… star struck …
Theda Bara as Cleopatra, by Albert Witzel, 1917, gelatin silver print, 10 x 8″. Photo: Grolier Club
This exhibition brings together 90 publicity photographs, made by the big studios, of major Hollywood stars: the earliest is of Theda Bara as Cleopatra of 1917, and the latest of Elizabeth Taylor — not as Cleopatra (that would have been fun) — but as Barbara in Ash Wednesday (a woman driven to plastic surgery to keep hold of her husband), dated 1974.
Beyond the Text: Artists’ Books from the Collection of Robert J. Ruben, originally shown at The Grolier Club in New York City March 25 through May 28, 2010, is now opening March 3, 2011 at the Bailey/Howe Library of the University of Vermont, http://library.uvm.edu/news/?cat=3
Beyond the Text: Artists’ Books from the Collection of Robert J. Ruben by Yvonne Korshak and Robert J. Ruben, 2010, 156 pages, 74 color illustrations, ISBN 978-1-60583-026-1
… Beyond the Text …
Artists’ books take a leap beyond the kind of text and illustrations normally associated with the book to carry the viewer to new vistas of emotion and intellect. Some artists’ books arrive on our visual doorstep bearing humor while others — all in mixed degrees — convey intellectual challenge, or emotions such as awe or joy. Some are embassies from the dark side of human experience.
… Love and History …
Henry VIII made one of the most momentous breaks in Western history: he severed England from the Catholic Church, and established the Church of England independent from Rome. Why? Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn and the Pope wouldn’t let him divorce his current wife. So it’s often summed up — a kind of mnemonic. How often people look to great historical turning points and find a love affair at the crux! The very birth of democracy in Greece, for instance, with a love story as its origin myth — the Tyrannicides. The exhibition Vivat Rex! reminds us: to rescue history from fantasy, look to primary documents. And they are here — astonishing texts and objects of the period that enable the viewer to engage with the true story. That’s even more exciting than a love affair — well, maybe as exciting …
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