Author Archives: Courtney Tkacz

Citizens of the Republic: Portraits from the Dutch Golden Age

On view at the National Gallery of Art, West Building, Gallery G-21, August 4, 2012 through February 3, 2013.

Cornelis van Dalen the Younger after Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen, Anna Maria van Schurman, after 1657, engraving, state ii/iii, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Department of Image Collections
Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen, Anna Maria van Schurman, 1657, oil on panel, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Joseph F. McCrindle

 

Stalwart Dutch citizens, distinguished for their contributions to the arts and the state, are sensitively rendered in a selection of seventeenth and eighteenth-century engravings that will be showcased at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.  Citizens of the Republic: Portraits from the Dutch Golden Age will present 21 prints after celebrated old masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Bartholomeus van der Helst, Michiel van Miereveld, and Caspar Netscher, and 5 rare books from the National Gallery of Art Library.  The exhibition will also feature Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen’s grisaille portrait of the eminent scholar Anna Maria van Schurman from the Gallery’s permanent collection.  This important painting will be hung, for the first time, alongside Cornelis van Dalen the Younger’s engraved portrait of the sitter, illuminating the relationship between painter and engraver.
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Exhibition of Artists’ Books at SAAM/NPG Library

From Doug Litts, Librarian, Head, Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library:

We often think of the book as a container of information. A book’s text conveys meaning through reading. However, meaning can be expressed in other ways. Typography, ink color, blank space, paper, artwork, and binding also provide information to the reader about the artist’s project. Featuring artists’ books from the Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library (AA/PG), this exhibit investigates the way that book artists use material and visual features to make meaning.

As part of the SIL Artists’ Book Professional Development Internship, Amanda Meeks and Michelle Strizever have been working to develop the visibility of the hidden artists’ book collections. Our project included improving access through refining cataloging practices of this special genre. During this time we had the opportunity to survey the collection at AA/PG. Each of us found several works intriguing; we explored and analyzed bookworks individually through research and writing. This started a conversation about what those works have in common: each work uses unique features, such as structure or materials, to convey content and meaning.

We hope that this exhibit will encourage viewers and researchers to visit the library and use the artists’ book collection. Please RSVP to silaapg@si.edu  if you would like to attend the opening of Material Meanings on Wednesday, July 18th, 2012 from 4 pm to 6 pm. We will be available to discuss this project, the exhibition, and the collection over refreshments.