A catalog essay runs 800 to 1,200 words, a foreword about 300, and artwork entries 60 to 120 words each, all researched from your materials and images and delivered in 1 to 3 weeks depending on scope, with two rounds of revisions included and English and Spanish available from the same writer.
Need broader gallery copy instead, curatorial statements, wall labels, exhibition text on the wall rather than in print? See curatorial statement and gallery writing. This page is for the printed or PDF catalog itself.
What You Get
- Catalog essay, 800-1,200 words, that gives collectors and critics the context to understand the show
- Foreword, about 300 words, that sets the tone and frames why the exhibition exists
- Artwork entries, 60-120 words each, one per piece in the catalog
- Artist bio, about 200 words, written for the back matter or the artist's page
- Two rounds of revisions included on every deliverable
- Delivered in English, Spanish, or both
Pricing & Timeline
| Deliverable | Starting price | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Catalog essay | from €500 | 1-2 weeks |
| Foreword | from €200 | 5-7 days |
| Artwork entries, set of 10 | from €300 | 1 week |
| Full catalog package (essay + foreword + 10 entries + bio) | from €900 | 2-3 weeks |
These are starting prices in EUR. After I reply, you'll get a proposal confirming scope and the final price within 48 hours. Larger catalogs, more entries, or a tighter deadline change the number, but not the process.
Process
- Materials and images. You send the checklist, artist bios, exhibition concept, and images of the works going into the catalog.
- Call. We talk through the exhibition's argument, the artist's intent, and anything the images alone can't tell me.
- Draft. You receive the essay, foreword, entries, or full package, depending on what you ordered.
- Revisions. Two rounds included, so the final text matches the catalog's design and tone.
Why Me
I am an art historian and former Chief Editor of ART UKRAINE, where I spent years covering exhibitions and interviewing artists before I ever wrote a catalog text for a client. That coverage is where I learned what a catalog essay actually needs to do: give a reader who wasn't in the room enough to understand the work without flattening it into adjectives. I have written the catalogue essay for Ganna Kryvolap's exhibition and co-authored two multi-volume ArtHuss books, 25 Years of Presence and 30 Years of Presence. See more of that work in selected work.
Writing a catalog essay is different from writing about a single painting. I'm building an argument that has to hold across ten or twenty works I may not have seen in person yet, based on images, studio notes, and a call with the curator or the artist, and it has to read well whether someone opens the catalog at the front or at entry number fourteen. That constraint is what makes catalog writing its own skill, not a longer version of a wall label.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should a catalog essay be?
A catalog essay usually runs 800 to 1,200 words. A foreword is shorter, around 300 words, since its job is to open the book and set the tone rather than argue a full thesis. Individual artwork entries run 60 to 120 words each, long enough to give a collector real context without turning the catalog into a second essay for every piece.
Do you write for auction catalogs too?
Yes. I have written attribution and catalogue essays for auction houses, and the blog post on auction house catalog writing covers the format in more depth. Lot texts, condition-aware descriptions, and provenance framing for sale catalogs are also part of my artwork attribution work.
Can the catalog be bilingual?
Yes. I write the essay, foreword, and entries in English and Spanish myself, so both versions come from the same research and the same voice instead of one being a translation of the other done by someone who never saw the work.
