Nina Katchadourian (b.1968) creates an unexpected dialogue between treasures from the Morgan’s collection and artifacts from her career and family history in her installation Uncommon Denominator, which runs through May 28th. Katchadourian created a sequence of clusters, incorporating staff favorite pieces, where images and objects are juxtaposed or placed in conversation with each other, sparking connections between similar and disparate things, adding rich layers of creative tension, insight and new perspective to the pieces. The installation also includes a Morgan-specific iteration of her ongoing Sorted Books project: books stacked so their titles spell out sentences, poems, jokes, or stories.
Courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum.
The New York Public Library’s Polonsky Exhibition highlights extraordinary items from the Library’s vast collection--some visible to the public for the first time. With over 56 million pieces, spanning 4,000 years, from the beginnings of written language to the current times, the collection includes manuscripts, artworks, letters, stills, moving images, and recordings. Highlights of the exhibition include an 18th century copy of the Declaration of Independence, an Art Nouveau theater poster by Alphonse Mucha advertising renowned actress Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet, a Gutenberg Bible circa 1455, and vintage plush toys of Winnie the Pooh and Friends from 1921. The exhibition includes an audio tour, and can be experienced online.
Courtesy of The New York Public Library
The first exhibition to explore the legacy of Gilded Age author and reformer Zoe Anderson Norris (1860- 1914), The Grolier Club’s To Fight for the Poor with My Pen: Zoe Anderson Norris, Queen of Bohemia runs March 2―May 13th. An investigative journalist dubbed Queen of Bohemia, Norris founded The East Side newspaper, and wrote for a number of other newspapers and periodicals. She fought for the rights of women, children and immigrants, often going undercover to expose prejudice, corruption and police brutality. A socialite who used her powers for good, Norris founded the activist Ragged Edge Klub, whose raucous weekly dinner and dancing meetings included diverse members from all across the social strata.
Courtesy of Eve M. Kahn and The Grolier Club
