The Center for Book Arts has created an innovative guide to book binding. Partnering with Rockport Publishers, The Center worked with book artists from their community to create this comprehensive tome.

When, Rockport Publishers contacted the Center for Book Arts in hopes of collaborating on a new publication about book binding, Education Studio Manager Anne Muntges, immediately reached out to the Center’s group of core book binders. Four of The Center’s most talented artists came together and developed this book with guidance from Judith Cressy, Acquiring Editor at Rockport Publishers in Quarto Publishing Group.

Artists Ana Cordeiro, Celine Lombardi, Sarah Smith, and Elizabeth Sheehan come together in Bookforms, A Complete Guide to Designing and Crafting Hand-Bound Books to instruct readers on how to bind many types of books from start to finish. Additional contributions from Biruta Auna, Lauren Clay, Kyle Holland, Lee Marchalonis, and Sarah Nicholls bring valuable additions to this resource. Readers will learn about the history of the structures covered, their best uses, and projects to try for each structure. Quarto’s description of the book says, “Bookforms tackles a wide range of projects for all levels of bookbinders. You'll see everything from sewn blank books and traditional western codex book forms, Asian stab-sewn bindings, to more unusual book structures. What better time to dive into this venerable and unique hobby than now?”

Anne Muntges shared, “It is tremendously rewarding to have these brilliant binders, who are the core of the community at the Center for Book Arts, gather their wisdom and skills in one place to help inspire those learning, or relearning to bind books. I am humbled by their breadth of knowledge and could not be more excited to have this book go out into the world.” It certainly has been a wonderful opportunity to share the unique space, tools, and knowledge available at the Center.

“The Quarto Group has a long history of publishing many important titles on the art of book making, and we are thrilled to add Bookforms, by the instructors at the Center for Book Arts in New York, to the list,” said Mary Ann Hall, Editorial Director, Quarry Books and Rockport Publishers. “This book fully explains a wide variety of binding styles from around the world with a keen focus on functionality. Packed with elegant and detailed photographs and illustrations, we are certain this beautifully designed book will become a must-have, collectible volume for anyone interested in this timeless art form."

New York - The Howard Greenberg Collection, comprising 447 photographs by 191 artists, has been acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Spanning the years 1900 to 1980, the collection includes rare prints of modernist masterpieces and 20th-century classics. The acquisition is funded by a major gift from the Phillip Leonian and Edith Rosenbaum Leonian Charitable Trust. 

The Howard Greenberg Collection, amassed over three decades, includes many of the most important artists to work in the field of photography including Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, Walker Evans, Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Frank, Consuelo Kanaga, André Kertész, Dorothea Lange, Helen Levitt, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Gordon Parks, Eugene Smith, Edward Steichen, Weegee, Edward Weston, and Garry Winogrand, and numerous others. 

One of the most notable aspects of the collection is the rare nature of so many of the prints - whether it is the earliest or first print ever made of the image, the only print ever made, the best existing print, or a uniquely unusual example. Social history and the human experience form an important thread of the collection presented though documentary photography and photojournalism. Major works from between the wars in Europe, among others, also trace the evolution of photography as an art form.

“The acquisition of these extraordinary works enriches a collection of art across time and cultures, at the highest level,” said Matthew Teitelbaum, Ann and Graham Gund Director, MFA, Boston. “Howard is a visionary collector, we will be proud to display these transformative images throughout the Museum’s galleries.” 

“I am truly thrilled and delighted to have the MFA as the recipient of my personal collection of photographs,” said Howard Greenberg. “Reflecting the unique access I’ve had to so many treasures of 20th-century photography, the MFA will be a perfect resting place for the collection. Especially gratifying are the MFA’s plans for exhibition, publication and programming around the collection. This will enable me to continue a lifelong mission of education and allowing for a deeper comprehension of photography as art and a special medium.”

An exhibition of works from the Howard Greenberg Collection be on view at the MFA August 11, 2019 - December 16, 2019. An accompanying publication will include essays by Anne Havinga, Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Chair, Department of Photography, and Kristen Gresh, Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Curator of Photographs, along with an interview with Howard Greenberg.