Category Archives: Acquisitions

new acquisitions

Wallpapers by Edward Bawden

“The Curwen wallpapers were my earliest designs to be printed from linocuts,” writes Edward Bawden (1903-1989) in his introduction to David McKitterick’s Wallpapers.

“In 1924 a friend told me about cutting and printing from lino at a time when such prints were generally unknown, though a few by Claude Flight had appeared in the Print Room galleries of the Victoria and Albert Museum.”

“I bought a piece of lino, the common sort universally used for covering floors, and with a tube of artist’s oil paint, a brush and a roll of white wallpaper, I went off home to experiment.”

“I had on me a penknife sharp enough for cutting soft lino. There was not much room between the end of the double bed and the gas fire, only enough for a chair, in the cramped space typical of a student’s bed-sit of the period, and it was here on a drawing board with a piece of plain wallpaper pinned to it, that gently I put down my foot on a small cut of a cow stippled red and gave the cut gentle foot pressure. The print was better than expected so naturally the cows multiplied and were a small herd by the end of the evening.”

Between 1927 and 1933 the Curwen Press (founded at Plaistow on the north-east outskirts of London) produced a series of wallpapers that challenged an industry dominated by a few manufacturers, and a public often anxious for change but uncertain where it wished to be led. Nearly all of these papers were the work of Edward Bawden.

McKitterick’s book not only provides a history of Bawden’s work but actual sample sheets printed directly from his blocks. Here are a few images.

David McKitterick, Wallpapers by Edward Bawden printed at the Curwen Press (Andoversford, Gloucestershire: Whittington Press, 1988). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process

Decorative photos

This untitled photo album, signed “with best wishes from Grace” holds 24 cut and mounted photographs from the late 1800s. Views include the south shore of Lake Michigan and other Chicago sites. There is reason to believe that the album comes from the family of Robert Burns (1844-1916), Detroit newspaper editor and publisher. We have not yet identified any of the individuals photographed.

Oda a la Lagartija = Ode to the Lizard

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) and Antonio Martorell, Oda a la Lagartija (Campo Rico de Canóvanas: P.R. Martorell, 1974). “150 ejemplares firmados y numerados por el grabador además de 15 pruebas de artista numeradas en romano, todas [sic] impresos … con grabados y caligrafiados individualmente; se comenzó a imprimir el 1° de diciembre de 1973 …” Graphic Arts Collection Copy 76 of 150.

De noche
allí el silencio
es un profundo lago
del que salen
sumergidas
presencias,
cabelleras
de musgos
y de lianas,
ojos
antiguos
con
luz
de turquesa,
cenicientos lagartos olvidados,
anchas mujeres locamente muertas,
guerreros
deslumbradores,
ritos
araucanos.
(exert from Neruda’s poem)

The Japan Punch

“Charles Wirgman (1835-1891) was one of those engaging, eccentric, polyglot personalities,” writes John Clark, “who adventured around the Far East in the second half of the nineteenth century. Many deserved their reputation as semi-criminals out for quick money, but Wirgman, though probably never rich, has nowhere left an image of such avariciousness.”

As a correspondent of the Illustrated London News, Wirgman traveled first to Malta, followed by the Philippines, China, and finally Japan in 1861. Within a year of his arrival in Yokohama, Wirgman was publishing his own magazine, which he called The Japan Punch. The irregular journal ran for 25 years, drawn exclusively by Wirgman. Printed on extremely thin, handmade paper, each issue was produced in an edition of approximately 200 copies, according to Hans Harder and Barbara Mittler, Asian Punches: A Transcultural Affair (2013).

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired 13 of these rare issues, 5 from late 1865 and 8 from 1866. The Japan Punch joins the work of Okamoto Ippei, and other satirical artists of Japan held in the Princeton University Library.

Le antichita romane

Luigi Rossini, 1790-1857. Le antichita romane; ossia, Raccolta delle più interessanti vedute di Roma antica, disegnatè ed incise dall’architetto incisore Luigi Rossini, Ravennate, in numero centuna vedute. Rome: Scudellari, 1829. Gift of Mrs. John G. Winant. Rare Books (Ex) Oversize N6920 .R73e

Following in the grand tradition of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778), Luigi Rossini (1790-1857) created large scale engravings of Rome and its surroundings. A series of elephant portfolios (77 x 56 cm.) were published from 1918 to 1829 under the title: Le antichita romane; ossia, Raccolta delle più interessanti vedute di Roma antica. [The Rome of Antiquity, a collection of the most interesting Views of Ancient Rome].

Mrs. John G. Winant presented the Princeton University Library with a set of Rossini’s 101 engravings on October 5, 1925. Sometime later, 21 of these beautiful prints were framed and hung on the walls of McCosh Hall (built in 1907). After an exhaustive search, we believe these few prints are no longer at McCosh and will not be found. Thankfully, the rest are here and available to all our researchers.

Holocaust series XXI

Carol Rosen, The Holocaust Series XXI, We All Disappear (Califon, N.J.: C. Rosen, [2004]). Graphic Arts Collection 2014- in process

Thanks to the generous donation by Elliot A. Rosen, Professor Emeritus Rutgers University, we now hold the final volume of Carol Rosen’s Holocaust series of artists’ books.

The artist wrote, “There is no way to recreate the events or the severe psychological destructiveness of the Holocaust experience by those who were not its victims. One can only approximate the truth by implying the isolation, state of fear, uncertainty, and disorientation which were their constant companions. The ‘truth’ of the images in these prints depends on creating a narrative situation or one which attempts to mirror the psychological state of mind.” Here are a few images.

Puck

From 1877 to 1918, Puck magazine was one of the leading sources of American political satire. A beautifully printed history of the magazine has just been published and will soon be on Princeton’s shelves: Michael Alexander Kahn and Richard Samuel West, What Fools These Mortals Be!: The Story of Puck: America’s First and Most Influential Magazine of Color Political Cartoons (IDW Publishing, 2014)

The expert lithographic printing of Puck’s color illustrations was perfected by Jacob Ottmann, along with his partners Vincent Mayer and August Merkel, from their small offices at 21-25 Warren Street. The success of the magazine led Ottman to join with Joseph Keppler and Adolph Schwarzmann, the publishers of Puck, to commission a new building on the corner of Lafayette and Houston Street.

Within a year, the Puck Building, as it became known, housed one of the largest lithographic publishing firms in the United States. Besides Puck, Ottmann printed enormous circus and theater posters, along with color illustrated books and trade cards. One of their most notable artists was William Sommer, whose work has been featured here in an earlier post.

Today, the landmark building houses the outdoor clothing and camping equipment store REI. In renovating the space, the company did a beautiful job in retaining elements of the Ottmann company, including much of the original wood and brick building material. Don’t missing the wall on the first floor where the original lithographic limestones are mounted.

Michael Alexander Kahn and Richard Samuel West, What Fools These Mortals Be!:
The Story of Puck: America’s First and Most Influential Magazine of Color Political Cartoons (San Diego, C.A. : IDW Publishing, 2014)

Fear Ritual of Shark Museum

Gwenn Thomas, Photographs documenting Jack Smith’s “Fear Ritual of Shark Museum” performance, Cologne, December 1974, printed 2005 by the artist. 52 gelatin silver prints. Graphic Arts Collection 2014- in process. One of an edition of 5. Gift of the artist.

Forty years ago on the grounds of the Cologne Zoo during the Kölner Kunstverein’s Projekt 74, Gwenn Thomas photographed Jack Smith (1932-1989) in a performance he called Fear Ritual of Shark Museum. Hildegarde Lutze also appeared in cameo as Smith’s wardrobe assistant.

At the time, Thomas was a contributing photographer for the avant-garde magazine Avalanche and her work appeared as the cover story in issue 10 under the heading “A thousand and one irrational jingoleanisms of lucky landlord paradise. Cologne Museum Festival of Fear, 1974.”

Thanks to the generous donation by the artist, Princeton now holds one complete set of these photographs. Thomas’s work is at once documentation and fine art, capturing the temporal performance of this seminal figure post-war art. Although not as well-known, Smith’s work is often featured alongside such artists as Joseph Beuys, Cindy Sherman, Vito Acconci, and of course, Andy Warhol (who once described Smith as “the only person I would ever copy”).

On the same day, artist Birgit Hein made a separate documentary film also under Projekt 74, which can be viewed on vimeo:

Birgit Hein: Jack Smith in Cologne, 1974 from Christian Siekmeier on Vimeo.

Avalanche (New York, N.Y.: Kineticism Press, 1970-1976). Marquand Library (SAX): Rare Books Oversize N1 .A95f

All This Has Come Upon Us

Last night, the documentary film, All This Has Come Upon Us had its American premier at the Eldridge Street Synagogue in New York’s Lower East Side. It was the second program produced for Czech television on artist Mark Podwal, focusing on his recent Terezin Ghetto Museum exhibition.

Filmed in Prague, Terezin, Auschwitz, Krakow and at the Eldridge Street Synagogue, the documentary includes interviews, discussion, and insight into the Terezin series as well as Dr. Podwal’s broader career as an artist.

Among the events depicted in the Terezin prints are the Crusader massacre in Mainz, the burning of the Talmud in France, the Inquisition, the 1492 Expulsion from Spain, the Venice Ghetto, the Chmelniecki massacres, the Canonist Law of 1827, the 1899 Blood Libel in Polna, Kristallnacht, Terezin, and Auschwitz, among others. A second screening of All This Has Come Upon Us will be held later in the month at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

Happily, Dr. Podwal’s 42 Terezin prints have been editioned and Princeton University has acquired one of the 60 portfolios. “Given that Jews have long been known as the ‘People of the Book,’” notes the artist’s website, “each artwork resembles a book’s pages. Page after page illuminates the saying that ‘Misfortune seldom misses a Jew.’ Yet, despite all this, Jews sustained their extraordinary faith in God. The tragedies and injustices pictured in these works are paired with biblical verses, all from Psalms.”

Mark Podwal, All This Has Come Upon Us, 2014. Portfolio of 42 archival pigment prints of acrylic, gouache and colored pencil works on paper. One of 60 copies. Coming soon.

See the prints: http://www.markpodwal.com/projects.html

Persefόneia

Maro Vandorou, Persefóneia. Translation by Nadine Fiedler ([Eugene, Ore.: Lone Goose Press, 2012]). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process

Persefóneia is a limited edition book of original artwork in platinotypes and poems. The conceptual focus is on transformation and the intriguing shift of roles held in balance by Persephone’s archetypes: maiden-wife, queen of the underworld, daughter, and co-initiator to the Eleusinian mysteries. The second part of a trilogy, following Vertical Time, an installation of platinum prints and a film of images and echoes, Persefóneia deepens and completes the study and visual exploration of transformation.

The video component of Persefόneia involves images projected on silk within echoes of the spoken words of poems. The artist writes “The images and poems reference an irrevocable process of transformation. Photographic material from the Oracle of the Dead, an archeological site 500 miles from Athens. Greece. Mythologically, the site is known as the ruling seat of Hades and Persephone of the Underworld.”

See the video filmed at Murdoch Collections Gallery, in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. http://youtu.be/cZ2rgzsc0cs

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