In the 1970s, ICMA undertook the Census of Medieval Sculpture in American Public Collections, an ongoing series of volumes devoted to medieval sculpture in US museums. The first of these volumes Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections, by Walter Cahn and Linda Seidel, focused on relevant collections in New England museums and appeared in 1979. An invaluable research and reference tool, the Census includes fundamental information about each work: place of origin, likely date, dimensions, condition, history, and works in other collections that may have belonged originally to the same building or complex. Four volumes have been published so far; volumes still available are listed under Books and Monographs.
LATEST EDITION:
Gothic Sculpture in America 3: The Museums of New York and Pennsylvania. Co-edited by Joan A. Holladay and Susan L. Ward. Publications of the International Center of Medieval Art, no. 6. 2016. 668 pages (589 b/w photos)
With 446 entries examining some 550 works of figural, architectural, and decorative sculpture in 27 museums and public institutions, this volume continues Census of Gothic Sculpture in America started by Dorothy Gillerman in 1989. In addition to large and well-known collections such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Glencairn Museum, smaller collections and those not known for their medieval works, including the Barnes Foundation and the Explorers Club, are also inventoried. Generously supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Getty Foundation, this book includes entries by 35 authors writing on works in their areas of specialization.
PREVIOUS EDITIONS:
Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections, vol 2: New York and New Jersey, Middle and South Atlantic States, the Midwest, Western and Pacific States. Walter Cahn, ed. Publications of the International Center of Medieval Art, 3. Turnhout: Brepols, 1999. 272 pages; 365 b/w ills.
This companion volume to the New England Census by Cahn and Linda Seidel (1979, now out of print), focuses on large-scale Romanesque sculpture throughout US collections, with the exception of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brummer Collection in the Duke University Art Museum.
Gothic Sculpture in America, vol. 1: New England Museums. Dorothy Gillerman, ed. Publications of the International Center of Medieval Art, 2. New York: Garland, 1987. 410 pages; 382 b/w ills.
The first in a three-volume series surveying Gothic monumental sculpture in American collections, this volume focuses on works in stone and wood in New England museums. It treats works from all the major centers of Gothic art in Western Europe dating from 1150 to c. 1520.
Gothic Sculpture in America, vol. 2: Midwestern Museums. Dorothy Gillerman, ed. Publications of the International Center of Medieval Art, 4. Turnhout: Brepols, 2001. 468 pages; 397 b/w ills.
This second installment in the census of Gothic sculpture in America covers works in twelve Midwestern states and twenty museums.
OTHER TITLES:
Visualizing Kingship in the Windows of the Sainte-Chapelle. Alyce A. Jordan. Publications of the International Center of Medieval Art, no. 5. Turnhout: Brepols, 2002. 271 pages; 78 b/w ills.; 9 fold-out pls.
This ground-breaking study of the renowned glazing ensemble of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris elucidates how the biblical stories depicted in the stained-glass windows were skillfully organized to create a visual essay articulating the foremost components of French medieval monarchic rule. The first book-length study of the glass in English, Jordan’s work employs medieval narrative theory and practice, together with hypothetical reconstructions of the windows’ appearance in the thirteenth century, to demonstrate Capetian claims to sacral kingship advanced in this royal chapel.