Catalog Raisonne Project

I am gathering information about the paintings of Charles Partridge Adams for a Catalog Raisonné, a complete illustrated listing of his work. The catalog should generate considerable interest in the work of Adams and increase its market value. Paintings listed and illustrated in the catalog will be particularly enhanced. To date, I have cataloged over 600 of Adams' paintings.

This will be a project that will take many years, and since Adams left no records of how many paintings he painted, will never be finished. Rather than the traditional book, it will probably take the form of a CD or other electronic medium which would make periodic updates much easier. My plan at this stage is to illustrate every painting listed with a small color photo, with dimensions and other data, with larger color illustrations of paintings which are exceptional, or which have particularly interesting or unusual color or stylistic features. Since I now have a database of over 600 paintings, a first edition of the catalog would provide a considerable range of his work. The only obstacle to this is the money to hire a typist to put it all in usable form.

If you own a painting (either oil or watercolor) by Charles Partridge Adams, I will appreciate your contacting me at for a data sheet to fill out, or print out the data sheet in pdf format (You will need the free Acrobat Reader available from Adobe.)

I will also appreciate your mentioning this project to anyone else you know who has (or who might have, or who might know someone who has) a painting by Adams.

All information forms and correspondence will be held in strictest confidence. Upon completion of the catalog, or cessation of the project for any reason, all information and materials gathered will be donated to the Denver Art Museum, with the stipulation that this confidentiality be continued.

Since I am also a collector of Charles Partridge Adams paintings (Who else but a seriously-addicted collector would be willing to take on such a tedious, time-consuming, and many years' task, without even an academic reward?) there is a potential conflict of interest in the event that I might purchase a painting located through this project, particularly if it resulted from a referral from an art gallery or art dealer. Although I believe this would be infrequent, it is a definite possibility. If this is a concern to you, please see below for ways of dealing with this.

Option 1. REFERRAL FEE:

In the event of a purchase made by me as a result of a referral by an art gallery, art dealer, or other person, I agree to a commission of an additional ten percent of the price agreed upon between seller and Andreas to be paid to the appropriate person, to be designated by the seller prior to the sale. Ordinarily the person receiving the fee would be the person making the referral. In the case of multiple referrals, it might be appropriate to divide the commission, award the commission to the one who made the first referral, to the one who sold the painting to the seller, or by using other such criteria, at the discretion of seller.

Option 2. ANONYMOUS SUBMISSION:

The information form and photo can be sent to me anonymously, preferably with a third-party contact, so that I can ask someone follow-up questions about incomplete or ambiguous information. In this way there is no opportunity for a purchase. In most ways this is the simplest solution. The only drawback is that there would be no opportunity for a commission in the event that a subsequent contact resulted in a purchase.

If anyone can suggest an alternate solution to this potential problem, please contact me.

For my catalog raisonné documentation, I prefer a 4" 35mm. print made with a film camera, or a medium quality jpeg or tiff scan, taken without flash. Flash introduces a lot of reflection and distortion; some suggestions for taking good photos without flash are given below.

I have usually had best luck with photos of an oil painting on a bright, but cloudy day outside, tilting the painting with respect to the sun (but not with respect to the camera) until the glare is minimized. Under a porch out of the direct sun is also good--also tilting the painting with respect to the sun in the same way.

For a watercolor, photos are best in full, direct sunlight, but you have to have your camera ready ahead of time and be very quick, because if you take more than a minute or two, the sun may heat the painting rapidly, and distill moisture out of the paper, which will condense on the underside of the glass, particularly if the air is cool. At the first hint of any condensation, put the painting back inside out of the sun, face down, and wait an hour or two for the condensation to evaporate back into the paper.