Catalogue: In Front of Nature: The European Landscapes of Thomas Fearnley

When it comes to exhibition publications, a standard catalogue has advantages – it’s a tried-and-tested formula featuring an introductory essay, or several, followed by a chronological inventory of display items, comprising faithful reproductions and short analytical descriptions of each.

But when it came to producing a publication for the exhibition of landscapes by Thomas Fearnley – an English-sounding Norwegian 19th-century painter so obscure that only two UK public collections possess one of his paintings – just gathering the images sufficiently far in advance to create a representative survey for a catalogue would have been problematic (and costly).

Photography would have had to have been commissioned for 39 of the 83 items in the show. Many of the items were in private family collections in rural Norway.

For many institutions working with external publishers, there is also pressure to produce a publication with a shelf life beyond the exhibition’s closing date.

Catalogues, while sought-after souvenirs of an exhibition, often lose their lustre and saleability when the show closes.

The exhibition In Front of Nature, examining Fearnley’s progress from Norway to the Amalfi coast – with a short detour to the English Lake District – opened in October and continues until 27 January.

The publication to accompany it eschews the traditional catalogue format, opting instead for an introduction and themed essays by five art historians on aspects of Fearnley’s work that interested them.

This format meant the authors could discuss works well known to them, illustrated by images readily available – and reasonably priced – from major institutions. But there were disadvantages.

While the standard catalogue entry usually converts readily into an exhibition picture label, with the Fearnley show these had largely to be started from scratch.
Another challenge was to create a unified book, coherent in appearance and content, out of five disparate voices talking on their subject of choice.

This was achieved through an authoritative introduction, weaving all the themes together from the outset, and consistent and strong design – particularly in picture use – to ensure a visual continuity.

The result, while not a traditional catalogue, is a very appealing book. Hopefully it will have a lifespan beyond the show’s closing date, and its publication by a university gallery has been amply vindicated by the inclusion of exciting new research.

Andrew Davies is the press and marketing officer at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham