Our Newspapers are Literally "Hot" Off the Presses!

Have you ever wondered what happens to the Art Library's old newspapers? You can see them in action at the Chrysler Museum of Art's Glass Studio! About once a month a stack of Virginia Pilots, New York Times and Wall Street Journals are transferred from the library to the glass studio so that the glass blowing artists can use them in their work. Generally, 4-5 newspapers are folded and cut into thick, square layers that fit in the artist's hand. The papers are then soaked with water and used by the artist to shape the glass. Although the water prevents the paper from burning, the immense heat of the molten glass often causes the paper to smoke.

The Chrysler is thrilled to welcome world-renowned glass artists Benjamin Moore, Dante Marioni and Janusz Pozniak to the Glass Studio this week as part of the Chrysler's Visiting Artist Series. Stop by the studio to watch a free demonstration, and see the Library's recycled newspapers in action! Space is limited, so make sure to arrive early:

Friday, March 2 10:00am-1:00pm, 2:00-5:00pm
Saturday, March 3: 10:00am to 1:00pm
Sunday, March 4: 2:00-5:00pm

World-renowned glass artist Janusz Pozniak uses wet newspaper to shape hot glass at the Chrysler Museum of Art Glass Studio.
Copyright Chrysler Museum of Art, all rights reserved.

A View From the Stacks - Kersti's Journal Week Three

Our Library Interns have headed off for the summer.  They are missed and certainly not forgotten.  They've left us with some great journal entries written during the course of the summer.  I hope you'll enjoy reading about their adventures and efforts over the next few weeks.  - L. C.

                                                                              

Intern Journal- Week Three

Week three at the JOC Library was incredibly busy. This week’s theme was cataloging, and so I spent the first part of the week learning about the library’s catalogue system from behind the scenes. This was really interesting to me- I use libraries all the time, but never really thought about what goes into the process of creating a functional catalog.

Laura showed me the library’s cataloging program, which, like most programs in use by the OCLC consortium, uses MARC (MAchine-Readable Cataloging), a type of cataloging language. In MARC, categories are described by a series of numbers  (go here for a full description of the MARC process- it’s a little complex! : http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/um11to12.html#part11) which ensures that data can be translated into catalogs across the globe. MARC’s useful because it provides a standardized system for libraries to use- before it was developed by the Library of Congress in the 1960s, this process was done by sharing “union catalogs”, copies of card catalogs that were both difficult to change and expensive to create.  I spent some time updating our catalog, but then turned to the project that dominated the week.

VERTICAL FILES

The Library’s Vertical Files contain information about artists, whether they’re represented in the Museum’s collection or not, and their works. My fellow intern, Jamie, is working on organizing the information the library has on hand about the Chryslers, so to help out we both tackled the seemingly endless files to determine whether or not a file would be helpful to a researcher looking for relevant material on the Chryslers.  The files are made up of various clippings and letters, so digging through to find any reference to the Chryslers took some time.
This project took up the rest of the week- although we didn’t finish the process (to be honest, we were only able to get through about the first 6 letters of the alphabet even though we spent all week on it) Jamie was able to get enough information to begin creating a database of those files deemed useful.

Just one of the many files we dealt with

The vertical files are incredibly useful because they’re the first stop for anyone looking for information on an artist or a work exhibited in the Museum. Although Jamie is still working on putting the database together, I moved on the next week to the wild world of… COLLECTIONS DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT!

These files are just on Picasso alone!

-Kersti Francis, Summer 2011 Library Services Intern

Postscript: Jamie and Kersti very diligently finished this project before the end of the summer. The database will help researchers looking for information about Walter P. Chrysler Jr.'s collection and will also help focus future cataloging of the Vertical file collection.  More Intern adventures next week!

  - L.C.

Hooray For Monkeys! Curious George Comes to the Chrysler

      On Thursday, I was excited to get a tour of the newly opened exhibition Curious George Saves The Day: The Art of Margret and H. A. Rey.  The exhibit, which opened on the second floor of the Museum on April 27 follows the career of Curious George creators Margret and H. A. Rey and reveals their determination and courage during a daring escape from Nazi controlled Europe.  The exhibition combines the Rey's  original artwork with archival documentation of their escape from Europe.  Young visitors are sure to enjoy a number of impressive structures that recreate scenes from the Rey's work, and perhaps best of all, a fun reading room  featuring copies of some of Curious George's best adventures.

      Regular blog readers might already know that here in the Library we've got a soft spot for monkeys, so I happen to know that Curious George and his fellow Rey creations will find number of primate friends in the galleries.  This week,  for a little Friday fun - or if you will, monkey business - I thought I'd offer a challenge to our fearless readers.  Can you tell me which work in the galleries is home to this little fellow?

If you think you know where this fellow can be found  and  one other monkey who finds a home in the Chrysler collection, post a comment with the title of both works below. First correct post wins!  Next week I'll announce the  answers.  In the meantime, I hope you'll stop in and see Curious George Saves The Day - and remember, we also always have great illustrated books for readers of all ages in the Library!  Well-behaved curious monkeys always welcome.

 - LC

A Life Devoted to Better Glass

Here at the Jean Outland Chrysler Library, we spend a lot of time adding to our vast store of information by filtering newspaper clippings, gallery mailings, etc. into our artist files. Occasionally, we run across a wonderful surprise. While sorting a box of what we thought was artist information to be added to our vertical files, we ran across the history of a company, a career and a passion for better glass.


Edgar Bostock was apprenticed to the window glass trade by his father, Edward Bostock on October 14, 1890 through the offices of the Window Glass Workers Association. He was apprenticed for the designated period of 3 years. The files contain Bostock’s workers’ account book beginning date November 11, 1893, his Glass Workers Association due book – both of which any glass worker would have had – as well as a World Glass Workers Association Delegate pin. Correspondence, photographs and a beautifully-colored trade catalogue from the plate and decorative glass company that Bostock would later found called Bostock, Rhoades & Co., though undated, give us a glimpse of how far Mr. Bostock came in his career.

The files are based on Mr. Bostock’s professional life and also contain letters, chemical formulas, articles and hand-written notes pertaining to the chemistry of glass. Perhaps the jewel in the crown of this find are the writings of Edgar Bostock - handwritten and typed - including professional journal articles, speeches, and the manuscript for a book regarding the history of glass and other glass-related subjects. The articles and manuscripts were found bound with heavy twine and the pages are carefully numbered and revisions are included as if the author were preparing for careful professional editing and publication. Bostock’s chief concern appears to be maximizing the chemical composition and shape of glass for maximum lighting capabilities, though his company also made colored decorative glass, which accounts for the deep chemical interest in tinted glass. The bulk of the materials contained in these files appear to be from the nineteen-teens and twenties, and other than Bostock’s Union paperwork and wage books, there is no account of his early career.

Please keep an eye on our blog for more surprising finds!

- SMR

The Greening of the Art World

It seems as if you can’t go anywhere these days without being told how to “Go Green.” Once a trend, green living has quickly become a way of life all over the world. In need of inspiration and materials, artists have always run to constructing works with natural materials or reclaiming one man’s trash as artists’ treasure. The Chrysler Museum is the proud owner of many Earth-conscious pieces of art including Vik Muniz’s 2006 creation “Orestes Pursed by the Furies (Pictures of Junk)” and David Smith’s 1961 construction “Gondola.” If your visiting the museum before July 2011, please be sure to stop by the Frank Photography Galleries and see the installation “Contrast: Interactive Works by Daniel Rozin,” an artist who works in reclaimed materials and electronic parts.

Care to learn more about green art and artists? Looking for some inspiration of your own? Stop by the Jean Outland Chrysler Library and spend a moment with our exhibit about eco-art. We are currently displaying recent craft and art education magazines focusing on making art with reclaimed, as well as books about green artists such as Rodney A. Greenblat (whose 1990 work "Confrontation in the North" is pictured above), Alexander Calder, David Smith, Vik Muniz, Andy Goldsworthy, Robert Smithson and more. Special thanks to the Chrysler Museum Facilities Department for feeling the green-spiration and lending us publications about sustainable facilities. We hope to see you soon!

- SMR

Top Shelf Books from the Age of Queen Victoria

The World’s Columbian Exhibition, 1893

As an ode to the beauty of Victorian book and their ornate bindings, we’ve filled the top shelves of the reading room with volumes most fitting of attention. One such is The World’s Columbian Exhibition, 1893. The pale blue, gold and black volume is lavishly decorated with scenes of innovation and antiquity. The inside is even more impressive than the binding. The book is filled with photographs and sketches of the exhibits and participants, architecture and inventions. The account of artwork and technology in each building was painstakingly compiled by Trumbull White, World’ Fair Correspondent and William Igleheart, World’s Fair Editor of “Chicago Record.” Others contributed introductions and commentary. Such a large exposition could not possibly be reported by just two journalists. With a full list of illustrations, a department by department introduction, and further commentary by luminaries of the time, this book would have been a must-have for anyone attending the exposition as well as those too far away to enjoy its wonders. Please stop by the Jean Outland Chrysler Library and have a look at this marvel of decorative binding and all of the other books on display.

-SCM

Wanderlust

It’s just 20 days until the start of autumn (not that we’re counting). As the days become just slightly cooler it seems only appropriate to begin to say a proper goodbye to summer. ‘Tis the season for families all over the country to pack into the car for one last adventure before school begins and schedules become once again hectic. It’s time to take a moment to reflect on simpler days and fine weather, much as Duncan Hannah does in his painting “Vagabondia” (seen at left). Hannah grew up imagining trips to far off places. In this work, he shows us a long, peaceful road surrounded by fresh-looking foliage. Does the farm house in the distance signify the end of the journey, or the beginning of a new story altogether? Are you traveling this month? Are you dreaming of far off places and clear weather? Please stop by The Jean Outland Chrysler Library, and we’ll be happy to share with you one of our many books about travel and adventure at home and abroad. Pack lightly, drive safely and don’t forget the roadside souvenirs!

- SCM

11 Classic Children's Art Books

This summer, the Jean Outland Chrysler Library staff was excited to add a new collection for young visitors to the Museum. Our brand-new children’s book collection focuses on books about art and artists, but also features some familiar titles – such as Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are. Last week online art journal ARTINFO.com writer Emma Allen listed the top 11 Classic Children’s Art Books [ here ] and I was excited to see that our fledgling collection already contains more than half of the books listed! Among the books from our collection that are included in the list are:

•From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by  
   E.L. Konigsburg

• Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh

• Linnea in Monet’s Garden by Cristina Bjork

• The Uncle Andy Books by James Warhola

• Action Jackson by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan

See an old favorite or a title you’d like to read – stop by, this collection’s for young minds of all ages!

- LEC

A View from the Stacks - Intern's Journal Week 3

Our wonderful interns Casey and Chelsea have completed their internships and are headed back to school, but they left us with a vivid journal recounting their summer adventures in the Library.  Stay tuned for future editions of  "A View from the Stacks" which will continue to appear on the blog during the next few weeks.

Week 3 – Collections Development and Management


At the beginning of the week, Laura told Chelsea and I we would be helping with collections development by choosing one shelf in the library for an up-to-date inventory. The Library completed a full inventory in 2008, but the shelves are always shifting and changing. We were to go through the shelf, enter basic information about the books into a spreadsheet, flag books in need of relocating or repair, and suggest new books for the shelf. For time and sanity’s sake, Laura encouraged us to choose a shelf that housed books mainly on one subject or a single artist. Since we would be suggesting new books to add, Laura advised us to choose an artist we were familiar with. Based on this information I couldn’t imagine this project taking more than a day – it’s only one shelf, right? The library quickly erased my preconceptions once again.

First – choose one shelf from the painting section of the stacks. This should be the easy part, right? But how does one choose a single shelf in a library of nearly 2,000 shelves! My traditional taste led me towards the exquisite Flemish painters, but choosing a single painter among the thousand of painters within the stacks felt like asking a mother to choose her favorite child. I was afraid of hurting some poor artist’s feelings and worried they would impair my painting skills from the grave forever! So instead of risking any forsaken future, I decided to choose a shelf no one could argue with – 15D – Vermeer. The Chrysler Museum currently has a Johannes Vermeer painting on display in the gallery. Surely there could be no better time to scour through his shelf. I loaded the contents of 15D onto my book cart and went on my way without a trace of guilt.

Several hours into this project, I began to ask myself why I had foolishly neglected to learn French, German, and Dutch. These staples of Flemish art served as roadblocks when trying to read the book titles, but thank goodness Google Translator!

Although this project took much longer than I had originally anticipated, all the listing, flagging, bar-coding, pulling, and re-shelving of books taught me the importance of being meticulous and organized when working in a library. Also, that I need to invest in Rosetta Stone before entering graduate school.

The Vermeer contents of shelf 15D currently sit on the shelves of the library’s reading room for easy public access. Seeing these books specially displayed in the library’s entrance has reassured me that our work as interns is indeed valuable to the Chrysler Museum’s visitors.
 
- Casey Nye, 2010 Summer Library Intern

A Fond Farewell

On May 31, 2010 the world lost a great artist. The death of Louise Bourgeois at the age of 98 marked the end of a long and art-filled life. Thought known best for her sculpture, Bourgeois learned to draw and paint at an early age. She began her adult life as a mathematics student at the Sorbonne – a subject she liked because its constancy helped her to temporarily forget a painful family life. She left to enroll in art school, and in 1938 married art historian and critic Robert Goldwater. The couple moved to New York City, and Bourgeois became part of the Student Art League. In 1981, she was honored with a retrospective show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Bourgeois continued to work until her death. Her life was marked by private pain that drove her creativity and gave her solace that came from expressing her emotions through her prolific creation of sculpture and image. She has left behind a legacy to be enjoyed by the world.
- SCM

Hello and Getting Started

Many thanks to the Jean Outland Chrysler Library staff for their welcome in the stacks and blogosphere! It may be cold in the stacks (for good reason) but my reception here at the Chrysler couldn’t have been warmer. Now that I’m settling in, it’s down to business. In my first two weeks I’m starting to tackle the backlog of unsorted and/or un-cataloged material, focusing on traditional art-related monographs. I’m sorting and identifying duplicates in the un-cataloged material and adding catalog records for those books we don’t have. In the coming weeks I’ll start working with smaller exhibition catalogs and pamphlets. Armed with coffee (tightly controlled and un-spilled) I’ll be getting as much material as possible to the shelves and into the catalog where it can searched, researched, and browsed.

Like many archivists and librarians, I face the continuing temptation to fully explore every book I catalog, sort, or work to preserve. In the interest of ever getting anything done, I can only occasionally indulge that urge. Each shelf or stack of un-cataloged material is a treasure trove of interesting material and, as in the case of a book I cataloged this week, that material can sometimes produce personal connections. I discovered and cataloged a book of photography by Joel-Peter Witkin (appropriately titled Joel-Peter Witkin), to whom I’m very distantly related through marriage. The book is dedicated to my second cousin, his wife at the time of printing. I’ve never met either my cousin or Mr. Witkin, but vividly recall a family gathering at which his work was discussed and uniformly criticized as being bizarre, disturbing, and in poor taste. My discovery of the book has not only sparked a shared memory, but also highlighted a challenge often faced by catalogers and the acquisitions staff of a library. Librarians often confront material fully within a collection’s scope which they find personally uninteresting, misguided, false, or even offensive. I don’t share my family’s sense of outrage at Witkin’s art, but personally think his work relies too much on staged grotesqueness as manifestation of his themes. Individual value judgments are unimportant, however, when wearing my cataloger’s cap and Joel-Peter Witkin will take its place beside Joel-Peter Witkin: Forty Photographs on our shelf. His books fall within the library’s collecting policy and, as a cataloger, I’m happily bound to the loftier Chrysler Library missions of fostering research and supporting the Museum’s collections.

Come back for more updates on my cataloging efforts. I’m looking forward to a successful summer!

--John Curtis, 2010 Jean Outland Chrysler Cataloging Fellow

Lately, I’ve been reading Gregory Gibson’s Hubert’s Freaks: The Rare-Book Dealer, the Times Square Talker, and the Lost Photos of Diane Arbus. Photographer of both the popular and the unorthodox, Arbus lived an extraordinary adventure until her untimely death in 1971. She portrayed her subjects with uncompromising directness and dignity. Though born into an affluent New York family, Arbus chose to photograph in some of the darkest, most forbidden – and most interesting places in the city. She cut her professional teeth as a fashion photographer, but felt restrained by the rules of the fashion world and collaboration with her husband Allen Arbus. Later, through her technical studies with Lisette Model and the encouragement given by her famed tutor, Arbus honed her personal style. Eventually, her work revolutionized documentary photography. Interested in learning more about Diane Arbus? Please join us on May 19th for the latest installment of Books & Art, Wine & Cheese and have a look at ground-breaking photographs by female photographers in Women of the Chrysler.

--SCM

Women at the Chrysler : Making Beautiful Music

During the exhibition Women of the Chrysler: A 400-Year Celebration of the Arts, we’re celebrating the contributions of women to the history of the Chrysler Museum. Women from all backgrounds have played an integral role in the creation, development, and operation of the Museum from its very beginning. Each week during the exhibition, we’re a story about a woman or group of women accompanied by an online album of images from the Library's collections. We also invite you to join us in the Library to learn more about these dedicated women.



From the days of Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences musicales to modern musical performances such as Art Riff and The Art of Jazz, music has always been a large part of life at the Chrysler. This week we've created a slide show of just a few of the many talented women who have filled the galleries and grounds of the Museum with beautiful music. Please help us continue to celebrate women in art and music by joining us for a performance by Bellisima!, the South Hampton Roads auditioned ensemble performing music written specifically for the voices of women. Bellisima! will make beautiful music on Sunday, May 9 at 2pm in Huber Court.

Picture this...

Have you seen Dawoud Bey’s Class Pictures? Bey’s provocative exhibition got us thinking about the history and many types of portraiture. This extremely personal style, often used as commentary on identity, has interested artists and art lovers alike throughout history. Interested? Please stop by the Jean Outland Chrysler Library and have a look at a sampling of our volumes about portraiture and portrait artists.

Take a Peep at what's going on at the Chrysler Museum of Art!

The Peeps Present 10 Fun Things to Do at The Chrysler This Spring:
1. Take one last look at the Eliot Porter exhibition.
2. Enjoy a children's book.
3. Participate in Yoga for Art Lovers.
4. Try your hand at drawing in the galleries.
5. Visit the shop.
6. Talk to a helpful gallery host.
7. Take time to enjoy the tulips.
8. Check out the Boncori restoration.
9. See what's new in the Jean Outland Chrysler Library.
10. Visit the "Women of the Chrysler" website at http://www.womenofthechrysler.org/ and post to the blog http://www.womenofthechrysler.org/guestblog/

Happy Spring!

Kate Chopin's The Awakening at Art & Books, Wine & Cheese!

Please join us on March 17th at 6:30pm for Art & Books, Wine & Cheese in the Gifford Room at the Chrysler Museum of Art. We will be kicking off Women of The Chrysler by discussing Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. Kate Chopin, nee’ Catherine O’Flahrety, was born in St. Louis to an Irish father and a mother of French descent. She spent her life surrounded by strong women, including her mother and two grandmothers, and good friends who influenced her creative ideas and encouraged her writing. Her charming personality and quick mind led to friendships with the likes of Edgar Degas and George Sand. Chopin’s writing was both celebrate and heavily criticized by her contemporaries; quite notably Willa Cather.

Upon its publication in 1899, The Awakening was labeled as shocking, morbid and distasteful. Chopin’s depiction of the public and private life of a well-off woman of polite New Orleans society caused a fuss in its day, but was quickly forgotten after her death in 1904. A resurgence of the popularity of her work in the late 1960s and early 1970s once again brought Chopin’s novels and short stories to the forefront. Her work has become a permanent fixture in literature classes world-wide, The Awakening being arguably the most popular and thought-provoking. We hope that you will be provoked to join us on the 17th.

For more information about Kate Chopin, please visit http://www.katechopin.org/.

- Library Assistant Sara Mason

Thoroughly Modern

If it were 1913, we’d all be in a bit of an uproar at the moment. This week in 1913, Marcel Duchamp displayed his now-famous “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2” at the First International Exhibition of Modern Art in New York City. We know this show, now a tradition, affectionately as “The Armory Show.” The American public was scandalized by the Cubist and Futurist-influenced piece. The art critic Julian Street went so far as to dub the painting “an explosion in a shingle factor.”

Scandalous or not, Duchamp was in good company. Other artists exhibiting included Kandinsky, Picasso, Brancusi, Sloan, Matisse, Munch, Redon, Cezanne, van Gogh, Prendergast and more. Kandinsky, Picasso and Duchamp were being shown in the United States for the first time. The show, organized over the course of a year by artists and critics, aimed to showcase the new era of thought and energy emerging within the art world. Though some patrons were hesitant at first, The Armory Show and its works - those loved and hated- sparked conversation all over the country and marked a change in American thinking about art.

As we look ahead to The Armory Show 2010, which will be held March 4- 7, I can’t help but be grateful for that first show nearly one hundred years ago. We live in a world where, on a whim and at the click of a mouse, we can travel to nearly any museum or stand in nearly any gallery in the world and see what’s new. And yet artists and patrons alike make the pilgrimage year after year to New York to see, to be seen and to see what everyone will be talking about tomorrow. The conversation that began on February 15, 1913 continues generations later.

Speaking of which, does anyone out there have an extra ticket?

http://www.thearmoryshow.com/cgi-local/content.cgi

Library Assistant Sara Mason

Item of the Week: Art in the Making

Ever wonder about the artist’s process behind Degas’ Dancer with Bouquets or just how artists such as Manet, Monet, and Renoir worked? This week’s featured items may answer your questions. The Library recently acquired three DVDs from the National Gallery, London’s wonderful series Art in the Making including “Degas,” “Impressionism,” and “Italian Painting Before 1400.” Each film delves into the materials and techniques used to create a selection of works. Drawing on tools often used in the conservation of paintings, such as infrared and X-ray photography Art in the Making provides a unique view of each work from the canvas up, so to speak. Each disk also comes with a bonus film that looks at a broader range of work. For example, Art in the Making: Degas is paired with Degas: Beyond Impressionism, a short film that features the later work of Degas and its impact on twentieth – century painters like Picasso.


Interested? Like all of our videos and DVDs, the Art in the Making series DVDS may be checked out by Museum Members or watched in the Library. Stop by take a look .

Item of the Week: Egypt Delineated

         In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt in an ambitious attempt to upset the balance of power in central Asia. While Napoleon’s soldiers went about the business of conquering and occupying Egypt, another small army of artists and scientists – called the Commission of the Sciences and Arts documented its antiquities, history and culture. Among them was Vivant Denon, a talented painter and engraver and an enthusiastic antiquarian. Sometimes called the first Egyptologist, Denon not only explored, sketched and described Egypt’s ancient monuments but also documented Egyptian life and culture at the end of the 18th century. Denon’s engaging work became part of the Description de l’Egypt, one product of the Commission of the Science and Arts, but he also published two volumes relating his personal experiences.

One of these, Egypt Delineated enjoyed great success and was reprinted in numerous languages. The Library is lucky to have an English edition of Egypt Delineated published in London in 1819. This large folio edition describes itself as “The celebrated work detailing the expedition of the French” and contains engravings “exhibiting the scenery, antiquities, architecture, hieroglyphics, costume, inhabitants, animals, etc” of Egypt. Denon’s engravings provided a wealth of information for the first generation of French and British Egyptologists, helped to inspire the use of Egyptian motifs in art, literature, architecture, fashion, and décor and also guaranteed a place in 19th century popular culture for a romanticized image of Ancient Egypt.

If a visit To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum has you dreaming of elaborate temples and tombs encircled by wind-swept desert landscapes, stop by the Library and ask to take a look at this monumental volume that helped to reintroduce Egypt to the European imagination.

In the Galleries....

Wow! The museum has been so busy lately! Of course, there are a number of exciting new exhibitions to take in. Here in the Jean Outland Chrysler Library, we have a few areas in our reading room dedicated to keeping up with current exhibitions - like the galleries these are constantly changing and are always available for browsing. I thought we’d let you know what is currently on display. Of course, the hot topic of interest in the Museum this fall is Egypt. Come by and take a look at the exhibition catalog To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum to get the inside scoop about the objects in the show, or take a look at some of our other Egyptian resources. Also featured in the reading room right now are books about Dutch Golden Age paintings to compliment a group of works on display in the Kaufman Furniture Gallery. We have a number of books on view about art inspired by war in honor of “At the Front,” which is currently showing in the Frank Photography Gallery. There is a section devoted to the photographic works of Eliot Porter, as well a selection of our many books on African art in celebration of the newly-reinstalled African gallery. Our newest display features Action painting; specifically books about the artists currently hung in the small changing gallery. (Outside of the café.) “Action painting” is a dynamic form of creation and free expression that involves the spontaneous splattering, dripping, scraping, etc. of paint onto canvas and occasionally mixing in other elements such as sand or strips of tape. This show is a great conversation starter, and will have a lot of visitors wanting more. We have several great books that are worth taking a peek at. One such book is The Gesture: Movement in Painting and Sculpture, which analyzes the ways in which the advent of Action painting affected the art world in the long-term. If you have a moment, please stop by the Library and learn a little bit more about your favorite exhibition.


- Library Assistant Sara Mason