Come visit DAAP Student, Betty Hensellek’s, exhibition on the postwar work of East German artist Hermann Glöckner at the library of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati.     It is a modest show of an original print (1963), two original printed posters (1971 and 1987), two hand printed catalogues (1969 and 1976), and an out of print book (1983) that will be on display until June of 2011.

Living in Dresden and its suburbs for 98 years, Hermann Glöckner witnessed the construction, struggle, demise, and reconstruction of a single nation. The work displayed in this exhibition highlights his artist      endeavors as a mature artist after previously experiencing two world wars, the chaotic Weimar Republic, the crimes of the Third Reich, and the division of Germany, which refashioned Dresden and Eastern Germany into the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR) as a communist Soviet Satellite State. Despite living through this turbulence and the shifting rigidity of censorship on culture in the DDR, Glöckner was able to find contentment and even optimism within the seemingly disconsolate political, economic, and social conditions.

Further reading:

1. Hermann Glöckner – Ein Patriarch der Moderne. Ed. by John Erpenbeck. Der Morgen. Berlin 1983
2. Die großen Dresdner. 26 Annäherungen. Ed. by Karin Nitzschke. Insel Verlag. Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig 1999
3. Günter Meissner: Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. K.G. Saur Verlag 1992. pp 198-201

Links:

1.  Hermann Glöckner in the German National Library catalogue

2. Exhibition at the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa)

3. Bibliography at the Smithsonian Institution

Please visit the  DAAP Library and  check out our “Highlights from the DAAP Library Special Collection” exhibition…now through the end of December. If it’s too cold to come over, then take a look at this video highlighting some of the items:

http://animoto.com/play/fPFgDNfTlh6MH2EogmVcCA

Flavia Bastos’ students enliven the DAAP Library with their lovely creations. Come and see their work on exhibit in the DAAP Library through December!

http://animoto.com/play/d81lsnOyas1ufKdH1v40og?utm_content=main

This collection contains over 1400 images of Cincinnati’s architectural gems photographed by environmental artist Alice Weston.

Continue reading →

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives is pleased to announce that two recently processed collections are now open for scholarly research:

 Durr Friedley Records, 1906-1918

Durr Friedley was a staff member of the Department of Decorative Arts of The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1911 until 1917, serving as an assistant, Assistant Curator and Acting Curator. Records consist primarily of correspondence regarding prospective Museum acquisitions. Items of special interest include letters concerning the Museum’s acquisition of early American colonial furnishings, later displayed in the American Wing.

Finding aid: http://libmma.org/digital_files/archives/Durr_Friedley_records_b1717476.pdf

 William Church Osborn Records, 1904-1953 William Church Osborn was a longtime trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art who also served as the institution’s Vice President, President and Honorary President. Records consist primarily of correspondence regarding all aspects of Museum operations including acquisitions, exhibitions, fundraising, buildings and trustee affairs.

Finding aid: http://libmma.org/digital_files/archives/William_Church_Osborn_records_b1717230.pdf

 The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives

The objective of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives is to collect, organize, and preserve in perpetuity the corporate records and official correspondence of the Museum, to make the collection accessible and provide research support, and to further an informed and enduring understanding of the Museum’s history. Archives holdings include Board of Trustees records, legal documents, Museum publications, office files of selected Museum staff, architectural drawings, press clippings, and ephemera. The Archives is accessible to Museum staff and to qualified scholarly researchers at the graduate level and above. Requests for access should be sent via email, and should include a brief summary of the research project, an outline of sources already consulted and a curriculum vitae or resume. Access is granted at the discretion of Archives staff, and certain materials may be restricted.

Website: http://libmma.org/portal/museum-archives/

Email: archives@metmuseum.org<mailto:archives@metmuseum.org>.

In early January 2010, Cincinnati sculptor and major DAAP Library donor, Mark Schlachter, delivered one of his works of art to be exhibited at the DAAP Library. Continue reading →

On Wednesday, November 25, 2009, a DAAP fine art student, Jennifer Morgan gave a critique of her snow globe project in the DAAP Library. Created for her class (Installation Art), Jennifer’s snow globes are constructed from figurines and other found objects, which are housed in jars filled with baby oil.

Though snow globes are generally considered “kitsch” objects and are associated with vacationers and leisure, this student’s project challenges this view by placing elements of destruction, such as a canary in a coal mine, a cowboy surrounded by real tobacco, and a black widow spider, inside a snow globe.

Jennifer first saw the DAAP Library snow globe collection her sophomore year during a graphic design class. Now a senior, she was inspired for this project after the snow globes were placed more visibly on the library shelves. She recalls that DAAP’s snow globes had been displayed in cases before this year, and is glad they are out in the library for more people to see. Jennifer’s globes are displayed among the DAAP Library’s collection to surprise and delight daap students and visitors alike.

Other DAAP student art exhibitions are currently being installed in the DAAP Library. Watch the blog for more details.

Blog entry co-written by:

Sara Mastbaum, Graduate Assistant (DAAP School of Art MA Candidate), DAAP Library

Jennifer Pollock, Head of the DAAP Library