Documenting Design: Works on Paper in the European Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum

Denise C. Jakal is a architecture writer in Edmonton.

Documenting Design was published as the catalogue to accompany an
exhibition drawn from the ROM’s rather unfocused and eclectic
permanent collection of works on paper. Works on paper can be viewed in
a myriad of ways—as art objects themselves, as disseminators of
information and images, as documents that allow us to reconstruct
historical interiors and even the evolution of the individual design
processes. In short, they help us to open up and deepen our
understanding of history.

The actual catalogue portion of this book has many virtues. The
reproductions (some of which are in color) are of high quality. Each
image is accompanied by a short, economically written discussion of the
work, the artist, the original function of the piece, the tradition from
which it emerged, and so on. Most of the bibliographical information
appears in a section at the back of the book.

The works themselves are divided into prints and drawings, and within
these categories are chronologically presented. This leads to some
jarring juxtapositions, most notably a punk handbill and a drawing of
18th-century interior.