Start with museum online collections

Germaine Richier, who worked from the 1930s until her death in 1959, is best represented in French public collections. The Centre Pompidou's online database is the single most useful starting point, because it lists works with photographs, dates and catalogue details. The Musée National d'Art Moderne holds a substantial group of her bronzes and drawings, and several regional French museums list individual pieces in their digital collections.

Outside France, coverage is thinner but real. The Tate in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York each hold works by Richier, and both publish searchable catalogues online. The Venice Biennale gave her the sculpture prize in 1952, which means exhibition archives from that period also surface photographs of pieces now in private hands. Expect gaps. Much of her output sits in private collections and will never appear in a public database.

What each source actually shows you

Museum databases give you verified images and reliable dates, but only for works those institutions own. Auction archives such as those maintained by the major houses list nearly everything that has come to market, often with dimensions and sale prices. That record is uneven in image quality and occasionally repeats old attributions, so treat it as a survey tool rather than a definitive catalogue.

For browsing with intent to buy, the picture narrows. Richier was a sculptor first, and sculpture does not translate into print editions the way painting does. Reproductions of her work are rare, and Auvrique does not currently offer editions by her. If your aim is a print for a wall, it helps to read how a print edition is actually produced and what to check before buying, which is covered in buying a high-quality Richier print online. Her drawings and lithographs surface occasionally at auction and are the likeliest route to an ownable original.

Checking what you are actually looking at

Richier's mature work has been widely photographed, but the same figure can appear under variant titles, and casts of a single sculpture exist in several collections. Before treating any listing as authoritative, cross-reference the image against at least one museum record. Note the date, the material and the edition status if a bronze is described as one of several casts.

A word of caution on the commercial side. Original bronzes and drawings by Richier trade at serious prices, and authentication is a specialist matter. That market has nothing to do with reproduction editions, which are decorative prints made from images of artworks. If you eventually want a reproduction rather than an original, the practical differences are set out in choosing between canvas and framed poster. For browsing purposes, the museum databases remain the honest answer to where her work can be seen in depth.