One Of The Tate's Typically Atypical Christmas Trees"Shelving Unit Tree" Created By Richard Wilson, 1998. (All Photos Courtesy Of The Tate Library And Archive.)Every year since 1988 the Tate Archive and Library in London has commissioned an important contemporary artist to decorate a Christmas Tree for display in its grand rotunda. The avant-garde artists' outlandish takes on the traditional symbol of yuletide gaiety have frequently caused consternation, but this year's tree has sparked a scandal like never before."Blue Neon Light Tree," Created By Catherine Yass, 2000.Before revealing the source of this year's unprecedented uproar, a brief peek at the precedent...
St. Nick’s Newsboys Shine In Library’s Photos
One Of Detroit's Finest Plays St. Nick For Motown's Newsboys, 1931.(All Photos Courtesy of Walter P. Reuther Library's Virtual Motor City Collection, Wayne State University.)Wayne State University's Walter P. Reuther Library has got the scoop on a holiday story straight out of "The Dead End Kids." Motor City angels with dirty faces--former newsboys-- make good but can't forget the old neighborhood. Every Christmas they go back to the same mean street corners where they once shouted "Extra! Extra!" and raise enough cash to stuff the empty stockings of every Detroit kiddie full of gifts. Sounds like something straight of a...
Library’s 50’s Photos Flourish At The Frick
Danny Gaido Cries In His Crib( All Photos: Esther Bubley, 1951)The Pittsburgh Photographic Library was founded to 1950 with a single mission: to document urban renewal in the Steel City. But its founding director, Roy Stryker, a Columbia University economist with a background in public relations, was also a photographer with an eye for undiscovered talent. This led to the hiring of photojournalists who could produce something more than business booster shots. A current exhibit at The Frick Art & Historical Center shows just how much more a great photographer can bring to the most ordinary assignment.Parents Visit Child In...
Gourmet’s Famine Is Library’s Feast
The Premiere Issue Of Gourmet Magazine, January 1941. When publisher Conde Nast sliced Gourmet Magazine from its line-up in October 2009, foodies nationwide mourned the passing of a culinary standby. The cooking bible had been published for nearly 70 years, providing inspiration to professional chefs, amateur cooks, and readers who didn't know Escoffier from Le Creuset, but took a pornographic delight in superbly styled, sensual shots of sinfully rich repasts. But at least one librarian saw the magazine's starvation as a chance to pluck a prize plum.A Selection Of Sinful Sweets Gourmet Style.Marvin J. Taylor, director of New York University's...
Negative Art: Not At This Library
Artist Douglas Gordon.(Image courtesy of The London Times.)What is art? When confronted by that tricky question often the best answer the average person can come up with echoes Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's famous statement about pornography: "I don't know what it is, but I know it when I see it." Library administrators at The University of Edinburgh in Scotland see it this way: if it isn't uplifting, positive, and celebratory, it isn't art.To add a final flourish to the December 2009 unveiling of the remodeled ground floor of its main library, the University commissioned a work of art. The...