The Artist as Researcher: Exploring The New York Public Library’s Art Collection

This free, 4-part series is designed for artists from Skowhegan and EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop who wish to open new pathways and enhance their research skills. 

The New York Public Library is a remarkable repository and laboratory for visual artists in all media. Learn how to find what you need! And see what inspiration and materials await with a library card. 

Each month, NYPL librarians and curators will show and present on different subjects and materials from the collections in the Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs.

We will meet at 10:30am in Room 215 on the second floor. Coffee and light bites will be provided. 

The tour of the collections will start promptly at 11am and go until 12pm.

Space is limited! See the schedule below. 

The Artist as Researcher: Exploring The New York Public Library’s Art Collections

February 27; March 27; April 24; May 22, 2023 

Each event begins at:10:30AM 

New York Public Library 

Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Room 215 (2nd Floor) 

476 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018

We are excited to announce a series of rare opportunities to explore The New York Public Library’s remarkable collection of visual art resources alongside knowledgeable librarians and curators. Each of the four free in-depth workshops will focus on specific collections in the Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs. 

This series was developed specifically for practicing visual artists, with the goal of not only enhancing research skills, but also exploring the breadth of content—and inspiration—available with just a library card. 

Workshops will be held monthly on Mondays starting February 27. Coffee and light bites will be offered at 10:30AM before each workshop, with the program beginning promptly at 11:00AM.

Invitations to this series are being extended to the artist communities of the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and the EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop Program. Attendance for each workshop is capped at 35 people.

Since space is limited, we encourage you to only sign up for the workshops that most interest you; we cannot guarantee you will be able to attend your first choice selection. Please see the following comprehensive descriptions of each program, and then fill out the RSVP form accordingly. 

REGISTER HERE

Word & Image from the Renaissance to the Present

Monday, February 27, 11:00am-12:00pm

The Prints and Photography Study Room, Room 308

Join Madeleine Viljoen, Curator of Prints and the Spencer Collection, to explore how artists have navigated the complex and ever-evolving relationship between word and image in printed works from the fifteenth century to the present. Invented in the mid fifteenth century, the medium of print enabled the creation of multiple identical copies and revolutionized how information, both textual and visual, was shared and circulated. 

Tracing how artists have used images to tell stories, we will examine some of the earliest “artist books”, including the first illustrated edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy, the work of a Renaissance monk who is widely considered to have written one of the most enigmatic books ever created, and an unrivaled compendium of Albrecht Dürer’s three most famous books. Skipping ahead to the 20th and 21st centuries, we will look at iconic works by Tomaso Marinetti, Giorgio de Chirico, Marcel Broodthaers and others, thinking about how textual layout can evoke a range of sensory experience. Other highlights include works from the non-western tradition, including Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s One Hundred Aspects of the Moon and Enrique Chagoya’s Ghost of Liberty. 

Page from Hypnerotomachia Poliphili                            

or Strife of Love in a Dream

Francesco Colonna, 1499

REGISTER HERE

Fluxus in the New York Public Library

Monday, March 27, 11:00am-12:00pm

The Prints and Photography Study Room, Room 308

Active primarily in the early 1960s to the late 1970s, Fluxus was a loose international group of artists, poets, and musicians with a shared impulse to integrate art and life. Though global in scope, the movement had a particularly strong presence in New York City. Founded by George Maciunas, Maciunas coined the name Fluxus to suggest “flow” and to describe a wide range of activities, which included scores or instructions; multiples; and concerts, performances, and “Happenings.” Fluxus works, both physical and performative, were often best characterized as having a critical attitude towards art itself rather than being overtly finished in their final state. 

Join art librarian Chantal Lee as we open up the Fluxus archive in the Art & Architecture Collection and learn more about this important movement.  

George Macunius, Diagram of Historical Development of Fluxus and Other 4 Dimensional, Aural, Optic, Olfactory, Epithelial and Tactile Art Forms,1973

REGISTER HERE

The Picture Collection

Monday, April 24, 11:00am-12:00pm

The Picture Collection Reading Room, Room 119

Since its creation in 1915, The Picture Collection has been an unparalleled resource for artists, illustrators, designers, teachers, students, and general researchers. It offers 1.5 million circulating images clipped from books and magazines across 12,000 subject headings– from pictures of Abacus in the letter A to Zoology in Z.

This arrangement of printed images into subject headings (as nouns, verbs, people, places, concepts, and times) makes it a unique instrument for visual thinking for many creative fields– in particular the fine arts; costume, set, and prop design; fashion design; and illustration.

Join Picture Collection librarians as we dive into this world of images! Librarians will facilitate a group activity inspired by the verbal / pictorial dialogue in the 2009 book, Interview by Hans-Peter Feldmann and Hans Ulrich Obrist. In the book, Obrist poses questions in writing and Feldmann responds with a picture. The results are frequently surprising, and an exercise in visual thinking and communication.

REGISTER HERE

Picture Collection librarian Jessica Cline opening up the Rear-Views folder. Picture Taken by Gus Powell for the New York Times 

Japanese Photographs, Photobooks & Artists’ Books

Monday, May 22, 11:00am-12:00pm

The Prints and Photography Study Room, Room 308

The history of Japanese photography is as long and rich as the medium itself, and offers the opportunity to study technical innovation and avant-garde theory alongside issues of memory, gender, and national and personal identity. The format of the photobook in Japan is especially important as a vehicle for experimental design, for collaborative expression, and for new ideas about the relationship between viewer and image. The NYPL Photography Collection contains  world-class holdings of Japanese photography, allowing for a deep, sustained survey of some of the most important and influential Japanese photobooks from the 20th century. 

Join art librarian Chantal Lee and Assistant Curator of Photography Maggie Mustard as we study Japanese photography and photobooks from the 1930s to the present moment, including Horino Masao’s Kamera : me x tetsu, kosei (Camera, Eye x Steel, Construction) (1931), Ishimoto Yasuhiro’s Katsura (1960), Kawada Kikuji’s Chizu (The Map) (1965), the avant-garde photo-magazine PROVOKE (1968-69), Araki Nobuyoshi’s Sentimental Journey (1971), and work by Domon Ken, Ishiuchi Miyako, Kanemura Osamu, and Okabe Momo, among others.   

REGISTER HERE

Osamu Kanemura, Radical Hybrid, 2019. Photo taken by Christian Erroi