Artist: Asya Dodina, Slava Polishchuk Title: Collapse Audio: Date: Dimensions: Location in Library: First floor Media: Owner: On loan from artists. © Asya Dodina and Slava Polishchuk Description: Related Websites – Interview with Asya Dodina & Slava Polishchuk, Studio International – Asya Dodina& Slava Polishchuk ” What Remains”, NY ART BEAT
Daily Archives: July 5, 2022
63 posts
Artist: Asya Dodina, Slava Polishchuk Title: Cones Audio: Date: 2003 Dimensions: 100″ x 116″ Location in Library: Second floor Media: Oil/mixed media on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift from the artists in honor of Professor Anthony Cucchiara Description: Two artists, in collaboration, have combined these natural shapes, cones and shells. The interconnections, the twists and turns of these shapes with one another, seem to reflect the very essence of human relationships. The scale and interplay of the shapes are enhanced by the use of paper and textiles, which imbue the painting with a rich, powerful texture and feeling. Related Websites – Interview with Asya Dodina & Slava Polishchuk, Studio International – Asya Dodina& Slava Polishchuk ” What Remains”, NY ART BEAT
Artist: Asya Dodina, Slava Polishchuk Title: What Remains Audio: Date: 2012 Dimensions: Triptych, each section, 37 inches x 37 inches Location in Library: First floor Media: Graphite on rice paper and canvas, debris Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of the artists. Description: The artists’ choice of media is essential for this work, as they address the themes of loss, remembrance and survival, inherent in the devastation of New York’s Hurricane Sandy. Delicate images of battered plants are juxtaposed against the debris of painted, defunct magnetic tape, which originated in the 1930s for sound recording. This triptych raises awareness of challenges to libraries: in order to preserve content of a now obsolete technology, audiotape must be migrated to digital format. Related Websites – Interview with Asya Dodina & Slava Polishchuk, Studio International – Asya Dodina& Slava Polishchuk ” What Remains”, NY ART BEAT
Artist: Asya Dodina Title: Window I Audio: Date: 1999 Dimensions: 92″ x 56″ Location in Library: Lower level Media: Oil on canvas Owner: On loan from artist. © Asya Dodina Description: Related Websites – Interview with Asya Dodina & Slava Polishchuk, Studio International – Asya Dodina& Slava Polishchuk ” What Remains”, NY ART BEAT
Artist: Asya Dodina Title: Window II Audio: Date: 1999 Dimensions: 50″ x 56″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: On loan from artist. © Asya Dodina Description: Related Websites – Interview with Asya Dodina & Slava Polishchuk, Studio International – Asya Dodina& Slava Polishchuk ” What Remains”, NY ART BEAT
Artist: Nicolas Evans-Cato (American, b. 1973) Title: Bridge Audio: Date: 1999 Dimensions: 36″ x 54″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on linen Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © Nicolas Evans-Cato Description: Evans-Cato portrays gritty urban scenes with great reverence. His predilection for painting in the rain creates moody studies in naturalistic light, thereby softening the strong geometric lines of the city. In Bridge he presents a unique, panoramic view of the Manhattan Bridge. His vantage point magnifies its majestic grandeur, but it also places brightly colored litter and debris in the foreground which is seen in sharp contrast to the muted colors of the sky, water, and buildings. The artist eliminates elements that reflect a specific era, thus giving the painting a timeless quality. Related Website – Nicholas Evans-Cato at George Billis Gallery
American, 1894-1963 Lewis Street, c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 23 1/2” x 29 3/4” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Ben Galos emigrated from Belarus to the U.S. in 1913. Galos’s bustling industrial environment is reminiscent of the Ashcan School. The influence of the American Realists of the early 1900s such as Robert Henri and George Sloan is apparent in this painting, down to Galos’s inclusion of the distinctive New York streetlamp. During the Great Depression Galos worked for the WPA. Two of his paintings from that era are on view here: this one, and a very different one entitled Old Farmhouse. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
American, 1894-1963 Old Farmhouse, c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 23 1/2” x 29 1/4 ” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Ben Galos was born Berel Goloschin in Vitebsk, Belarus, and immigrated to New York with his family at the age of nineteen. He studied at the National Academy of Design and although he exhibited his work widely in New York, he appears to have remained poor and single his entire life. Best known for his cityscapes, Galos’s work also includes portraits and landscapes. Galos painted this pristine farmhouse while in the employ of the WPA. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Artist: Anthony G. Gennarelli (American, 1915-2001) Title: The Musical Mermaid Audio: Date: 1988 Dimensions: 21″ x 15″ x 7″ Location in Library: Lower level Media: Siena marble Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of the family of Anthony G. Gennarelli in honor of Barbara L. Gerber. © Artist’s Estate Description: This is one of the sculptor’s most imaginative pieces, beautifully combining his love of both music and art. It also showcases Gennarelli’s mastery of subtle abstraction and his flair for the dramatic. This sensual, fluid masterpiece conveys the undulating rhythm and allure of a mermaid.
Artist: Anthony G. Gennarelli (American, 1915-2001) Title: The Sybil Audio: Date: 1992 Dimensions: 17″ x 13″ x 9″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Celestine marble Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of the family of Anthony G. Gennarelli. © Artist’s Estate Description: The artist inventively captures the uniqueness of the marble with a keen sense of its natural and sensuous beauty. Gennarelli’s hand-carved sculptures range from subtle abstractions to powerful portraits. This sculpture is based upon Michelangelo’s rendering of the Delphic prophetess Sybil.
Artist: Anthony G. Gennarelli Title: Arturo Toscanini Audio: Date: 1994 Dimensions: 21″ x 9″ x 9″ Location in Library: Second floor Media: Cold cast bonded bronze Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of the family of Anthony G. Gennarelli. © Artist’s Estate Description: Music is a recurrent theme in many of Gennarelli’s sculptures. In addition to being a gifted sculptor, he was an accomplished violist who performed professionally with several New York orchestras. This moving tribute to the great conductor Toscanini is both stunning in its realism and powerful in its expression.
Artist: Alberto Giacometti (Swiss, 1901-1966) Title: Awaiting Audio: Date: c. 1963 Dimensions: 10 1/2″ x 8″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Etching; works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris Description: Related Websites– Alberto Giacometti at MoMA– Alberto Giacometti at Artchive
Artist: Luke Gray (American, 1961) Title: Smart Paint #1 Audio: Date: 1998 Dimensions: 66 x 65 “ Location in Library: First floor Media: Acrylic on canvas Owner: Gift from Luke Gray. © Luke Gray Description: Luke Gray lives in Brooklyn and has been exhibiting in the New York area since the late 1980s. Major commissioned works include TransMission 1998, a ceiling mural in Times Square at 1500 Broadway, and Universal Health, a monumental wall painting for the The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey.
Artist: Chaim Gross (American, b. Austria, 1904-1991) Title: Dancing Girls Audio: Date: 1965 Dimensions: 43 1/2″ x 29″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Charcoal on paper; works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of the Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation. © The Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation Description: Gross was primarily known as a sculptor, but he was also a fine draftsman and watercolorist. Dancing Girls, one of his thousands of works on paper, demonstrates his mastery of drawing. In this charcoal sketch, he captures the vitality, three-dimensionality, and rhythmic energy of dancers in space. Along with acrobats and aerialists, dancers were among Gross’s favorite subjects. He said that he was attracted to these figures not because he was “interested in acrobats per se” but rather because he found in them “many possibilities of variations in forms and movements.” Related Website – The Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation
Artist: Philip Guston (Canadian, 1913-1980) Title: Untitled, From the Suite of Ten Lithographs Audio: Date: 1966 Dimensions: 22 1/2 x 30 inches Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Lithograph on paper works on paper Owner: Brooklyn College Description: Guston is recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. He is best known for his abstract paintings during the 1950’s and early 1960’s when he established a reputation as a major abstract expressionist artist, and then later, in the 1970’s, when he created cartoonlike imagery. These two lithographs were made during the pivotal time when the artist began to question his role as an abstract artist. Guston began to feel that his abstractions made it difficult to respond to the social and political upheavals of the period. Marks on the lithographs are repeated and suggest solid forms and hinting at recognizable shapes. These types of drawings evolved into more figurative elements, everyday objects and cartoon shapes that would typify the painter’s work during the last decade of his life. Related Website – Philip Guston at MOMA
Artist: Maria Hartmann Title: Skylight Audio: Date: 2000 Dimensions: 60″ x 90″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: On loan from artist. © Maria Hartmann Description:
American, 1913-2004 Jean, c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 39 1/2” x 25” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Born in England in 1913, Allen Hermes came to the United States at the age of sixteen. An outstanding art student, Hermes attended Syracuse University on a full scholarship. He was also awarded a fellowship to study art and architecture in Germany. Later he served in Europe in WWII with the Corps of Engineers. In this portrait, Hermes captures the expression of a pensive young woman standing in front of a velvet curtain. She is leaning on the balustrade of a balcony, two white flowers in her hand. A peaceful countryside can be seen from a dizzying height behind her, while a stormy sky perhaps reflects her anxious thoughts. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Artist: Charles Hine (American, 1827-1871) Title: Walt Whitman Audio: Date: 1860 Dimensions: 27″ x 22″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Description: Charles Hine painted this portrait of Walt Whitman, the great, iconoclastic poet, when Whitman was forty-two years old and living in Brooklyn. Whitman loved this portrait and included an engraved version of it in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass, the first edition that he did not self-publish. Even though this portrait was Whitman’s favorite — he said it portrayed him “in full bloom” with “not a thing amiss” — he sold it in 1873 to his friend and benefactor John H. Johnston. Whitman had suffered a stroke and needed money to move from Washington, DC to his brother’s house in Camden, NJ. Related Website The Walt Whitman Archive
Artist: Joseph Hirsch (American, 1910-1981) Title: Lunch Hour Audio: Date: 1942 Dimensions: 9″ x 11 3/4″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Lithograph; works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artist’s Estate Description: A powerfully expressive draftsman and painter, Hirsch depicted people in ordinary, everyday scenes. In this lithograph, which was the artist’s first, Hirsch’s father, a noted Philadelphia surgeon, posed for the sleeping figure. Hirsch then transformed his father’s figure into a portrait of an African-American youth. Hirsch commented in 1942 that “a re-affirmation by today’s artist of his faith in the common man will be as natural as was the emphasis by El Greco on his faith in the Church.” Related Websites– Joseph Hirsch at the Navy Art Collection – Joseph Hirsch at MoMA – Joseph Hirsch at Smithsonian American Art Museum
Artist: Joseph Hirsch (American, 1910-1981) Title: Sleeping Head Audio: Date: 1949 Dimensions: 20 5/8″- 15 3/4″ Location in Library: Third floor Joseph Hirsch Media: Lithograph Lithograph Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection Description: One of Hirsch’s strongest images, and one of his rarest prints. This image was drawn directly on the stone in one afternoon, in the Paris studio of Hirsch’s printer Gaston Dorfinant. Hirsch was a painter, iluustrator, muralist and teacher. Social commentary was the backbone of Hirsch’s art, especially works depicting civic corruption and racial injustice. His works are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and many others. Hirsch was a founding member of Artists Equity created to protect the right of visual artists. Related Websites– Joseph Hirsch at the Navy Art Collection – Joseph Hirsch at MoMA – Joseph Hirsch at Smithsonian American Art Museum
Artist: J. Redding Kelly (American, 1868-1939) Title: Dean Mario Cosenza Audio: Date: 1934 Dimensions: 50″ x 35″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artist’s Estate Description: Professor Cosenza, a classical scholar, was the first provost of Brooklyn College and the first Italian to serve as dean of an American college. In 1938, Professor Cosenza became acting president of Brooklyn College, stepping in for an ailing President Boylan. Mr. Kelly, a renowned portrait painter, taught at Brooklyn College for over 33 years.
Artist: William Kentridge (South African, b. 1955) Title: Dancing Couple Audio: Date: 2003 Dimensions: 73″ x 51″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Offset lithograph, works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © William Kentridge Description: In Dancing Couple, Kentridge aims to “depict the futile battles against entropy . . . representing bodies aging rather than bodies triumphant.” And indeed, his depiction of a middle-aged couple clearly conveys both their age and the age of their relationship. Their age is evident in their thickened bodies and their heavy steps, which have lost the nimbleness of youth. The age of their relationship is conveyed more subtly: the two are so accustomed to each other’s bodies that, even though they are nude, they don’t seem to notice each other’s nakedness. As a result, viewers don’t immediately notice it, either. Related Websites– William Kentridge at MoMA– William Kentridge at New Museum– “Why the Art World Is So Drawn to William Kentridge” from New York Magazine –William Kentridge’s Charcoal Drawings Animate Africa’s History of Colonial Resistance
Artist: William Kentridge (South African, b. 1955) Title: Typewriter Audio: Date: 2003 Dimensions: 30 1/2″ x 36 11/16″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Sugarlift aquatint, works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with The Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © William Kentridge Description: The typewriter in this print is full of quirky character; the old-fashioned keys, typebars, and levers twitch with motion and life, even in the absence of a typist. William Kentridge infuses many of his works with this kind of vitality, and he often combines them to make stop-motion animations, or “drawings for projection.” Though the resulting films are sequences of still images, they burst with energy, especially when he is addressing politically charged subjects such as apartheid. Related Websites– William Kentridge at MoMA– William Kentridge at New Museum– “Why the Art World Is So Drawn to William Kentridge” from New York Magazine –William Kentridge’s Charcoal Drawings Animate Africa’s History of Colonial Resistance
American, 1932-2007 In Our Time: Covers for a Small Library After the Life for the most Part, 1969 Serigraph Prints 29.5″ – 21″ The Brooklyn College Library Collection Kitaj’s screen-printed images of book covers represent a random sampling of actual ones from the artist’s eclectic, beloved library. Although born in Ohio, Kitaj traveled extensively, and studied with the London School of figurative painters such as David Hockney. In this series, Kitaj reveals the influence of Dada, and Marcel Duchamp’s notion of the “Readymade”: an everyday object declared a work of art by an artist. Kitaj’s book covers also suggest Andy Warhol’s commercial appropriations. Kitaj later referred to these prints as ” …my soup can, my Liz, my electric chair.”
Artist: Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867-1945) Title: Praying Girl Audio: Date: 1892 Dimensions: 12 11/16″ x 9 11/16″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Etching;works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn Description: Although Kollwitz is best known for her anguished portrayals of mothers with children, the tragedy of war, and death, this work represents a lesser-known aspect of the artist’s life and inspiration. In her writing, Kollwitz acknowledges that her socialist “politicization” was derived from her faith; and this poignant image, of a girl engrossed in fervent prayer, also demonstrates the way Kollwitz used hands and faces to express intense emotion. Related Websites– Käthe Kollwitz at National Museum of Women in the Arts– Käthe Kollwitz at MoMA Käthe Kollwitz exhibition at MoMA
American, 1891-1985 The Apple Tree, c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 23 1/2” x 29 1/2” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Laufman studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Art Student’s League in New York. Robert Henri was his most important teacher. From 1920 to 1933, Laufman lived in Paris where he was friendly with Henri Matisse and in contact with other artists of the Modernist movement. Laufman painted in both traditional and modern styles and consequently his work is extremely varied. Primarily a painter of landscapes, trees were among his favorite subjects, as can be seen in this lush portrayal of an apple tree in late summer. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Artist: Jim Lee (American, b. 1954) Title: Receding Orchard Audio: Date: 2001 Dimensions: 14″ x 171/2″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Woodcut works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © Jim Lee Description: Artist and printmaker Jim Lee creates original woodcuts to illustrate his limited-edition, hand-printed books. Lee begins a series with pastel and pencil drawings from which he develops his woodcuts. These prints require many layers of printing to produce their lush surfaces and visual depth. His imagery focuses on the landscapes of New England, the Canadian Maritimes, and Nova Scotia.
Artist: Jim Lee Title: River Date: 1998 Dimensions: 14" x 171/2" Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Woodcut, works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. å© Jim Lee
Twilight, c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 24” x 29 1/2” The Brooklyn College Library Collection A woman with a basket and cane makes her way down a snow-packed path. The landscape is filled with barren trees, silhouetted against a pastel sky. Pink, blue, mauve, and gold –the colors of a winter’s twilight– are reflected on the snow-covered ground. Landscapes, cityscapes, and farmland scenes were popular themes for FAP artists who typically avoided controversial subjects. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Artist: Joseph Loguirato Title: Everything and Nothing Audio: Date: 2006 Dimensions: 24″ x 36″ x 16″ Location in Library: Media: Acrylic on masonite Owner: On loan from artist. © Joseph Loguirato Description:
Artist: Richard Lord Title: Neptune (detail); Bailey Fountain, Brooklyn, New York Audio: Date: 1989 Dimensions: 39 1/2″ x 27″ Location in Library: Lower level Media: Cibachrome photograph Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of the artist. © Richard Lord Description: Working in a photojournalistic style, Lord has captured images of both rural and urban settings in nearly all the countries in the world. He is best known for his compassionate photographs of the beauty, strength, and suffering of people in over 72 Third World countries. Related Website– Richard Lord’s Website
Artist: Joseph Margulies (Austrian, 1896-1984) Title: President Harry D. Gideonse (1901-1985) Audio: Date: 1949 Dimensions: 44″ x 36″ Location in Library: First Floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artist’s Estate Description: Harry D. Gideonse was Brooklyn College’s second president, serving from 1939 to 1966. During his 27 years as president, the college saw unprecedented growth and was viewed as a prominent liberal arts institution with a faculty of distinguished scholars. In 1966, during a dispute with the Board of Education over a planned $400 tuition charge, Gideonse resigned. Known as a portrait and landscape painter, Joseph Margulies always strove for realism.
Artist: Marc Mellon (American, b. 1951) Title: Don Quixote Audio: Date: 2004 Dimensions: 24″ x 14″ x 8″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Bronze Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of Marc Mellon. © Marc Mellon Description: Mellon is well known for his expressive portrait busts and commemorative statues of prominent figures, such as former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Theodore Roosevelt, Pope John Paul II, Winston Churchill, and President Lee Teng-hui of Taiwan. He is also recognized for capturing motion and balance in his sculptures of legendary figures from the worlds of dance and sports. The artist says, “My sculptures are meant to move and uplift the spirit.”
Artist: Dr. Seymour Meyer Title: The Torch Audio: Date: 1971 Dimensions: 27 1/2″ x 8″ x 8″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Bronze Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of Dr. Seymour Meyer. © Dr. Seymour Meyer Description: Dr. Meyer is a renowned hand surgeon and internationally recognized sculptor who graduated from Brooklyn College in 1933. Working mainly in bronze, he creates abstract sculptures that are wonderfully imaginative. The sculpted contours in this work evoke a torch’s flickering flame.
Artist: Robert Motherwell (American, 1915-1991) Title: Africa Suite, Number 10 Audio: Date: 1970 Dimensions: 40 3/4″ x 28 1/4″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Screenprint, works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Dedalus Foundation and VAGA (Visual Artists and Galleries Association, Inc.) Description: By the 1950’s Motherwell had moved away from automatism and toward spontaneous brushwork and bold, simple forms inspired by Chinese and Japanese brush painting. Motherwell said that “abstract rhythms, immediately felt, could be an expression of the inner self.” Black and white are the predominant colors in many of Motherwell’s works; he said, “Black is death, anxiety; white is life . . .” In Motherwell’s works, these colors also evoke printed words, symbols, brilliant shadows, and the extremes of darkness and light. Related Websites– Robert Motherwell at PBS– Robert Motherwell at Guggenheim Collection– Robert Motherwell at MoMA Suggested Readings– Engberg, Siri. Robert Motherwell: The Complete Prints 1940-1991: Catalogue Raisonné, 2003. Call Number: NE539 .M67 A4 2003– Motherwell, Robert. The Collected Writings of Robert Motherwell, 1999. Call Number: ND237.M852 A35 1999
Artist: Robert Motherwell (American, 1915-1991) Title: Africa Suite Number 7 Audio: Date: 1970 Dimensions: 40 3/4″ x 28 1/4″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Screenprint works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Dedalus Foundation and VAGA (Visual Artists and Galleries Association, Inc.) Description: Motherwell’s goal was to depict not a physical experience but rather his reaction to it. He was strongly influenced by the Surrealist technique of automatism, in which an artist allows his hand to move freely, thereby revealing forms that arise from the thoughts and feelings of the unconscious mind. Motherwell successfully used this technique to develop his own visual vocabulary. Related Websites– Robert Motherwell at PBS– Robert Motherwell at Guggenheim Collection– Robert Motherwell at MoMA Suggested Readings– Engberg, Siri. Robert Motherwell: The Complete Prints 1940-1991: Catalogue Raisonné, 2003. Call Number: NE539 .M67 A4 2003– Motherwell, Robert. The Collected Writings of Robert Motherwell, 1999. Call Number: ND237.M852 A35 1999
Artist: Robert Motherwelll (American, 1915-1991) Title: London Series II: Untitled Audio: Date: 1971 Dimensions: 28 1/2″ x 41″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Screenprint works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Dedalus Foundation and VAGA (Visual Artists and Galleries Association, Inc.) Description: This series of screenprints, produced in London, explores variations on the artist’s Open series of paintings. The spare and elegant Open paintings incorporated “window” images within the larger painted fields of the canvases. About these paintings, Motherwell wrote, “The Open contain a subtle but real reference to one of the most classical themes of modern art: that of the window.” Related Websites– Robert Motherwell at PBS– Robert Motherwell at Guggenheim Collection– Robert Motherwell at MoMA Suggested Readings– Engberg, Siri. Robert Motherwell: The Complete Prints 1940-1991: Catalogue Raisonné, 2003.Call Number: NE539 .M67 A4 2003– Motherwell, Robert. The Collected Writings of Robert Motherwell, 1999.Call Number: ND237.M852 A35 1999
Artist: Vik Muniz (American, b. Brazil, 1960) Title: Ad Reinhardt Audio: Date: 2000 Dimensions: 44″ x 66″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Cibachrome Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © Vik Muniz Description: Muniz collected dust and detritus from the galleries and offices of the Whitney Museum of American Art and arranged these substances into a drawing based on a photograph from the Museum’s exhibition Collection in Context: Ad Reinhardt.* He then photographed the drawing and enlarged it, creating a representation of a representation. Muniz’s use of dust is in keeping with his practice of incorporating unusual materials, such as chocolate syrup, ashes, and wire, into his work. His use of these substances hints at his offbeat sense of humor. * The abstract artist Ad Reinhardt taught in the Brooklyn College Art Department from 1947 to 1967. Related Websites– Vik Muniz’s Website– Vik Muniz at P.S.1 MoMA– Vik Muniz on PBS Suggested Readings– Muniz, Vik. Vik Muniz: Seeing is Believing, 1998. Call Number: Folio TR654 .M8x 1998– Muniz, Vik. Reflex: A Vik Muniz Primer, 2005. Call Number: TR647 .M857x 2005– Sullivan, Edward J. Brazil: Body and Soul, 2001. Call […]
Artist: Elizabeth Murray (American, 1940-2007) Title: Rescue Audio: Date: 1996 Dimensions: 118″ x 136″ x 7″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas, wood painting Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © Elizabeth Murray Description: Elizabeth Murray is known for her large, distinctively shaped canvases that playfully blur the line between paintings as objects and paintings as depictions of objects. In Rescue she uses multiple canvases, allowing the viewer simultaneously to look down on, into, and beneath a gigantic upside-down cup. The cup sits precariously on a table whose legs extend from either side of the main canvas adding a sculptural touch. Bright colors and bold patterns give this work a sense of swirling movement and make this one of Murray’s most exhilarating paintings. Related Websites – Elizabeth Murray at PaceWildenstein – Elizabeth Murray at PBS – Elizabeth Murray at Artchive Suggested Readings – Storr, Robert. Elizabeth Murray, 2005. Call Number: N6537 .M87 S76 2005 – Murray, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Murray: Paintings and Works on Paper, 2002. Call Number: Reserve Loan – ND237 .M923 A4x 2002 – Murray, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Murray: Recent Paintings, 1997. Call Number: Reserve Loan – […]
Artist: Graham Nickson (British, b. 1946) Title: Red Towel Audio: Date: c. 1990 Dimensions: 37 1/2” x 73 1/2” Location in Library: Third floor Media: Acrylic on canvas Owner: Brooklyn College Library Collection Description: A solitary figure holds up a beach towel in a grassy field, under a blazing sun. Nickson intensifies the foreground of this painting with the complimentary colors of green and red, as he purposefully contrasts its vertical and horizontal planes. Subtle details add interest: a blue hue of the sky is repeated in the sunbather’s shadow on the grass, while her taut, muscular body is outlined in darker red on the towel. The banal action of Nickson’s sunbather is imbued with mystery, as the artist seeks “a vehicle for the human figure in a very particular environment, as a metaphor for a larger range of human experience.”
Artist: Ferdie Pacheco (American, b. 1927) Title: Advice Audio: Date: 1984 Dimensions: 72″ x 40″ Location in Library: Lower level Media: Oil on canvas Owner: Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of Noreen Andreoli. © Ferdie Pacheco Description: After having the self-proclaimed “Greatest of All-Time” Muhammad Ali’s ear for fifteen years as his doctor, the artist is well aware of the magnitude of the title of this piece. It is a wonderful example of not only the artist’s impeccable ability to speak volumes within the borders of a single frame, but also his habitually prodigious use of color. Le Musée du Luxembourg awarded Pacheco Best Colorist in 1990.
Artist: Ferdie Pacheco (American, b. 1927) Title: Marciano Victorious Audio: Date: 1983 Dimensions: 48″ x 30″ Location in Library: Lower level Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of Noreen Andreoli. © Ferdie Pacheco Description: As the only Heavyweight Champion to retire undefeated (with 43 knockouts), perhaps it is not a single bout but his entire career that is the subject of this piece. The fact that the fighter appears unblemished at the fight’s conclusion is a beautiful and apt translation of the dominance Rocky Marciano exhibited in the ring throughout his 49 career fights.
American, 1911-1972 Untitled (Landscape), c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 16 1/2” x 24” The Brooklyn College Library Collection After immigrating to New York, the Russian born Pantuhoff lived in Greenwich Village where he came into contact with the emerging Abstract Expressionists. Pantuhoff, however, followed a different path. Although he first painted portraits of distinguished individuals such as Princess Grace of Monaco and Laurence S. Rockefeller, he eventually became best known for his big-eye portraits in the 1960s. In this eerie landscape, Pantuhoff uses abstract forms to create the swirling patterns of an uneven hillside. The uncanny, delicate trees evoke movement and emotion. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
American, 20th century A Day in June, c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 19 3/4” x 23 1/2” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Although an artist from the American Midwest, one can see the influence of Impressionism in this work by Claude Patterson. It shares affinities with Camille Pissarro’s painting of 1872, Orchard in Bloom, Louveciennes, evident in the gentle way Patterson depicts his blossoming tree. Patterson’s palette of blues and greens, his rendering of depth, and his inclusion of buildings also call to mind the works of Paul Cézanne. Like Cézanne’s paintings of Mont Sainte-Victoire, the background of Patterson’s landscape is dominated by the grandeur of a distant mountain. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Artist: Philip Pearlstein (American, 1924-2022) Title: President Francis P. Kilcoyne Audio: Date: 1968 Dimensions: 44″ x 36″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Philip Pearlstein Description: President Francis P. Kilcoyne (1903-1985) was Brooklyn College’s third president, serving from 1966 to 1967. A lifelong liberal, Kilcoyne spoke at a college antiwar rally in 1935, and as college president asked for leniency for antiwar protesters arrested in a clash with police on campus. In 1976, Kilcoyne resigned from the city’s Board of Higher Education, protesting plans to impose tuition at the colleges in the City University of New York system. In 1980, after his wife’s death, Kilcoyne was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in the Brooklyn Diocese. The artist, Philip Pearlstein, enjoys an international reputation as a leading figurative painter. In the early 1960s, Pearlstein formulated a new American realism by painting the human body in a highly objective manner, breaking with the Western tradition of idealizing figures. He advocated painting images the way the eye actually sees them, including optical distortions and perceived anomalies. Pearlstein taught at Brooklyn College from 1964 to 1989. Related Websites Philip Pearlstein at MOMA Philip […]
Artist: Philip Pearlstein (American, 1924-2022) Title: President Robert L. Hess Audio: Date: 1989 Dimensions: 44″ x 36″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Philip Pearlstein Description: Robert L. Hess (1932-1992) was Brooklyn College’s sixth president, serving from 1979 to 1991. President Hess assumed the presidency amid campus turmoil related to the 1970s “open admissions” policy. Under his leadership, the college adopted a core curriculum requiring students to take courses in art, classics, computers, mathematics, and the sciences. By 1988, the college was rated fifth in the nation in liberal arts education. Pearlstein’s composition and powerful colors beautifully convey the bold leadership style of President Hess. The artist’s careful observation of life and emphasis on objectivity is reflected in his meticulous recording of the President’s characteristic thoughtful expression and manner. Related Websites Philip Pearlstein at MOMA Philip Pearlstein at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Artist: Slava Polishchuk Title: Wall Audio: Date: 2002 Dimensions: 90″ x 448″ Location in Library: Second floor Media: Oil and paper on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of Slava Polishchuk. © Slava Polishchuk Description: Human suffering and its inevitability has long been a theme in Polishchuk’s work. Inspired by Jeremiah’s Lament in the Bible, this work has a box-within-a-box motif that echoes the rhythmic and repetitive phrasing of Jeremiah’s text. Polishchuk states: “Repetition is similar to the idea of memory, which is essentially an endless repetition of something that once happened . . . all we have in our struggle against time is memory.” An arresting canvas, this mural-like painting combines 10 to 15 coats of paint with Japanese paper, creating innumerable hues of black and white as well as rich and haunting textures. Related Websites – Interview with Asya Dodina & Slava Polishchuk, Studio International – Asya Dodina& Slava Polishchuk ” What Remains”, NY ART BEAT
This painting embody a dynamic between being fully realized abstract painting and arrested gestures in a state of undoneness. The shades of graphite and the gestures within it are markers of time and change, and place. The making of painting is a process of accumulating lessons. These factors seem in kinship with the act of study and learning.
This painting embody a dynamic between being fully realized abstract painting and arrested gestures in a state of undoneness. The shades of graphite and the gestures within it are markers of time and change, and place. The making of painting is a process of accumulating lessons. These factors seem in kinship with the act of study and learning.
Artist: Archie Rand Title: Dinah Washington Audio: Date: 1970 Dimensions: 18″ x 72″ Location in Library: Second floor Media: Acrylic and enamel on canvas Owner: On loan from artist. © Archie Rand Description: Related Websites – Archie Rand’s Biography – Archie Rand, Presidential Professor of Art at Brooklyn College
Artist: Olindo Mario Ricci (American, b. Italy, 1904-1982) Title: Famous Libraries of the World: The Augustan Library and The Alexandrian Library Audio: Date: 1936-1939 Dimensions: 9 feet Location in Library: Second floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: Provenance: Funded by the Works Progress Administration, Federal Art Project. © Artist’s Estate Description: Gracing the Library’s grandest reading room are murals of two of the ancient world’s greatest libraries: Egypt’s Alexandrian Library and Rome’s Augustan Library. Muralist Olindo Mario Ricci wanted students to “feel as if they are in the company of the greats as they read the classics” and thus included many illustrious figures, including the mathematician Euclid and the poet Virgil. The panel represents a corner of the Alexandrian Library at the height of its cultural splendor. Euclid appears in the foreground, compass in hand, and surrounded by students. Young Archimedes is behind them at study. Ptolemy Philadelphus, patron of the library, enters at right, accompanied by a scribe bearing papyri. Suspended from the ceiling is a model of an Egyptian galley. Ricci began the murals as a WPA artist and completed them as a Brooklyn College professor, doing much of the work in a studio in the Library’s clock tower.
Artist: Edward Ruscha Title: News, Mews, Pews, Brews, Stews & Dues Audio: Date: 1970 Dimensions: Six prints, each 23″ x 32″ This portfolio is number 122 Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Silkscreen prints on paper works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Edward Ruscha Description: In the series News, Mews, Pews, Brews, Stews & Dues, Ruscha probes the visual and emotive power of words by playing with similar sounds and humorous rhymes. The six words he uses are rendered in an old Gothic-style lettering and are expressions of Ruscha’s impressions of England — its houses, cathedrals, cuisine, etc. The artist experiments with the printmaking media, using organic materials such as black currant pie filling, red salmon roe, raw egg, squid ink, chutney, chocolate syrup, Bolognese sauce, daffodils, and axle grease to create the silk-screened prints. Related Websites – Website of the Edward Ruscha Catalogue Raisonné – Ed Ruscha at Gagosian Gallery – Ed Ruscha at MoMA – “One Artist Journeys Down Another’s ‘Road'” (from the New York Times) – Ed Ruscha / NOW THEN | MoMA – Ed Rusch’s “Chocolate Room” Still Tantalizes (from New York Times) Suggested Readings – Marshall, Richard. Ed Ruscha, 2003. Call […]
Artist: Alfred Russell (American, 1920-2007) Title: Autumn Audio: Date: 1968 Dimensions: 50″ x 40″ Location in Library: Third floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artist’s Estate Description: During the 1940’s and early 1950’s Russell painted in the Abstract Expressionist style, but he later turned to the figure and the classical world. His work was a major force in the re-emergence of figurative painting in America. Russell has said, “My inspiration has always been a nostalgia for some nonexistent golden age. . . . I have always believed that the reality of art is unique . . . that art is the reality underlying the unreality of the everyday world.” Russell taught painting at Brooklyn College from 1947 to 1975. Related Websites – Alfred Russell’s Biography at Net in Arcadia – Alfred Russell’s Works at Net in Arcadia
Artist: Doug Schwab Title: Gerard Siani and Greg Saucedo Audio: Date: 2000 Dimensions: Location in Library: Second floor Media: Platinum-palladium print Owner: On loan from artist. © Doug Schwab Description:
Artist: Doug Schwab Title: Kim and Randi Audio: Date: c. 2001 Dimensions: Location in Library: Second floor Media: Platinum-palladium print Owner: On loan from artist. © Doug Schwab Description:
Artist: Doug Schwab Title: Lennart Anderson Audio: Date: c. 2001 Dimensions: Location in Library: Second floor Media: Platinum-palladium print Owner: On loan from artist. © Doug Schwab Description:
Artist: Doug Schwab Title: Myra Audio: Date: c. 2001 Dimensions: Location in Library: Second floor Media: Platinum-palladium print Owner: On loan from artist. © Doug Schwab Description:
Artist: Doug Schwab Title: Poppo Audio: Date: c. 2001 Dimensions: Location in Library: Second floor Media: Platinum-palladium prints Owner: On loan from artist. © Doug Schwab Description:
Artist: Doug Schwab Title: Sarah Audio: Date: c. 2001 Dimensions: Location in Library: Second floor Media: Platinum-palladium prints Owner: On loan from artist. © Doug Schwab Description:
Artist: Doug Schwab Title: Spencer Audio: Date: c. 2001 Dimensions: Location in Library: Second floor Media: Platinum-palladium prints Owner: On loan from artist. © Doug Schwab Description:
Artist: Doug Schwab Title: Stacy Audio: Date: c. 2001 Dimensions: Location in Library: Second floor Media: Platinum-palladium prints Owner: On loan from artist. © Doug Schwab Description:
Artist: Olga Sheirr (American) Title: Stonehenge #3 Audio: Date: Dimensions: 27 ¾” x 40 ¾” Location in Library: Fourth floor Olga Sheirr Media: Sumi Ink on Paper Owner: Gift of the artist Description: “My recent work has been calligraphy, which has enchanted me for many years, using Chinese brushes, Sumi ink and rice paper. It is a very separate venue from the landscapes I have done in the past. I studied at Brooklyn College with Ad Reinhardt, Rothko, Diller, Still and other great artists. I started Graduate School at New York University Institute of Fine Arts. I also studied at the Art Students League, Intaglio Workshop, New York University, and Pratt Graphic Center. ” – Olga Sheirr
Artist: Shahzia Sikander (Pakistani, b. 1969) Title: Embark/Disembark I-VI Audio: Date: 2002 Dimensions: I, V, VI, 18″ x 15″; II, 15″ x 18″; III-IV, 24″ x 20″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Photolithography and silkscreen; works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © Shahzia Sikander Description: Sikander began her formal art training by studying Indian and Persian miniatures. She reinterprets this genre by combining Christian, Hindu, and Muslim iconography in a contemporary medium. Using the central image of the woman, the artist explores both her personal identity and broader political and gender issues. Her work is remarkable for its breathtaking delicacy, meticulous details, and dreamlike rhythm. When asked what her work means, Sikander replied, “It’s not a question of what kinds of meaning the image is transmitting but what kind of meaning the viewer is projecting [on to my work].” Related Websites– Shahzia Sikander’s Website –Shahzia Sikander at The Morgan Library – Shahzia Sikander at PBS Suggested Reading– Berry, Ian and Jessica Hough. Shahzia Sikander: Nemesis, 2004.Call Number: N7310.73 .S57 A4 2004
