On July 2nd, the Smithsonian held its Annual Staff Picnic. Featured in one of the discussion tents was a group of our very own Smithsonian Libraries staff giving suggestions for summer reading, either books related to their work, from their collections or their own personal interests. Here are their picks!
Category: Art and Design
This post was written by Anna Brooke, librarian at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library.
“I hate the word ‘artist.’” said Vito Acconci in an interview with Milena Kalinovska posted on the Hirshhorn Museum web page. Vito was in Washington D.C. for a Meet the Artist public program the evening of January 17, 2013 at the Hirshhorn Museum. During the day, Vito prepared his presentation in the Hirshhorn Museum Library, using a carrel and examining our artist file on him. He is one of our most distinguished visitors. In addition to his writing and art activities, he was named Designer of the Year in 2012 by Design Miami.
This post was written by Jaclyn Peterson. Jaclyn interned at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library this past spring, working to identify Artists’ Books in the collection and making them more accessible in the library catalog.
Before I began working on a cataloging project with the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library (HMSG) , I naively thought I was able to spot an artist’s book out of a regular collection a mile away. In my mind, they were supposed to be visually stunning items, handcrafted with mixed media, and having book-like or “book-ish” qualities. All of the artists’ books I had seen in my limited experience were flashy and intricately designed objects created in limited editions, and they seemed to be more art than book. Going through HMSG’s collection and making decisions about which books to tag in the catalog as being ‘Artists’ Books Specimens,’ I discovered a side of artists’ books I had not encountered before: the artist’s book in a trade book’s clothing, or in other words, an artist’s book that looks like a regular book.
Like books, quilts are symbolic items with patterns that can tell stories. Quilts tell domestic narratives and have been recognized as important historical artifacts. As a result, the Smithsonian’s National Quilt Collection at the National Museum of American History contains hundreds of quilts. However, it might be surprising to hear that the Smithsonian Libraries also hold quilts – or rather, quilt-like books.
This post was written by Erin Friel, an intern at the American Art and Portrait Gallery Library, January-May 2013.
Currently on display at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is the installation “Bound for Freedom’s Light: African Americans and the Civil War,” which showcases portraits of familiar figures such as Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, as well as contemporary news illustrations of lesser-known events. Those who would like to learn more about some of the topics in the exhibit can find information in the excellent resources at the American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library (AA/PG).
Eight Le Chic fashion magazines are currently patients in the Book Conservation Lab. The magazines came to us from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Library. They date from the early 20th century and were published in Vienna, Austria. The fashions are reminiscent of the costumes seen in Downton Abbey or Mr. Selfridge!
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.