The Smithsonian Libraries hosted an afternoon program titled Preservation Matters! on April 24 in the S. Dillon Ripley Center. This event was in conjunction with the American Library Association’s National Preservation Week (April 21-27). Continue reading
Cover of Sue Coe’s “X”.
This post was contributed by Anna Brooke, librarian at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library.
One of the Hirshhorn Museum Library’s artists’ books with a political message is X by Sue Coe. Coe is a British artist-journalist born Tamworth (Staffordshire), England in 1951. She attended the Royal College of Art, London. In 1972 she moved to New York City where she lives and works. Art and politics will be the theme for the Art Libraries Society (Arlis) conference which will be held in Washington, D. C. in the spring of 2014. Continue reading
The Smithsonian Libraries will host an afternoon program titled Preservation Matters! on April 24 in the S. Dillon Ripley Center. This event is in participation of the American Library Association’s National Preservation Week (April 21-27) and is free and open to the public. Continue reading
One of the pieces from Visionaire issue “Touch” where actual string is stitched into the cardboard sheet.
The Hirshhorn Library has had the benefit of receiving creative, non-traditional items from generous contributors that reflect a playfulness with format and materials found in contemporary art. One such unexpected gift was that of the art and fashion periodical Visionaire , which has been published three times a year in limited quantities since 1991. Each issue has a particular theme that is illustrated in some form or another through the collaboration of Visionaire with contemporary artists and fashion designers from around the world.
Tomorrow, April 6th, would mark the 193rd birthday of Felix Nadar. Nadar, aeronautical scientist and photographer, became an unexpected star of the Smithsonian Libraries’ Dibner Portrait collection in The Commons on Flickr. Although probably not a household name these days (and definitely not under his given name – Gaspard-Félix Tournachon), Nadar was quite a character in 19th century France. Luminaries of all kinds, including George Sand and Marcel Proust, flocked to his Paris photography studio for portrait sittings. He was also a regular contributor to several French comic papers. Continue reading