A special sneak preview of A Little Chaos will be presented at the Garden Theatre on June 17, 2015, co-sponsored by the Friends of the Princeton University Library

http://princetongardentheatre.org/films/a-little-chaos

The British historical drama A Little Chaos comes to the Princeton Garden Theatre for one night only on June 17, prior to its June 26 release. This special early screening is being presented in conjunction with the Princeton University Library’s current exhibition Versailles on Paper: A Graphic Panorama of the Palace and Gardens of Louis XIV, which continues through July 19.

The preview will begin at 7:00 p.m.  Tickets are free but reservations are required. Reservations can be made at their website www.PrincetonGardenTheatre.org or at the theater box office on Nassau Street, Princeton NJ.

Alan Rickman directs and stars in this period piece about two talented landscape artists who become romantically entangled while building a garden in King Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles. Kate Winslet, Stanley Tucci, and Matthias Schoenaerts also star.

About Renew Theaters
Renew manages the County, Ambler, and Hiway Theaters in Pennsylvania and the Princeton Garden Theatre in New Jersey. These historic movie houses function as arthouse cinemas, screening independent, foreign, and classic films for their local audiences.

For more information on the exhibition, see the website: http://rbsc.princeton.edu/versailles/.

For more information on the Garden Theater’s films and special events, see http://thegardentheatre.com/.

The Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian in Paris has a small exhibition of forty books from the last seven centuries that embrace folded paper as an artform. Take a look: http://www.gulbenkian-paris.org/expos_en_cours

“L’exposition Pliure est un essai sur le livre et «la somme infinie de ses possibles» (Blanchot). Elle donne à voir ce que peut un livre, en relation permanente avec le geste artistique, et de quelle façon l’art se transforme à l’épreuve du livre et le livre se transforme à l’épreuve de l’art. Le livre devient ici un laboratoire d’expériences esthétiques tout en conduisant lui-même à ces expériences. Exposition ni rétrospective, ni anthologique, ni historique, Pliure ne prétend pas embrasser tout un thème ou prouver une théorie certaine mais essaie de montrer comment l’espace du livre a pu provoquer l’art et continue à le faire.”–exhibition website

The exhibition “Fold” is an essay on the book and “the infinite sum of its possible” (Blanchot). It shows the book’s potential as an artistic gesture; how art can transform the book and the book, in turn, transforms art. The show presents the book as a laboratory of aesthetic experiences, driving itself to experiences. The exhibition is neither retrospective nor anthology nor historical, “Fold” does not claim to embrace the whole theme or prove some theory, but attempts to show how books have provoked fine art and continue to do so.

Read Joseph Nechvatal’s review in English: http://hyperallergic.com/188050/from-pulp-to-pop-seven-centuries-of-book-art/
Ólafur Elíasson, Your House (New York: Library Council of the Museum of Modern Art, 2006). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2007-0032E

Please join us for the opening of our new exhibit:
Versailles on Paper: A Graphic Panorama of the Palace and Gardens of Louis XIV
in the Main Gallery of Firestone Library, Princeton University
Saturday, 14 February 2015

The opening lecture will be presented by Dr. Ian Thompson, author of The Sun King’s Garden and Reader in Landscape Architecture at Newcastle University. The festivities begin at 3:00 p.m. in 101 McCormick Hall, followed by a reception in the gallery. Our thanks to the Department of French & Italian and the Friends of the Princeton University Library for sponsoring this event.

The public is invited, no reservations necessary.

For more information, see the exhibition website: http://rbsc.princeton.edu/versailles

Image: Antoine Hérisset, ca. 1685–1769, after E. Vensculpe. Vue de la face septentrionale du château de Versailles [View of the northern face of the palace of Versailles]. In: Jean-Baptiste de Monicart, 1656–1722. Versailles immortalisé par les merveilles parlantes … de Versailles, de Trianon, de la Ménagerie & de Marly [Versailles immortalized by the speaking marvels … of Versailles, Trianon, the Menagerie, and Marly]. Paris: E. Ganeau [etc.], 1720. Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology.

We are getting ready for the opening of the exhibition Versailles on Paper: A Graphic Panorama of the Palace and Gardens of Louis XIV at the end of the week.

Our website is now live at: http://rbsc.princeton.edu/versailles. Ian Thompson, author of The Sun King’s Garden, will present the opening lecture in 101 McCormick Hall at 3:00 on Saturday, February 14, 2015.

A reception will follow in the Firestone Library gallery, seen here. These events are sponsored by the Friends of the Princeton University Library and the Department of French & Italian.

Hope we finish. Hope you can make it to the festivities on Saturday.

The exhibition website for
Versailles on Paper: A Graphic Panorama of the Palace and Gardens of Louis XIV
is now live at: http://rbsc.princeton.edu/versailles. The show will be mounted in the main gallery, Rare Books and Special Collection, Firestone Library, Princeton University from February 13 to July 19, 2015.

Ian Thompson, author of The Sun King’s Garden, will present the opening lecture in 101 McCormick Hall at 3:00 on Saturday, February 14, 2015. A reception will follow in the Firestone Library gallery. These events are sponsored by the Friends of the Princeton University Library and the Department of French & Italian.

The Firestone Library gallery is open to the public, free of charge, Monday to Friday: 9:00 to 5:00 and Saturday to Sunday: 12:00 noon to 5:00.

[Details from corner ornaments in the Salon of War and the Salon of Peace]

Hope to see you there!

French public radio just made a series of short films on typography, entitled Sacrés Caractères ! Une série de 12 films courts sur des polices qui ont du caractère, imaginée par Thomas Sipp, produite par Les Films d’Ici et Radio France (Sacred Characters! A series of 12 short films about fonts that have character, designed by Thomas Sipp). The fonts includes “Bodoni,” “Cooper Black,” “Helvetica,” “Gotham,” “Mistral,” “Times,” “Auriol,” “Comic Sans,” “Futura,” “Garamond,” “Trajan,” and “Transport.” Thank you to Caroline Duroselle-Melish for pointing them out.
© Les Films d’Ici – Radio France 2014

The full series can be found at: http://nvx.franceculture.fr/sacres-caracteres/

On November 28, we celebrate the birth of poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827).  Blake and his wife Catherine spent 10 years living at no. 13 Hercules Buildings in Lambeth, where they created some of the most beautiful illuminated books ever produced. That house was demolished in 1912.

A few years ago, a group of Southbank artists joined with 300 volunteers to research, design, create, and install 70 mosaics in Blake’s honor. The project took seven years to complete, filling several of the Waterloo Station tunnels that connect with the present-day Hercules Road. The mosaics aren’t easy to find but they are definitely worth the effort.
       

1790: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
1793: Visions of the Daughters of Albion
1793: America a Prophecy
1794: Songs of Innocence and of Experience
1796: Original Stories from Real Life; With Conversations Calculated to Regulate the Affections, and Form the Mind to Truth and Goodness