January 8, 2025
CLARK ART INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES NEW SERIES
OF INSTALLATIONS FROM THE CLARK LIBRARY
(Williamstown, Massachusetts)—The Clark Art Institute presents a new series of year-round public installations, Paginations, featuring works drawn from the Clark library’s extensive holdings and curated by members of the library staff. The installations are featured in a newly designed space located in the Manton Research Center’s reading room, just outside the entrance to the Clark’s library and are on view for free during all visiting hours.
The inaugural display in the program, A–Z: Alphabetic Highlights from the Library’s Special Collections, opens January 21. The first installation in this new program celebrates the building blocks of type and text, the letters of the alphabet, and showcases examples from 1488–2024 in which the letters themselves take center stage.
“While people automatically think of our permanent collection and our special exhibitions when they consider what you can see on a visit to the Clark, our library is a true treasure trove of remarkable visual images and exceptional artistic achievements that deserves greater recognition,” said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. “With the launch of our new library installations we hope to open the doors on a collection that is every bit as vast and varied as our art collection as a means of inspiring our visitors to explore the library and all that it offers.”
The Clark’s library is widely recognized as one of the most important art history collections in North America, holding nearly 300,000 volumes in over 130 languages. The library’s encyclopedic collection includes a number of special collections, including rare books, artist’s books, decorative arts, photomechanical reproductions, and the world’s only collection of ephemeral materials from the Venice Biennale. From its opening in 1962 the library has grown and changed to accommodate teaching spaces, visual resources, new programs and initiatives, along with a never-ending array of new technologies. The library—one of the few remaining open stack art history libraries in the nation—is open to the public Mondays through Fridays from 9 am to 5 pm (detailed information on hours is available at clarkart.edu/library). The library is housed in the Manton Research Center building and serves a wide array of patrons, including scholars, students, and researchers. Appointments can be arranged to explore special collections materials and library staff members are always happy to assist visitors in finding specific items of interest.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
A to Z: Alphabetic Highlights from the Library’s Special Collections focuses on the long history of alphabet books.
“Long before printing presses shared texts with the masses, artists and artisans celebrated the beauty of the characters in the alphabet as they documented the world around them,” says Andrea Puccio, director of the Clark’s library. “This rich tradition has continued over the centuries, ranging from extraordinary hand-illustrated manuscripts to the simple primers that have taught generations of children the alphabetic characters that are the foundation of their language. In this installation, we are thrilled to take a journey that literally explores the symbols that form our languages and the ways in which illustrators, typographers, and writers have presented them.”
Adding an artistic focus on letters or alphabets to literary works has a long history. Medieval monks celebrated letters as they painstakingly copied texts by hand. Creativity flourished around the first letter in each chapter, with the initial letter drawn larger, more ornate, and sometimes more colorfully than those that follow. The tradition of glorified initials continued as book creation evolved from script to the printed page in the fifteenth century and beyond.
Alphabet books with eye-catching images help readers associate a letter with a familiar word, an educational tool used for centuries. Over time, artists have elevated the familiar format creating alphabetic works of art. The audience for these volumes has likewise expanded from children learning to read to art-appreciating adults.
Not all books featuring letters are designed to be artistic or inspire literacy, yet they are often beautiful in themselves. These utilitarian books often provide samples of lettering that can be used on signs, in advertising, or for handicrafts. Books of ownership or makers’ marks likewise illustrate monograms or other letter-based symbols. This installation offers visitors an opportunity to explore a glorious selection of alphabets in a wide variety of formats and presentations.
The second installation of Paginations opens May 20, 2025. Bold by Design: Mid-century Modern Graphic Art brings together visually striking book covers, illustrations, and advertisements to showcase the clean lines and bright colors of the mid-century modern design aesthetic in print.
ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of nearly 300,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday, from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free to all from January through March and is $20 from April through December; admission is free year-round for Clark members, all visitors age 21 and under, and students with a valid student ID. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and the EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
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