The Fine Arts Library recently purchased a set of four issues of 14, rue du Dragon, the short-lived newsletter of the Cahiers d’Art. The title came from the address of the larger journal’s offices, located in Saint Germain-des-Pres and just around the corner from the Café des Deux Magots, a popular hang-out in the thirties…
Art Museum Class
The Harvard Art Museums Archives recently completed a processing project, generously funded by The Getty Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). In the process of cataloging its major holdings from 1895-present, the Archives has uncovered some wonderful documents. The following represents material found during this project. Paul J. Sachs was the…
Analytical art
Who knew, in the summer of 1971, that the newest hotbed of art theory would be born, and grow up, in the villages of Chipping Norton and Leamington Spa and the industrial city of Coventry, twenty miles apart from each other and over one hundred miles northwest of London, the supposed center of British contemporary…
On The ‘Radar”
The Fine Arts Library has recently acquired a complete, boxed set of the art journal RADAR, which was published in Switzerland between 1982 and 1988. This German language publication highlights the contemporary art scene in Europe and beyond; each issue includes an original photograph. In addition to this Mapplethorpe, this set features work by…
Lewis Rubenstein Murals, 1937
The Harvard Art Museums Archives recently completed a processing project, generously funded by The Getty Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). In the process of cataloging its major holdings from 1895-present, the Archives has uncovered some wonderful documents. The following represents material found during this project. Painter, educator and muralist, Lewis…
Unique photography book acquired
The Fine Arts Library recently acquired a limited edition publication by renowned Australian photojournalist Stephen Dupont. Entitled Axe Me Biggie, a rendering of the Dari expression for “take my picture”, it includes ninety black and white Polaroid portrait photographs of Afghanis taken near the central bus station in Kabul, on one day in 2006. These…
New National Palace Museum database available
The Fine Arts Library has subscribed to the online database produced by the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The site contains high quality digital images of objects in the Museum’s collection as well as catalog information about each object in English, Chinese and Japanese. There are also chronologies and other documents related to the history…
A Boston merchant-adventurer and his illustrated souvenir of the Smyrna trade, ca. 1838
One of the Fine Arts Library’s most unusual recent acquisitions is a lovely little volume of hand-colored engravings and lithographs. The volume consists of 25 plates depicting people and places in Turkey, Greece and the Levant. Once we had the book in hand, we were faced with the problem of how to record this new…
New York Art Book Fair
Late last fall, I attended the New York Art Book Fair, sponsored by Printed Matter, a New York-based artists’ book cooperative. The fair featured over 150 artists and publishers and I thought it would provide an excellent opportunity to meet with people that my usual virtual contacts wouldn’t reach, and I was right. By the…