Painting in the 1980s: Reimagining the Medium

Rosemary Cohane Erpf

When we started working together in the summer of 2020, Rosemary had an outline, one chapter, and tremendous vision for the rest. We workshopped ideas on the central thesis and how the narrative would support that claim. We fine-tuned her writing, with my occasional rewriting. We selected 118 artworks and located the rights holders we needed to contact. We went back and forth with the publisher on logistical details, artists about the inclusion of their work, the graphic designers on the cover art, the colleagues who’d write the blurbs. And by 2022, together, we built a book.

It was my first major project, and I could not be more proud of how it turned out—absolutely glorious.

The Process

  • The Nitty-Gritty

    My involvement:
    - Developmental editing all the way through proofreading
    - Contacting artists, galleries, museums, and other rightsholders to negotiate image reproduction rights
    - Maintaining copyright records for images
    - Coordinating with the publisher and managing other freelancers
    - Assembling a press kit and promotional materials
    - Back cover copy writing

    Style guide: Chicago Manual of Style

    Time frame: August 2020–July 2022

  • First Edits

    At this stage, the book starts to take shape, build personality, and find its footing. When working with rough, early drafts, I focus on style and content, rather than the nitty-gritty details—why agonize over commas in a sentence that won’t make it to the next draft? I focus on the big picture first.

    Edited page in MS word

  • Typesetting

    Receiving the typeset draft back from the publisher was exciting! It did, however, introduce some new issues. We needed to make sure that the images were placed and credited correctly, that the chapters were in order, and that there were no missing pages, etc.

    Typeset page from the book with editorial comments.

  • So. Many. Images.

    Pulling together 118 images took time and organization. Spreadsheets are a friend here—I kept track of the info that would be presented in the book, as well as contact info for the rights holders, the stipulations for use, and who requested copies of the final book.

    A spreadsheet with artwork information organized

  • Worth it

    Overwhelming joy and pride—the only way to describe how I felt when I held the physical, real life, published book in my hands.

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