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
Lithograph
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
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: 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: 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: 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
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
