Category Archives: Events

Bad Taxidermy and other books




The tables at this year’s NY Art Book Fair varied enormously from floor to ceiling installations inside PS1, to plastic lawn chairs in the outside tent. Many regulars were not present this year, replaced by galleries and university presses.

Highlights included a digital capture of Central Park weather represented not with numbers or text but music by Sara Bouchard; Ellsworth Kelly’s commission for the Germany’s national newspaper Die Welt, in which he replaced every news photo with a silhouette of one of his artworks; and free copies of Ann Messner’s commission for Franklin Furnace Archive Inc and The Pratt Institute Libraries called “The Free Library and Other Histories.” (link to your own copy here: https://annmessner.net/portfolio_page/the-free-library-and-other-histories-2018/)

A number of events take place in the Basement Theater, including the announcement of the 2018 Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation photoBook awards shortlist, celebrating the photobook’s contribution to the evolving narrative of photography. Showcasing the best recently published books across three major categories: First PhotoBook, PhotoBook of the Year, and Photography Catalogue of the Year.

 

Integrating the Declaration of Independence with the Declaration of Human Rights


The official re-opening yesterday of the subway station at the World Trade Center’s Cortlandt stop also brought the unveiling of “CHORUS” by Ann Hamilton. According to the MTA Arts & Design committee Hamilton’s marble mosaic was commissioned soon after the station was destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“Hamilton’s wall installation, titled “CHORUS,” spans a total of 4,350 square feet and is integrated into the architectural design of the station and the World Trade Center Transportation Hub to which it is connected. Small marble tesserae form a white-on-white surface and spell out text from the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The tactile surface invites subway riders to touch the text as they read the words, creating meaningful personal encounters meant to acknowledge the civic ideals and aspirations of humanity and society.” A selection from the MTA press release: http://www.mta.info/press-release/nyc-transit/mta-arts-design-debuts-marble-mosaic-wtc-cortlandt-1-subway-station

“Artists have the extraordinary ability to use their vision and creative process to create deeply meaningful civic places. Ann Hamilton creates a place that speaks to our highest ideals,” said Sandra Bloodworth, Director of MTA Arts & Design. “The woven text of her tactile walls moves us through the WTC Cortlandt station, acknowledging its historic significance and embracing the rights embodied in universally shared declarations.”

A MacArthur and a Guggenheim fellow, Hamilton is known in particular for her many site-specific projects in American libraries integrating text and architecture. She was also honored with the National Medal of Arts in 2015, the highest award given to artists by the U.S. government. “Culture is built upon and with the words and languages of people, their aural and written documents, collectively produced and shared in common,” said Hamilton. “‘CHORUS’ is a testimony to the ideas and ideals these national and international documents embody and demonstrate.”

Welcome Visiting Scholars and Artists from Puerto Rico


The Graphic Arts Collection welcomed the second of two groups from the 2018 visiting scholars and artists from Puerto Rico (VISAPUR) together with their hosts Alma Concepción and Arcadio Díaz-Quiñones.

The Program in Latin American Studies (PLAS) is hosting members of the academic and artistic communities of Puerto Rico as visitors at Princeton University this summer. This effort aims to provide relief to scholars, students, and artists affected by the catastrophic aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria by allowing them to continue their work at Princeton on a temporary basis. The VISAPUR program provides a range of support including a stipend to cover living expenses, office space, access to libraries and other scholarly material, and an opportunity to engage with colleagues at Princeton.

The program is sponsored and managed by PLAS and the Office of the Provost, with the endorsement of the Princeton Task Force on Puerto Rico. Additional support has been provided by the Firestone Library, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Department of Music, American Studies Program, Program in Dance, Princeton Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism & the Humanities, Lewis Center for the Arts, Office of the Dean of the Faculty, Office of the Dean of the College, Graduate School, Office of the Registrar, and the Housing and Real Estate Services office.

Special thanks to professor emeritus Arcadio Díaz Quiñones, former PLAS director and professor of Spanish and Portuguese, for his leadership and commitment to the project.

As we were looking at programs designed by Lorenzo Homar, we found a photograph of Alma Concepción when she was dancing with the Ballets de San Juan in 1954. A former soloist with the San Juan Ballet and Antonio’s Ballet of Spain, she received her early training in Puerto Rico followed by study in New York at the School of American Ballet and at American Ballet Theatre. Ms. Concepcion is the founder of Taller de Danza, a children’s movement and dance grassroots organization based in Trenton. She is also a member of the Society of Dance History Scholars and has written many articles, mainly on Caribbean music and dance.

Here are a few of the prints, drawings, and printed books we enjoyed:

Plenas: 12 grabados de Lorenzo Homar y Rafael Tufiño; introducción por Tomás Blanco; diseño de Irene Delano. San Juan, P.R., Editorial Caribe, 1955. Copy 540. Graphic Arts Collection Oversize NE585.H66 A4 1955q

Rafael Tufino (1922-2008), Elmer Adler Homenaje [Poster from memorial exhibition at the Gallery Fundador de la Casa del Libro]. Graphic Arts Collection

Lorenzo Homar (1913-2004) [Sketchbook created during Homar’s army days in Korea during World War II]. 1945. Pencil and pen drawings. Graphic Arts Collection

Lorenzo Homar (1913-2004), Pablo Casals, 1955. Inscribed in ink along right margin: ‘Offset lithography BUT: The experiment went like this: I silkscreen black ink over an acetate sheet (clear). Then, over a light table I scratched this head of Don Pablo thus making a negative. When exposed over a sens.” Graphic Arts Collection

Lorenzo Homar (1913-2004), El Maestro // [The Master], 1972. Includes two quotations from speeches given by Pedro Albizu Campos (1891-1965) in 1930. Graphic Arts Collection

Lorenzo Homar (1913-2004), Alma, 1983. Graphic Arts Collection

Tomás Blanco, Tres estrofas de amor para soprano; musica de Pablo Casals; illustrada en serigrafia por Lorenzo Homar (San Juan, P.R.: Galeria Calibri, 1970). Copy no. 26. “La edicion consta de 150 ejemplares firmados y numerados en papel “Arches” asi distribuidos : del uno al cien en numeros arabicos; veinte ejemplares, del uno al veinte en numeros romanos … ” Graphic Arts Collection

Lorenzo Homar (1913-2004), Sala fray Bartolome de Las Casas, 1992. Carved woodblock. GA 2007.04029. Gift of Princeton University’s Program in Latin American Studies.

Salmos, versos de Ernesto Cardenal; grabados de Antonio Martorell (San Juan de Puerto Rico: Martorell, 1971). “Esta selección de versos … impresosá mano … en papel japonés “Okawara” caligrafiados individualmente firmados y numerados por el grabador en edición limitada a 200 ejemplares se comenzó a imprimir el 18 de octubre de 1971 en el Taller Alacrán.” Princeton copy is no. 24. Graphic Arts Collection Oversize 2006-0078F

Luis Palés Matos, Puerta al tiempo en tres voces; grabados de Consuelo Gotay (Puerto Rico: Taller de las Plumas, 1998). “Edición limitada a 35 ejemplares y 10 pruebas de artista.”–Colophon. “Textos: Arcadio Díaz Quin̂ones.” Graphic Arts Collection Oversize 2006-0221Q

Luis Palés Matos, Esta noche he pasado; xilografías Raquel Noemi Quijano Feliciano (San Juan, Puerto Rico : Taller El Polvorín, 2003). Copy: No. 6. Graphic Arts Collection Oversize 2006-0076E

Making and Knowing Prints

On Sunday there was a public lecture entitled, “A History of European Printmaking Processes in the 15th and 16th Centuries, with Their Antecedents” given byAd Stijnman at Columbia University to kick off a week of printmaking hosted by The Making and Knowing Project. It was a colorfully illustrated overview of precursors to relief and intaglio printmaking up to 1400, followed by an extended survey of Europe’s technical developments 1400–1600 in woodcut, metalcut, letterpress, engraving, etching and related printmaking techniques.

According to their website,

The Making and Knowing Project is a research and pedagogical initiative in the Center for Science and Society at Columbia University that explores the intersections between artistic making and scientific knowing. Today these realms are regarded as separate, yet in the earliest phases of the Scientific Revolution, nature was investigated primarily by skilled artisans by means of continuous and methodical experimentation in the making of objects – the time when “making” was “knowing.”

Drawing on techniques from both laboratory and archival research, the Making and Knowing Project crosses the science/humanities divide and explores the relationships between today’s labs and the craft workshops of the past, and between pre-industrial conceptions of natural knowledge and our understanding of science and art today.


Pamela H. Smith and The Making and Knowing Project, “Historians in the Laboratory: Reconstruction of Renaissance Art and Technology in the Making and Knowing Project,” Art History, Volume 39, Issue 2, pp. 210–233.
Pamela H. Smith, “New Directions in Making and Knowing,” West 86th, Volume 21, No. 1 (2016), pp. 3-5.
Donna Bilak, Jenny Boulboullé, Joel A. Klein, Pamela H. Smith, “The Making and Knowing Project: Reflections, Methods, and New Directions,” West 86th, Volume 21, No. 1 (2016), pp. 35-55.
Pamela H. Smith, Amy R. W. Meyers, Harold J. Cook, Ways of Making and Knowing: The Material Culture of Empirical Knowledge, Paperback Edition (University of Chicago Press, 2017).

Stay tuned to the Making and Knowing Project for a longer workshop and lectures in October.

 

Fête des Imprimeurs à Strasbourg

https://gutenberg2018.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/FdI2018_prog.pdf

Every two years, the Espace Européen Gutenberg (EEG) in Strasbourg organizes a “Printers’ Day” around the time of Saint John’s Day. This year the celebration will take place June 22-24 and the following locations will be open to the public, with professionals offering demonstrations and exhibits of their work:
1 l’espace Saint-Michel de la cathédrale Notre-Dame
2 la cour intérieure des ateliers de la fondation de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame
3 le musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame
4 la Popartiserie
5 la chapelle des évangélistes de l’église Saint-Thomas
6 la place Gutenberg

The EEG includes a wide variety of Printing and Graphic Arts professionals. This is a separate celebration from La Fête de l’estampe held on May 26 throughout France https://www.fetedelestampe.fr/, which is a celebration of engravers. 2018 will be the fourth time they have organized a “Fête des Imprimeurs à Strasbourg” and this year it is a special celebration in honor of the Gutenberg Year (the commemoration of 550 years of the death of Gutenberg).


Learn more: https://gutenberg2018.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/FdI2018_affiche.pdf

L’Espace Européen Gutenberg (EEG) est une association qui œuvre pour l’ouverture d’un Conservatoire & ateliers de l’imprimerie et des arts graphiques à Strasbourg. L’EEG organise tous les deux ans une Fête des Imprimeurs à Strasbourg aux alentours du jour de la Saint-Jean.

En 2018, cette 4e édition s’inscrit dans le cadre de 2018: Année Gutenberg (commémoration des 550 ans de la mort de Gutenberg)*, elle met en lumière 6 lieux emblématiques dans le cœur historique de Strasbourg dans lesquels des professionnels donnent des explications, pour présenter leur métier en lien direct ou indirect avec le livre, qu’ils exercent toujours aujourd’hui. Les visiteurs sont invités à s’arrêter à différents ateliers démonstratifs et participatifs. Par ce parcours, il est proposé de découvrir les inspirations de Gutenberg et comment son invention a été révolutionnaire.

Princeton awards honorary degree to Librarian of Congress


Carla Diane Hayden, Doctor of Humane Letters

Quoted from program: “Carla Diane Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress on Sept. 14, 2016. She is the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library. Previously, she was CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore for more than 20 years.

She began her library career in 1973 at the Chicago Public Library, where she held several positions, including as deputy commissioner and chief librarian. She taught at the University of Pittsburgh and also worked at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. When she served as president of the American Library Association from 2003 to 2004, her theme was “equity of success.”

In 1995, she received the Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year Award in recognition of her outreach services at the Pratt Library, which included an after-school center for Baltimore teens offering homework assistance and college and career counseling. She received her bachelor’s degree from Roosevelt University and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago Graduate Library School.

Amid the unrest following the death of Freddie Gray in 2015, she kept the doors open at Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library, providing a safe haven for a community in distress. During her more than two decades at Pratt, she modernized and revived the 22-branch library system, making it a home for people from all walks of life. In 2016, she became the first person of color and the first woman to serve as the Librarian of Congress. A descendant of people once denied the right to read — and punished for trying — she now leads the country’s national symbol of knowledge. Heralded as a “librarian freedom fighter,” she champions open access to information and education for all.”

https://www.princeton.edu/news/2018/06/05/princeton-awards-five-honorary-degrees

PhotoHistory/PhotoFuture

The three-day PhotoHistory/PhotoFuture conference has begun, with 300 curators, collectors, educators, and enthusiasts disregarding the Thursday snow and gathering in Rochester, NY.

R.I.T. designed the conference to focus on the presentation of original scholarship on the broad subject of photography’s history and future. As the conference program reveals, “presentations include applications, education, connoisseurship, conservation and preservation, and accessibility. Conference presentations in panel format offer scholarly research, exploration, analysis, interpretation and assessment about dimensions of photography’s past and future as viewed through multiple disciplinary lenses. We anticipate attendance by a wide range of academic disciplines and by practitioners from an equally broad range of professions: educators, practitioners, administrators and managers from both the for-profit and the not-for-profit sectors.”

The program notes, “Photography is simultaneously understood as “making” and “taking”: from the four-year-old’s worldview images of knees and the vacationer’s tedious snapshots of very, very distant vistas, to the event-defining, stop-action of news shots and the wordless narrative of the propagandist or polemicist. Photography documents, it inspires, acts as a memory and prompts memories. Photography stops motion and captures the action, instructs and demonstrates, entertains, reveals and conceals what is otherwise (un)noticed or (un)seen, directs attention and evokes a broad range of emotions. And there has never been more of it than there is today.”

 

PhotoHistory/PhotoFuture is sponsored and organized by RIT Press, the Institute’s scholarly book publishing enterprise, and The Wallace Center at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Following the presentation of scholarship, the conference concludes with a photography-focused Antiquarian Show and Sale on Sunday. https://www.rit.edu/twc/photohistoryconference/

Reminder: Friday 2:00: Tattoos in Japanese Prints

Please note the change in location from the one announced several month ago. The event will be held at 2:00 in East Pyne Hall 010 followed by the reception in the Frist Campus Center, East Asian Library. No reservations necessary.

 

Visiting Woodside Press


Davin Kuntze kindly offered our small group a tour of Woodside Press, where Steven Spielberg filmed several scenes for his movie The Post last year. Founded in Woodside, Queens, in 1993, the Press was relocated to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1998 where it continues to operate today.

Not only do they offer letterpress printing and binding, the shop has two fully operational Linotype machines with over 200 magazines loaded with Linotype matrices including faces designed by Hermann Zapf, Frederick Goudy, and Rudolph Ruzicka, among others.

These are the machines featured at the end of movie, when Katharine Graham gives the order to print the Pentagon Papers in The Washington Post and the cameras follow the production of the newspaper from editing to distribution. They shot the composing rooms scenes at Woodside Press, just down the street from Steiner Studios.

The New York Tribune was the first newspaper to use the Linotype machine, introduced with the July 3, 1886, issue. The first book printed by Linotype, was also begun that year and finished early 1887.

Henry Hall, editor, The Tribune Book of Open-Air Sports. Prepared by the New York tribune with the aid of acknowledged experts (New York: The Tribune Association, 1887). Formerly owned by Elmer Adler. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2004-1385N

 

Verso t.p.: “This book is printed without type, being the first product in book form of the Mergenthaler Machine which wholly supersedes the use of movable type.”

One of the books with type set on the Linotype machine at Woodside Press was: Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends (New York; Evanston; San Francisco; London: Harper and Row, c1974). Cotsen Children’s Library Eng 20 16941. Above is a plate from an updated edition.

 

Shelves with dozens of EMs (empty spaces) housed by point size. Below cases of metal type.

Welcome to the American Historical Print Collectors Society

Welcome to members of the American Historical Print Collectors Society who paid a visit to the Graphic Arts Collection on Friday 3/16/18. The group spent the morning enjoying 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century books, broadsides, prints, and ephemera from our collections.

The American Historical Print Collectors Society (AHPCS) is a non-profit group that encourages the collection, preservation, study, and exhibition of original historical American prints that are 100 or more years old. In their third decade, AHPCS has over 450 members including individual collectors, print dealers, and educational and other institutions.

Besides the finished prints, we looked at various tools and materials, including a portable map making kit, a paintbox to take with you into the wilderness, Thomas Edison’s first mimeograph machine, and S.M. Spencer’s $25.00 Stencil Outfit complete with all the tools, dies, and brass and German silver sheet stock to make small stencils. AHPCS members were allowed to read the Confidential Pamphlet, Containing an Essay on Canvassing, Instructions in Stencil Cutting, Ink Receipts, Etc., Etc. (1870).

Although few mezzotints were made in the United States, we looked at The Death of Lincoln painted and printed by the Scottish/American artist Alexander Hay Richie (1822-1895) around 1875 for the tenth anniversary of Lincoln’s murder. It was sold by subscription, with an accompanying booklet. “The scene is of the back room in Peterson’s boarding house, where Lincoln was taken the evening of April 14, 1865 after receiving the fatal shot in Ford’s Theater across the street. Doctors, Robert Lincoln, and Cabinet members such as Charles Sumner, Gideon Welles, and Edward Stanton are shown keeping their vigil by Lincoln’s bedside during the night. The image is somber and dark, except for a glow of light focused on the dying President. The detail and accuracy of the image are most impressive, with the mourners easily recognizable, and even details as to the pictures hanging in the room being carefully and correctly delineated.”

Read: Imprint: Journal of the American Historical Print Collectors Society (Westport, Conn.: American Historical Print Collectors Society, Vol. 1, no. 1 (Feb. 1976)- Marquand Library NE505 .I48