Calalog Raisonné Project

I am gathering information about the paintings of Charles Partridge Adams for a Catalog Raisonné, an illustrated listing of his work. This will be a project that will take many years, and since Adams left no records of how many paintings he painted, it will never be finished. Rather than the traditional book, it will probably take the form of an online website, 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. Since I already have a database of over 1,300 paintings, a first edition of the catalog would offer a considerable range of his work. The only obstacle to this is the money to hire someone for data entry into a searchable database.

If you own a painting (either oil or watercolor) by Charles Partridge Adams, I will appreciate your contacting me at sa_inquiry@steveandreas.com for a data sheet to fill out, or you can click here to print out the data sheet in pdf format.

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 confidential. Upon completion of the catalog, or cessation of the project for any reason, all information and materials gathered will be donated to the Estes Park Museum, with the stipulation that this confidentiality be continued.

Photographing Paintings
For my catalog raisonné documentation, I prefer a medium or high resolution jpeg scan, taken without flash. Flash introduces a lot of reflection and distortion; some suggestions for taking good photos without flash are provided below.

Oil Paintings
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.

Watercolor Paintings
For a watercolor, photos are best in full, direct sunlight, but with the camera in shade, to avoid reflection from the camera. Have your camera ready ahead of time and be 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 may 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.