the Terra Foundation for American Art, and with the participation of the Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University.
Website - globalcenters.columbia.edu/paris
Newsletter - globalcenters.columbia.edu/content/paris-newsletters
Instagram - instagram.com/cgcparis
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/cgcparis
YouTube - youtube.com/@CGCParis
Host: Marie Doezema
Production: Marie Doezema, Tessa Overvoorde, and Anthony Valette
Editing: Theo Albaric
Music: Robert Schumann’s Rêverie performed by Magdalena Stern-Baczewska
The Columbia Global Paris Center is part of a network of 11 global centers of Columbia University in the City of New York, one of the world's leading academic institutions. The centers serve as knowledge hubs that aim to educate and inspire through research, dialogue, and action. They advance understanding, facilitate partnerships, and build the bridges necessary to tackle our changing world.
Columbia Global brings together the Columbia Global Centers, Columbia World Projects, the Committee on Global Thought, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination.
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