Artist: R. Adams Title: The Wallabout Market Audio: Date: 1930s Dimensions: 20″ x 57″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Watercolor Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artist’s Estate Description: In 1637, Joris Jansen de Rapelje, the father of the first European baby born in New York, purchased 335 acres of land in Brooklyn. In the late 1800s, part of this land became the Wallabout Market, an enormous wholesale market that sold produce from local farms. The market’s buildings were Dutch-style two-story structures with stepped gables. The market was demolished during World War II, when the U.S. government needed the land to expand the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Suggested Reading– Berner, Thomas F. The Brooklyn Navy Yard, 1999.Call Number: Special Collections – Brooklyniana – VA 70 .B7 B47x 1999
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Artist: Lennart Anderson (American, b. 1928) Title: President Vernon Lattin Audio: Date: 2000 Dimensions: 19″ x 18″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas board Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Lennart Anderson Description: Vernon E. Lattin was Brooklyn College’s seventh president, serving from 1992 to 2000. This portrait of Lattin was painted by renowned realist Lennart Anderson, Distinguished Professor of Art (now Emeritus) at Brooklyn College. Anderson’s sober but slightly off-center painting captures Lattin’s intellectual gravity as well as his innate approachability. President Lattin spearheaded the College’s building campaign, which began with the renovation and expansion of the Library, so it is fitting that his portrait adorns the Library’s Archives and Special Collections. Related Websites– Letter from President Vernon Lattin – Lennart Anderson: A Retrospective Suggested Readings– Anderson, Lennart. Lennart Anderson: Paintings, 1953-2002, 2002. Call Number: ND237 .A64245 A4x 2002– Anderson, Lennart. Lennart Anderson: Paintings, 1999. Call Number: ND237 .A527 A4x 1999
Artist: John Arruda (American, b. 1947) Title: The Blind Leading the Blind Audio: Date: 1993 Dimensions: 34″ x 40″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of John Arruda and Sally Bowdoin. © John Arruda Description: Exceedingly imaginative and dramatic, Arruda creates compelling portrayals of all facets of human emotions. His probing of the human soul results in raw psychological portraits, and often violent imagery. Disturbing and dreamlike, this painting appears to be a murder scene but is also intriguing for its ambiguity. Is this about a physical death or psychological death? Where are the hands on the central figure? The split images give a sense of movement and fragmentation, enhancing the unsettling feeling.
Artist: Harold Baumbach (American, 1904-2002) Title: Untitled Audio: Date: 1980 Dimensions: 50″ x 40″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of Harold Baumbach. © Artist’s Estate Description: A self-taught painter, Baumbach became well known in the 1930’s for his densely patterned street scenes and Brooklyn interiors. He later turned to landscapes, which were less figurative and more impressionistic and expressive. A review in ARTnews explained, “His real subject was not the world outside of himself but the stuff and texture and light of paint.” This painting, which contains dreamlike trees in an abstract setting, explores color and spatial relations. Baumbach taught painting at Brooklyn College from 1946 to 1966. Related Websites– Harold Baumbach at PicassoMio– Harold Baumbach at Julie Heller Gallery
Artist: Harold Baumbach (American, 1904-2002) Title: Aspen Audio: Date: 1983 Dimensions: 50″ x 28″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of Harold Baumbach. © Artist’s Estate Description: This work, which references no specific subject matter, reflects Baumbach’s experimentation with abstraction. His use of bold, dissonant colors evokes a dynamic yet mysterious and ambiguous feeling. Related Websites– Harold Baumbach at PicassoMio– Harold Baumbach at Julie Heller Gallery
Artist: Chakaia Booker Title: Echoing Factors Audio: Date: 2004 Dimensions: 66″ x 96″ x 24″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Rubber tires, wood Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © Chakaia Booker Description: In Echoing Factors, Booker’s use of pattern, texture, and subtle variations in color creates an expressive, abstract sculptural relief. A raw explosion of energy emanates from her clever orchestration of bent, looped, and layered tires creating poetic rhythms of swirling forms. Booker describes her approach to her work as being: “Like a painter having a palette, my palette is the textures of the treads, the fibers from discarded materials, and tires that I use to create varied effects.” Related Websites – Chakaia Booker’s Website – An Afternoon in the Park With Shahzia Sikander’s Golden Monuments –Move Over Moses and Zoroaster: Manhattan Has a New Female Lawgiver – Chakaia Booker at The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Chakaia Booker at National Museum of Women in the Arts – The New York Times article Suggested Reading– Booker, Chakaia. Jersey Ride, 2004. Call Number: NB237 .B593 A4x 2004
Artist: Henry Botkin (American, 1896-1983) Title: George Gershwin Audio: Date: 1930 Dimensions: 37″ x 46″ Location in Library: On Loan to the Brooklyn College President’s Office Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artist’s Estate Description: Henry Botkin was the first cousin of composer George Gershwin. In the late 1920’s Gershwin began taking painting lessons from Botkin and became fascinated with painting. Near the end of his life, Gershwin was reputedly looking forward to giving up music so that he could devote himself completely to painting. Botkin also advised Gershwin in art collecting, often traveling to Paris to buy works for the composer and other prominent collectors. Related Websites– Henry Botkin at Childs Gallery– Henry Botkin at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art Suggested Readings– Pollack, Howard. George Gershwin: His Life and Work, 2006. Call Number: ML410 .G288 P65 2006– Suriano, Gregory R. Gershwin in His Time: A Biographical Scrapbook, 1919-1937, 1998. Call Number: ML410 .G288 G48 1998
Artist: Georges Braque (French, 1882-1963) Title: Bird of the Woods or Bird XVII Audio: Date: 1958 Dimensions: 19 1/4″ x 21 1/8″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Color lithograph works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris Description: Braque is one the great artists and innovators of the twentieth century. He is especially well known for his invention of Cubism with Picasso. Braque’s lifelong interest was the depiction of space and the relationship of objects within it. The art historian John Golding said about Braque’s fascination with space, “the birds’ trajectories describe and inform it — the beating of their wings stirs space and renders it tangible.” Birds were one of the major themes in Braque’s art during the last two decades of his life. Related Websites– Georges Braque at Guggenheim Collection– Georges Braque at Artchive– Georges Braque at MoMA Suggested Readings– Golding, John, Sophie Bowness, and Isabelle Monod-Fontaine. Braque: The Late Works, 1997. Call Number: ND553.B86 A4 1997– Wilkin, Karen. Georges Braque, 1991. Call Number: N6853 .B7 W53 1991– Rubin, William. Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism, 1989. Call Number: N6853 .P5 A43x 1989
Artist: Alberto Marcos Bursztyn Title: En el taller de mi abuela (In my grandma’s workshop) Audio: Date: 2016 Dimensions: n/a Location in Library: First floor Media: Mixed media Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of Alberto Marcos Bursztyn. Description: As a child, I often sat on the floor of my abuela Sara’s workshop while she was busy in the kitchen making delicious meals. Her dressmaker’s workshop was her livelihood, but also my playground. Gathering strips of cloth, searching for interesting buttons, hiding under the worktable and pretending to disappear, the workshop invited me to imagine. The piece evokes echoes from that period and celebrates her craft. It honors the strength and creativity of immigrant women who mend, stitch, and keep their families together with found remnants and threads of memory. My grandmother’s family migrated to Argentina in the early 1900’s escaping violent outburst of antisemitism in Ukraine. My mother in-law, a gifted dressmaker born in Poland, survived Nazi labor camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau by sewing fashionable evening wear for female Nazi guards. Thread spools from her Brooklyn sewing kit form the necklace of this piece. The mannequin is covered by strips of maps from every corner of the planet, but […]
Artist: Alexander Calder (American, 1898-1976) Title: Stabile Audio: Date: c. 1965 Dimensions: 25″ x 31″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Lithograph works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Calder Foundation, New York; Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Description: Alexander Calder revolutionized sculpture by making movement one of its main components. His moving sculptures were called “mobiles”–a word coined in 1931 by the artist Marcel Duchamp. Later in his career he created giant open and transparent stationary constructions which were named “stabiles.” These works challenged the traditional notions of sculpture as a solid and static. Moreover, Calder’s inventive abstract forms and innovative use of nontraditional materials, were very influential in changing the art of sculpture. This lithograph is a study for one of Calder’s monumental stabiles. These sculptures have have become public landmarks in many cities around the world. Related Websites – Calder Foundation – Alexander Calder at Guggenheim Museum – Alexander Calder at National Gallery of Art – Alexander Calder at MOMA Suggested Readings – Prather, Maria. Alexander Calder, 1898-1976, 1998. Call Number: Folio N6537 .C33 A4 1998 – Marchesseau, Daniel. The Intimate World of Alexander Calder, 1989. Call Number: Folio N6537 .C33 M3613 1989
American, 1879-1961 Hills, c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 16” x 20” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Vincent Canadé was born in San Giorgio Albanese, Italy, and is mainly known for his landscape paintings. He was active during the 1920s and 30s. In this painting, a Federal Art Project commission, Canadé depicts two lonely houses. They are calmly situated under a cloud-streaked sky, surrounded by fields, trees, boulders, and a lake. The image exudes a sense of tranquility with its muted blues, greens, and browns. The gentle, undulating movement encircling the houses provides this painting with its aptly descriptive title: hills. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Shirley Chisholm-Courage Exemplified Woven Tapestry, 2023 30″ x 42″ Gift of the artist Katy Clements has been a lifelong fiber artist, and a Brooklyn resident since 2005. From 2014 to 2020, she worked as a photographer for the City of New York. It seemed to her a natural progression to bring together fiber work and portraiture. Her works are exhibited in galleries and private collections across the United States. She won the Handweavers Guild of America Award of Excellence at the 2023 Mid-Atlantic Fiber Association Conference. This woven tapestry was made with a hand loom that has a specialized addition called a shaft-switching device that allows much more detail than is possible with a standard loom. The materials used are New Zealand wool and linen for the weft, polyester for the warp. “I wanted to weave a picture of courage, and Shirley Chisholm came to mind. She has always been an inspiration to me.” Shirley Chisholm, a 1946 Brooklyn College graduate, was an American politician who, in 1968, became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. Chisholm represented New York’s 12th congressional district, a district centered on Bedford–Stuyvesant, for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. […]
American, 1897-1989 Autumn Woods, c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 24”x 29” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Before arriving in the U.S. during the Great Depression, Stephan Csoka was considered one of Hungary’s most talented young artists. In America he worked as a housepainter with his father-in-law before becoming an art teacher at both Hunter College and the National Academy of Design. His works can be found in institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum and the Library of Congress. In this painting, created for the WPA in 1937, Csoka creates a scene of rich autumn foliage with a muted palette of orange, brown, green, and purple. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
1902-1981 End of Summer, c.1935-1943 Lithograph 24” x 19” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Hubert Davis studied with the renowned painters Fernand Léger in Paris and Thomas Hart Benton in New York. His work was widely exhibited in his own time, and he associated with artists such as Reginald Marsh and Edward Hopper. Davis illustrated his friend Theodore Dreiser’s book An American Tragedy; he also produced numerous illustrations for magazines and newspapers; and he wrote original plays for which he designed the costumes. Although he used color in a bold and expressive way in his oil paintings, the prints Davis created for the WPA were often sober or even melancholic. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Artist: Elizabeth Delson (American, 1932-2005) Title: A New Direction (Marine Forms II) Audio: Date: 1974 Dimensions: 24″ x 30″ Location in Library: Lower level Media: Oil relief, sand on wood panel Owner: Gift of Sidney L. Delson. © Artist’s Estate Description: Delson was a painter and printmaker whose works reflected her exploration of nature and spiritual moods. Delson described her artistic philosophy this way: “Through painting and graphics I explore images to uncover the dynamic forces behind their appearance: emergence, growth, decay, metamorphosis. I try to capture the process of change in time and space, to crystallize a living moment and convey its vitality.” These paintings, completed midway through her career, reflect her unique forms, energy, vibrant color, and light. Related Website– Online Catalogue Raisonné of Elizabeth Delson
Artist: Elizabeth Delson (American, 1932-2005) Title: Fiery Fields Audio: Date: 1968 Dimensions: 30″ x 30″ Location in Library: Lower level Media: Oil on canvas Owner: Gift of Sidney L. Delson. © Artist’s Estate Description: Delson was a painter and printmaker whose works reflected her exploration of nature and spiritual moods. Delson described her artistic philosophy this way: “Through painting and graphics I explore images to uncover the dynamic forces behind their appearance: emergence, growth, decay, metamorphosis. I try to capture the process of change in time and space, to crystallize a living moment and convey its vitality.” These paintings, completed midway through her career, reflect her unique forms, energy, vibrant color, and light. Related Website – Online Catalogue Raisonné of Elizabeth Delson
Artist: Elizabeth Delson (American, 1932-2005) Title: Garden of Allah Audio: Date: 1971 Dimensions: 34″ x 36″ Location in Library: Lower level Media: Oil relief on wood panel Owner: Gift of Sidney L. Delson. © Artist’s Estate Description: Delson was a painter and printmaker whose works reflected her exploration of nature and spiritual moods. Delson described her artistic philosophy this way: “Through painting and graphics I explore images to uncover the dynamic forces behind their appearance: emergence, growth, decay, metamorphosis. I try to capture the process of change in time and space, to crystallize a living moment and convey its vitality.” These paintings, completed midway through her career, reflect her unique forms, energy, vibrant color, and light. Related Website – Online Catalogue Raisonné of Elizabeth Delson
Artist: Elizabeth Delson (American, 1932-2005) Title: Magic Circle Audio: Date: 1975 Dimensions: 30″ round Location in Library: Lower level Media: Oil relief on wood panel Owner: Gift of Sidney L. Delson. © Artist’s Estate Description: Delson was a painter and printmaker whose works reflected her exploration of nature and spiritual moods. Delson described her artistic philosophy this way: “Through painting and graphics I explore images to uncover the dynamic forces behind their appearance: emergence, growth, decay, metamorphosis. I try to capture the process of change in time and space, to crystallize a living moment and convey its vitality.” These paintings, completed midway through her career, reflect her unique forms, energy, vibrant color, and light. Related Website – Online Catalogue Raisonné of Elizabeth Delson
Artist: Elizabeth Delson Title: Painted Desert III (Green Sky) Audio: Date: 1971 Dimensions: 24″ x 24″ Location in Library: Lower level Media: Oil relief on wood panel Owner: Gift of Sidney L. Delson. © Artist’s Estate Description: Delson was a painter and printmaker whose works reflected her exploration of nature and spiritual moods. Delson described her artistic philosophy this way: “Through painting and graphics I explore images to uncover the dynamic forces behind their appearance: emergence, growth, decay, metamorphosis. I try to capture the process of change in time and space, to crystallize a living moment and convey its vitality.” These paintings, completed midway through her career, reflect her unique forms, energy, vibrant color, and light. Related Website – Online Catalogue Raisonné of Elizabeth Delson
Artist: Lissy Dennett (American) Title: Wind Song Audio: Date: 1993 Dimensions: Location in Library: First floor Media: Marble Owner: Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of Lissy Dennett. © Lissy Dennett Description: Dennett, an alumna of Brooklyn College, is a recognized sculptor whose works evoke forms from nature. Dennett’s elegant forms are infused with a force that brings strength, power and movement to her sculptures. This work is emblematic of her ability to create beautiful organic shapes, contours with a unique graceful character.
Artist: David Deutsch (American, b. 1943) Title: Rotunda Audio: Date: 2002 Dimensions: 64″ x 71″ 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. © David Deutsch Description: By painting scores of miniature, indecipherable, framed portraits in a tightly formed grid, the artist creates the illusion that the portraits are installed along the curve of a vast, architectural rotunda. The painting engages the viewer in a search for the details of each tiny portrait while simultaneously giving the impression of standing in the grandeur of a dome such as the Pantheon. His use of sepia tones further enhances this sense of antiquity. Deutsch has said, “I’m attracted to shadows, to the psychological presence cast by the face.” Related Website David Deutsch’s website
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
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 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
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: 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
American, 1888-1960 Flowers, c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 29 1/2” x 23 1/4” The Brooklyn College Library Collection In 1913, Allen Lee Swisher studied with Jean-Paul Laurens at the renowned Académie Julian in Paris, and later in New York with Harry Mills Walcott. He is known predominantly as a portrait painter. Swisher painted this lush and abundant bouquet of wildflowers with confidence and verve. His exuberance perhaps reflects the optimism the WPA engendered in many aspiring American artists. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Artist: Sarah Sze Title: Night Audio: Date: 2001-03 Dimensions: 37 1/2″ x 71″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Offset lithography and silkscreen, works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © Sarah Sze Description: In both Day and Night a fantasy of miscellany is set free from function and gravity. In these exuberant prints, screened lines seem to propel and control the planets, buildings, architectural details, helicopters, signs, and satellite objects that swirl across the paper. Using dozens of layers of lithography and silkscreen, Sze creates an explosion of colors, forms, and light. There is an initial impression of chaos but there is also an inherent underlying composition. Although she begins with preliminary sketches, Sze describes her creative process as “improvisational, like jazz.” Related Websites– Sarah Sze’s Website – Sarah Sze at Gagosian Gallery
Labor Unity, 1939 Artist: Philip Tipperman (American, 1916 -1969) Oil on canvas board, 16 x 20 inches Gift of Tipperman Family The Brooklyn College Library Collection The Committee (later Congress) for Industrial Organization (CIO) emerged out of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and grew rapidly during the Great Depression. The rivalry for dominance between the two organizations was bitter and sometimes violent. The CIO focused on organizing industrial workers who had been ignored by the AFL unions that supported craft and trade workers. Many in the AFL union had discriminated against African Americans and the CIO held out more egalitarian possibilities. In the background of the painting, industrial buildings loom. A Black worker, with a CIO button on the lapel of his coat, dominates the foreground. His face appears to express both anxiety and determination. By foregrounding him, Tipperman highlights the important role African Americans played in industrial unionization. The strong neck and bashed nose of the white AFL man suggests his fighting nature, while his clenched hands seem to reflect a unifying gesture or perhaps a struggle. The jagged, ominous dark clouds woven across the sky imply a sense of turmoil and potential trouble brewing for labor and […]
Labor Strike, 1939 Artist: Philip Tipperman (American, 1916 -1969) Oil on canvas board, 16 x 20 inches Gift of Tipperman Family The Brooklyn College Library Collection During the Great Depression (1929-1939) picket lines and worker strikes were a common occurrence in cities across the United States. Rising worker militancy during hard times, strikes, as well as the passage of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 known as the “Wagner Act,” fueled the rise of labor unions. In this painting, set in front of an imposing but nondescript factory, picketers evoke empathy with their facial expressions of hope and fear. A man in the foreground holds a strike placard and wears a fedora, which is different from the other workers’ caps. His confident demeanor, and what appears to be a union button on his jacket, suggests that he is a union leader. The painting style is in keeping with Social Realism — a movement that flourished between the two World Wars in response to the hardships and social and political turmoil of the time. Social realist artists often portrayed everyday workers as heroic symbols of persistence and strength in the face of adversity.
Murdered by the Company, 1939 Artist: Philip Tipperman (American, 1916 -1969) Oil on canvas board, 16 x 20 inches Gift of Tipperman Family The Brooklyn College Library Collection Five white men with expressions of fear and horror are carrying a dead Black man. The picket sign being carried by one man and another sign on the ground suggests the men were picketing one of the factories in the background. Was the brick in the right foreground thrown at the workers and then killing the Black man? Or was he killed in an industrial accident where there were unsafe working conditions? The surging shapes, churning rhythms, ominous clouds, including tornado-like funnel clouds, convey an unsettling mood of force and violence. Placing the dead African American man front and center in the painting draws attention to the fact that no group during the Great Depression was harder hit than African Americans. By 1932, approximately half of African Americans were unemployed. In some Northern cities, many whites called for Black men to be fired from any jobs as long as white men were out of work. Racial violence became more common, especially in the South, and the large tree branches in the upper […]
Picketed, Beaten and Jailed, 1939 Artist: Philip Tipperman (American, 1916 -1969) Oil on canvas board, 16 x 20 inches Gift of Tipperman Family The Brooklyn College Library Collection This painting provides a dramatic portrayal of jailed striking workers, two with bloodied bandaged heads, holding their picket signs and with facial expressions of despair but also some degree of resolve. The exaggerated forms, undulating shapes and sculpted faces adds visual force to to the painting. It’s also significant for its depiction of Black and white men working together for better wages and working conditions. Note the small tear on the right shoulder of the green jacket worn by the worker with brown hair, which resembles a paint brush—perhaps an emblem of the artist’s solidarity with labor. Also, the smoke from the cigarette seems to form the cloud hovering over the men. Historically, striking workers had risked their lives on the picket lines. Though unions often formed in response to dangerous working conditions, going on strike exposed workers to lost wages but also to the danger of arrest or physical violence from hired thugs or police that served as companies’ strong-arms.
After Work and Before Supper, 1939 Artist: Philip Tipperman (American, 1916 -1969) Oil on canvas board, 16 x 20 inches Gift of Tipperman Family The Brooklyn College Library Collection In this painting, Tipperman uses a distorted aerial perspective to focus on a sleeping worker depicted in the relative comfort of his working-class home. A steam-heat radiator, a cast aside pipe, a wooden chair, a standing lamp, a rumpled rug, and a single bed with visible mattress springs suggest a working-class environment. Tipperman in his own very unique way, is at once offering us images that are misshapen and distorted and yet also charming detailed shapes and forms that often appear quite beautiful. The viewer is able to palpably understand the effort required to maintain this man’s modest lifestyle. The angles of his body are twisted and misshapen suggesting discomfort. We share in his extreme sense of exhaustion, still in work clothes with shoes off, belt unbuckled curvaceously like a snake, tie pulled down, and shirt unbuttoned as he briefly naps before his supper. Perhaps dreaming of an easier life.
Untitled (Ships at Sea), c.1935-1943 Oil on canvas 20” x 23 1/2” The Brooklyn College Library Collection This moody painting of a fully rigged ship at sea was likely inspired by the waterways surrounding New York City during the mid19th century. These types of ships were known for their cargo capacity and speed. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Untitled (Still Life with Chair), c. 1935-1943 Oil on canvas 29” x 23 3/4” The Brooklyn College Library Collection The effects of Modernism have evidently inspired the artist who painted this enigmatic still life. The bowl of fruit has been rendered as if the artist is looking at it from various angles, and the simultaneous, multiple perspectives of the shell and open box recall Braque and Picasso’s early experiments with Cubism. The jacket with a ruffled pocket square, and the portrait propped up against the chair-back enhance the painting’s sense of mystery Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Artist: David M. Verrico (American, b. 1954) Title: Gowanus Canal from Union Street Bridge, Brooklyn, NY Audio: Date: 1994 Dimensions: 17 1/2″ x 17 1/2″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Color film photograph Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © David M. Verrico Description: These gritty industrial areas of Brooklyn are rendered beautiful in this exquisite light. The photographer, who lives in Brooklyn, is fascinated with land use and how people express themselves through the built environment. He is particularly attracted to areas that are undergoing transition. Verrico has said, “Space in New York . . . is usually considered in the physical realm. But our perception and experiences within it can also influence the nature of the space.”
Artist: David M. Verrico (American, b. 1954) Title: Gowanus Canal Viewed North from Carroll Street, Brooklyn, NY Audio: Date: 1994 Dimensions: 17 1/2″ x 17 1/2″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Color film photograph Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © David M. Verrico Description:
American, 1911-1992 Magnolia, c.1935-1943 Pastel 19 3/8” x 14” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Born to an Italian immigrant family in New Haven, CT., Volpe eventually migrated to Hollywood where he designed both sets and costumes for the film industry. His portraits of movie stars such as Spencer Tracy, Betty Davis, and Katherine Hepburn won him a lifetime contract to execute portraits for the Academy Awards. This led to further commissions from top recording artists and sports luminaries, as well as major political figures such as John F. Kennedy and Winston Churchill. Volpe was twenty-six years old and practicing his craft when he created this delicate pastel while working for the WPA Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Artist: John Walker (British, b. 1939) Title: Clammer Audio: Date: 2003 Dimensions: 96″ x 84″ Location in Library: Second floor Media: Oil and mixed media on linen Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © John Walker Description: John Walker captures the ebb, flow, and changing light of a muddy cove near his home in Maine. His expressive brush strokes, dynamic composition, and freedom of execution evoke the feeling of a swirling tidal pool. Walker’s combination of materials, including mud, sand, and oil, creates gritty yet luminous textures. Explaining his use of these organic materials, Walker states: “It seemed obvious to get a bucket of [mud] and mix it in with the paint, to get the feel for how the tide comes in and out and the patterns that are caused by that constant changing tide on that particular cove where I work.” Related Websites – John Walker at TATE – John Walker’s website
American, 1909-1974 Beach Cleaners, c.1935-1943 Color Lithograph 13 1/4” x 18 1/8” The Brooklyn College Library Collection Hyman Warsager was instrumental in setting up the graphic arts division of the WPA in New York City. Printmaking techniques such as lithography, woodcuts, and especially silkscreen made it possible to produce multiple prints, which were used as posters to promote all of the New Deal’s various initiatives and activities. In this lithograph, Warsager uses muted, natural colors to depict laborers at work, a popular Social Realist theme. Federal Art Project Living New Deal
Artist: G. W. Waters (American, 1832-1912) Title: Walt Whitman Audio: Date: 1877 Dimensions: 27″ x 22″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artist’s Estate Description: Walt Whitman’s friend and benefactor John H. Johnston commissioned G. W. Waters to paint this portrait of Whitman, who by 1877 was one of America’s most celebrated poets. Waters, best known for his New York landscapes, captures Whitman as he is most often remembered: as the “good gray poet.” In 1955, Professor John Valente and his colleagues in the Brooklyn College English Department scraped together $1400 to buy both this portrait and the earlier Whitman portrait by Charles Hine.
Artist: Ruth Anderson Wilson Title: Alphabet Quilt Audio: Date: 1931 Dimensions: 86″ x 74″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Cotton fabric, batting, and thread Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Gift of Barbra Buckner Higginbotham. © Artist’s Estate Description: Ruth Anderson Wilson made this alphabet quilt during the Great Depression, when practical concerns far outweighed artistic aspirations. Nevertheless, the quilt is fully worthy of a place on a wall. It has a balanced composition and a charming color palette, and it is expertly sewn, with small, even stitches that indicate a skilled and steady hand. Furthermore, the quilt contains a small but sophisticated surprise. After 23 pairs of letters and illustrations, the letter Y is paired with the word “YOU.” For a young reader, this penultimate square is a joke whose punch line is self-awareness.
Artist: Samuel J. Woolf Title: Fiorello LaGuardia Audio: Date: 1945 Dimensions: 41″ x 31″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Oil on canvas Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artist’s Estate Description: Fiorello LaGuardia, the namesake of the Library building, was Mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1945. Charismatic and popular, he was called “the Little Flower,” the translation of his first name. Rejected in 1946 as the commemorative portrait for City Hall, this painting was purchased for Brooklyn College a few years later with donations from private individuals, various labor unions, and the Class of 1949. Woolf, a noted artist and journalist, gained national recognition for capturing his subjects as they looked, not as they wished to look.
Artist: Xu, Bing Title: Vegetable Fields Audio: Date: 1983 Dimensions: 28″ x 36″ Location in Library: First floor Media: Woodcut works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © Xu Bing Description: The Chinese Communist Movement promoted the traditional art of printmaking, especially the woodcut, as a valuable form of communication that could be cheaply produced, easily distributed, and broadly appealing. In 1974, as part of Mao Zedong’s “rustification” program, Bing was sent to work in a small farming community. His experience there is reflected in this woodcut, one of his earliest pieces as a printmaker. The work was considered radical at the time because it depicts a personal view of the countryside without any overt political content. Related Websites– Xu Bing’s Website – CNN Article about Chinese Art – “Artist Xu Bing: Creating English Words from Chinese Pictograms” from The Times – Xu Bing at MoMA – Xu Bing at Metropolitan Museum of Art Suggested Readings– Ching, Dora C.Y. and Jerome Silbergeld. Persistence-Transformation: Text as Image in the Art of Xu Bing, 2005. Call Number: N7349 .X8 P47 2005– Erickson, Britta. The Art of Xu Bing: Words without Meaning, […]
