The Library of Congress has acquired and made available online the Omar Ibn Said Collection, which includes the only known surviving slave narrative written in Arabic in the United States. In 1831, Omar Ibn Said, a wealthy and highly educated man who was captured in West Africa and brought to the United States as a slave, wrote a 15-page autobiography describing his experiences.

This manuscript is important not only because it tells the personal story of a slave written by himself, but also because it documents an aspect of the early history of Islam and Muslims in the United States.

The Omar Ibn Said Collection consists of 42 original documents in both English and Arabic, including the manuscript in Arabic of “The Life of Omar Ibn Said” - the centerpiece of this unique collection of texts. Other manuscripts include texts in Arabic by another West African slave in Panama and from individuals located in West Africa.

The collection was digitally preserved and made available online for the first time by the Library of Congress at loc.gov/collections/omar-ibn-said-collection/about-this-collection/.

“Although the Omar Ibn Said Collection is recognizable, it has been moved between different private owners and even disappeared for almost half a century,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “To have it preserved at the Library of Congress and made available to everyday people and researchers across the world will make this collection an irreplaceable tool for research on Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries and will shed light on the history of American slavery.”

“This rare collection is extremely important because Omar Ibn Said's autobiography is the only known existent autobiography of a slave written in Arabic in America,” said Mary-Jane Deeb, chief of the African and Middle Eastern Division at the Library of Congress. “The significance of this lies in the fact that such a biography was not edited by Said's owner, as those of other slaves written in English were, and is therefore more candid and more authentic.”

“It is an important documentation that attests to the high level of education and the long tradition of a written culture that existed in Africa at the time,” added Deeb. “It also reveals that many Africans who were brought to the United States as slaves were followers of Islam, an Abrahamic and monotheistic faith. Such documentation counteracts prior assumptions of African life and culture.”

According to his autobiography, and to articles written about him in the American press while he was still alive, Said was a member of the Fula ethnic group of West Africa who today number over 40 million people in the region extending from Senegal to Nigeria.

Omar Ibn Said, son of a wealthy father, spent over 25 years as a prolific scholar and Muslim in West Africa. When Said was about 37 years old, however, an army came to his home, killed many people, captured him and sold him into slavery.

Conservators at the Library of Congress performed treatment to physically stabilize the Said manuscript, mending and reinforcing its fragile pages. Following multiple owners and the ravages of time, the pages were weak, exhibiting holes, heavy creases and torn edges.

“Paper and ink are resilient and long-lasting, though they can be battered and damaged. Our aim was to strengthen and preserve the manuscript, while still allowing its previous history and life to remain evident,” said Shelly Smith, head of the Book Conservation Section.

The original collection of Omar Ibn Said was purchased by the Library of Congress in 2017. The Omar Ibn Said Collection reflects advancement toward a goal in the Library’s new user-centered strategic plan to expand access, making unique collections, experts and services available when, where and how users need them. Learn more about the Library’s five-year plan at loc.gov/strategic-plan/.

In celebration of African American History Month, on Feb. 5, 2019, the Library will host a special public program and discussion focusing on this unique historical collection:

Conversation on the Omar Ibn Said Collection at the Library of Congress
February 5, 2019, at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Thomas Jefferson Building, first floor, LJ-119
10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C.  

The Omar Ibn Said half-day event features scholars whose work focuses on the autobiography of Omar Ibn Said and related diaries of enslaved people. To date, this is the only known autobiography by a slave written in Arabic in the United States. It is a historically unique and important primary source for those trying to understand the connections between the Muslim communities in Western Africa and the slaves who continued to practice Islamic faith after being captured during the Atlantic slave trade.

For more information about the event, visit loc.gov/item/event-394446/conversation-on-the-omar-ibn-said-collection/2019-02-05/. 

New York--Swann Galleries will offer a sale of Vintage Posters on Thursday, February 7. The auction comes packed with memorable Art Nouveau images and rare advertisements, alongside seasonal ski and winter resort posters. 

Ski and winter posters are well represented with Walther Koch’s 1908 Art Deco inspired poster for the World Allround Speed Skating Championships in Davos, Switzerland (Estimate: $4,000-6,000). The German version of Emil Cardinaux’s advertisement for skiing in Switzerland from 1919 depicts a snowy scene of skiers as they overlook the Aletsch Glacier ($3,000-4,000). Advertisements for North American winter destinations include Roger Couillard’s Visit Canada / Travel Canadian Pacific, circa 1955, ($1,000-1,500), and Willian Willmarth’s Sun Valley Idaho / Summer Holiday, 1939 ($2,000-3,000). 

Also available are posters advertising travel to popular destinations of the time such as Vichy, 1911, by Louis Tauzin ($3,000-4,000) and Southport, circa 1935 by Fortunino Matania ($5,000-7,500); additionally, images promoting travel by ocean liner, rail and plane form a robust section of the sale. 

Among the rarities offered in the sale a 1927 poster for the Stockholm premiere of Josephine Baker’s silent film La Sirène des Tropiques stands out. The image is rendered after a photograph taken by Lucien Walery which had appeared in a program for the Folies Bergère and depicts the star in her recognizable “pearl and feather” costume. The poster comes across the block estimated at $12,000 to $18,000.  

Italian and French poster designer Leonetto Cappiello is present with a run of lots including “Borea” / Calze per Uomo, 1923, an amusing poster for men’s socks, and Lait Gallia, 1931, a first at auction for the image, each estimated at $4,000 to $6,000, and Contratto, 1922, which is expected to bring $3,000 $4,000. 

Nicholas D. Lowry, Director of Vintage Posters, noted of the auction, "In many ways, it is books and portfolios that steal the show in our sale. Those offered are among the rarest and most desirable editions in the poster world. The publications fall into the Art Nouveau category which is as strong a category as it has been in many years and includes masterworks by Alphonse Mucha, prominent and talented artists of the era, as well as the books.” 

The sale is led by Les Maîtres de L’Affiche, a breathtaking group of five complete volumes-a total of 256 plates-of reproductions of the most notable posters from Europe and America as selected by the famed critic Roger Marx. Published from 1896-1900, each plate is a full-color lithograph bound in special bindings by Paul Berthon and carries an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. Additional portfolios include a rare standout work by Alphonse Mucha, Documents Décoratifs, 1902, complete with 72 plates displaying examples of jewelry, furniture and silverware, as well as illustrating how to draw women and flowers each demonstrating Mucha’s stylistic expertise ($15,000-20,000), and L’Estampe Moderne, 1897-99, a complete volume of 100 plates designed by favorite artists of the day ($15,000-20,000).  

Works by Mucha stand out in of a run of ethereal Art Nouveau images. Highlights include two offerings of the artist’s allegorical rendering of The Seasons, both from 1896 ($8,000-12,000 and $20,000-30,000, respectively), and the artist’s advertisements for Job cigarettes are present with versions from 1896 and 1898 ($10,000-15,000 and $6,000-9,000, respectively). The Italian poster, Biscottini E. Amaretti Desler, circa 1900, by Osvaldo Ballerio, makes its auction debut at $4,000 to $6,000. [La Vitrioleuse], 1894, by Eugène Grasset is the artist’s most accomplished example of Japonisme. Initially printed for L’Estampe Originale, the lithograph depicts an unusual subject matter for Art Nouveau: woman filled with vitriol holding a cup of poison, however, the work remains an outstanding example of the genre ($2,000-3,000).

A selection of political and wartime advertisements, as well as artist and exhibition posters with the likes of Jean Cocteau, Miró and Picasso, and Pop artists Robert Indiana and Roy Lichtenstein will round out the sale.

Exhibition opening in New York City February 2. The complete catalogue and bidding information is available at www.swanngalleries.com.

Los Angeles - Photography’s dynamic relationship to the landscape can be traced to the origins of the medium, when the camera offered a revolutionary method for recording the world. The 19th century witnessed a range of approaches, from land surveys that systematically documented the topography of unsettled regions, to artistic depictions of nature’s majesty that rivaled landscape painting. Beginning in the 1960s, many artists sought novel approaches to representing their surroundings by incorporating personal, critical, and symbolic references to their work. Mapping Space: Recent Acquisitions in Focus, on view February 26-July 14, 2019 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, features a selection of recently acquired works by artists whose photographic views have been informed by new ways of thinking about a familiar subject.

On view at the Getty for the first time are works by five artists: Robert Kinmont (American, born 1937), Wang Jinsong (Chinese, born 1963), Richard Long (English, born 1945), Mark Ruwedel (American/Canadian, born 1954), and Uta Barth (German, born 1958). These artists draw from a variety of influences, ranging from photography’s documentary tradition to Conceptual Art, a movement that first gained significance during the 1960s for its prioritization of ideas over the production of objects. Operating against conventional notions of landscape photography, each of these artists has developed his or her own approach to site-specific spaces.

“The In Focus gallery in the Center for Photographs provides us an opportunity to highlight the Museum’s collection in telling ways, frequently with thematic overviews of the history of the medium, or, as in this case, by emphasizing recently acquired works that indicate an area of collecting interest,” says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “Spanning almost half a century, from the late 1960s to 2012, the works in this presentation build on the Museum’s important holdings of landscape photography while revealing the importance of site-specificity and a personal response to our environment.” 

Robert Kinmont’s photographs of the landscape emphasize the mundane over the majestic. His series of gelatin silver prints My Favorite Dirt Roads (1969) features empty and unpaved roads that lead to Bishop, California, where the artist grew up. These images show open, unpaved roads and views of the horizon that, with their occasional stippling of powerlines, indicate the presence of communities. In documenting the vastness of this remote landscape, Kinmont communicates a personal connection to a place that most people would overlook.

Destruction, symbolism, and power are encapsulated in Wang Jinsong’s series One Hundred Signs of the Demolition (1998). Depicting brick walls painted with the Chinese character “chai,” which translates to “tear down,” these photographs document buildings slated for demolition in order to make way for new construction. The artist’s decision to focus on a written notice that signals demolition instead of the act, or the aftermath, serves as a quiet critique of a carefully coordinated government practice of the 1990s that discarded vestiges of the past to accommodate rapid growth in cities such as Beijing. The massive scale of these prints, their extreme frontal view, and the elimination of all architectural surrounds heighten the immediacy of this programmatic urban transformation.

Richard Long’s iconic work A Line Made by Walking (1967) depicts a field outside of London in which the grass has been flattened in a straight line by the artist’s footsteps. Performed in the landscape, this modest intervention underscored the potential for an ordinary act to become a work of art that is a meditation on the relationship between the artist and the landscape. This photograph reflects not only the artist’s interest in nature but represents his role in the Land Art movement that emerged in the late 1960s and operated on the notion of direct engagement with the environment.

Mark Ruwedel’s We All Loved Ruscha (15 Apts.) (2011-2012) is deeply informed by the legacy of Conceptual Art. In returning to the urban and suburban locations of the apartment buildings originally captured by the artist Ed Ruscha (American b. 1937) almost 50 years earlier and published in the 1965 book Some Los Angeles Apartments—photographs from this publication are well represented in the Getty’s collection—Ruwedel pays homage to a project that is widely associated with defining the tone of West Coast Conceptual photography. Displaying the same deadpan approach that became a hallmark of Ruscha’s style, these photographs are also documents of the changes these buildings have undergone. 

Photography’s perceived ability to faithfully describe the environment has long been a central concern for Uta Barth. Made between 1981 and 1982, the nine untitled gelatin silver prints in this exhibition present some of her earliest investigations of the medium’s limitations in conveying the spatial dimensions of a specific area. After photographing her immediate surroundings, Barth marked the surface of each print with black and red grease pencils to delineate various compositional elements. The inclusion of numbers, brackets, and occasional curvilinear forms suggests a desire to create a rational order. These markings also guide the viewer’s eyes to consider areas of each print that are not the obvious subject, thereby creating additional layers of meaning.

“Conceptual Art has been a major source of inspiration and influence for many contemporary photographers,” says Arpad Kovacs, assistant curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum and curator of the exhibition. “The Department of Photographs has made the collecting of Conceptual photography a priority over the last decade and this show provides an opportunity to display some of the works acquired.”

Mapping Space: Recent Acquisitions in Focus is on view February 26-July 14, 2019 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center. The exhibition is curated by Arpad Kovacs, assistant curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) announced today that Elysa Voshell will be its next Executive Director. Elysa Voshell will lead a new era of community engagement and sustainability for the internationally-recognized book arts organization. Voshell joins MCBA from Venice Arts, a nonprofit media arts organization in Venice, CA, dedicated to igniting, expanding, and transforming the lives of Los Angeles’ low-income youth through photography and film education. As Venice Arts’ Associate Director, Voshell provided broad leadership and managed day-to-day operations of the organization. She has been with Venice Arts since 2009. Additional career highlights include her role as Associate Editor at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Staff Writer at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, and Artist in Residence in Book Arts at the Oregon College of Art and Craft.

KC Foley, MCBA Board Chair, speaking on behalf of the board and search committee, stated, “We are delighted to have attracted someone of Elysa Voshell’s talent and accomplishment. She brings all the key skills that MCBA needs to be successful at this stage in its history. As a graduate of the Arts Innovation & Management program from the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, Elysa not only understands the value of successful education and community programs, but also the importance of strong fiscal management and integrated marketing and development. Her track record of working with diverse communities, broadening funding sources,and building stable financial foundations are exactly what MCBA needs going forward.”

Voshell will assume the directorship of MCBA in late January 2019. She states, “Coming to MCBA feels like a synthesis of my key passions: creating and stewarding accessible nonprofit arts spaces that foster the creativity of others, and my own artistic practice in book arts and letterpress. My passion for the arts and their ability to transform individuals and communities goes beyond my career; it is an essential part of my character. I am humbled to be named MCBA’s new Executive Director, and to have the opportunity to lead this incredible organization into its next phase of development.”

“Elysa has been an extraordinary leader at Venice Arts. She’s a creative and strategic thinker, an excellent designer and communicator, and a caring and thoughtful leader. While I’m sad to see her leave, I can’t think of a better position for her, marrying her nonprofit experience with her artistic practice. MCBA is so lucky to have her and, I am certain, she will be instrumental in MCBA’s future success,” comments Venice Arts’ founder and Executive Director, Lynn Warshafsky.

Voshell notes the similarities between Venice Arts and MCBA as hubs for creative practice, education, and community: “Venice Arts serves as a vibrant center for photographic and film education, creation, and presentation in Los Angeles, much as MCBA does for the fields of letterpress printing and book arts not only in Minneapolis but also around the country and around the world. I’m so impressed with the scope and vitality of MCBA’s programs, and with the creative community that is fostered here. MCBA’s world-class printing facilities not only preserve an incredible array of printing, papermaking, and binding equipment, but also make these beautiful, specialized tools available to community members of all ages. I am looking forward to working with MCBA’s Board, staff, and community stakeholders to grow MCBA’s programs and support, and expand the communities it serves.”

MCBA’s search committee—which consisted of board members Ronnie Brooks, KC Foley, Mary Pat Ladner, Monica Edwards Larson, Diane Merrifield, and Deborah Ultan, as well community representative Cathy Ryan—began the national search in July, ultimately interviewing 10 finalists from around the country for the position. “The search committee was impressed by the depth and breadth of the pool of candidates. But Elysa, with her strong background in arts management and leadership, as well as her commitment to the arts community and the role of book arts in the contemporary art world, stood out as someone with the vision to lead MCBA forward,” commented Cathy Ryan.

For the past year and a half, Amanda Kaler has served as Interim Executive Director, as well as Director of Development. “We were fortunate during this time that our Development Director, Amanda Kaler, was able to fill the Interim Executive Director role, as we clarified our organizational needs and conducted a national search for our next Executive Director,” said Diane Merrifield, past Board Chair. Kaler, who has been with the organization since 2013, will become Director of Development and Operations and will continue to work with Voshell on MCBA’s strategic vision.

A native of the Philadelphia area, Voshell has nearly two decades of experience as an artist, curator, and arts executive, and a deep commitment to fostering creativity and expanding cultural equity, diversity, and inclusion, as well as to the book arts form. As Venice Arts’ Associate Director, Voshell led initiatives that enabled the organization to grow both its visibility and community support, leading public programming, strategic planning, development, and communications. As the organization’s first Gallery & Public Programs Director, launched in 2010, Voshell built this new programmatic initiative from the ground up, forging community partnerships and organizing dozens of exhibitions and over 100 public programs. 

Before joining Venice Arts in 2009, Voshell worked as the Staff Writer at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, served as the Exhibitions and Events Board Chair of the Philadelphia Center for the Book, and was an Artist in Residence in Book Arts at the Oregon College of Art & Craft, as well as a Fellow at the Center for Book Arts in New York. She started her career as an Associate Editor at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 

Voshell holds an MA in Book Arts from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, and a BA in English/Creative Writing and MLA in Visual and Curatorial Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Her masters’ thesis exhibition, Reading in Installments: Book Arts Meets Installation, was selected as the Visiting Curator exhibition by Philadelphia’s Center for Emerging Visual Artists, and Voshell’s work and writing has appeared in Paperback LA, The Blue Notebook, and the Lark Books’ 500 Artists Books series.

Pasadena, California - Rare Books LA, an antiquarian book, fine print, and photography fair featuring more than 120 specialist dealers from around the world, will showcase books from the private library of Hugh M. Hefner (1926-2017). The Playboy founder was a champion of First Amendment rights who launched the groundbreaking men’s lifestyle magazine and built it into an empire by transforming Playboy into an iconic global brand.

Books from Hefner’s library will be offered for sale by johnson rare books & archives, located in Booth 718 at Rare Books LA, which is being held at the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green Street. The event is open to the public on Friday, February 1 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, February 2 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Opening night tickets are $20 with all proceeds benefitting The Huntington Library. Saturday show tickets are $10 and can be purchased on site or through the website: www.RareBooksLA.com

“My father’s book collection showcases some of the extraordinary contributors to Playboy magazine through the decades, including Gahan Wilson, Shel Silverstein, George Plimpton, David Halberstam, Helmut Newton and Gay Talese," said Hefner’s daughter Christie Hefner. 

Along with books by these writers, one of the most iconic books from Hefner’s library being offered at Rare Books LA is an inscribed first edition of Ian Fleming’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1964). The novel was serialized in Playboy before its publication in book form.

“We are honored to represent Hugh Hefner’s library at Rare Books LA and to help find new homes for the books that once filled the shelves of the Playboy Mansion,” said Jen Johnson, co-owner of johnson rare books & archives and producer of Rare Books LA. 

Hefner published the first issue of Playboy in 1953. Celebrities and models clamored to pose for the magazine that showcased beautiful women, lifestyle advice and some of the most acclaimed and famous journalism and literary pieces of all time, including a 1965 sit down with Martin Luther King Jr., 1974’s "The Great Shark Hunt" by Hunter S. Thompson, and fiction by Margaret Atwood. 

“This collection provides a link to a man who was more than just an icon, he was a self-made businessman, artist, advocate for First Amendment rights, and so much more. His library not only reflects his personal interests but also his influence on our society and popular culture,” said johnson rare books & archives co-owner Brad Johnson.

The net proceeds from sales of books from his library will benefit The Hugh M. Hefner Foundation. Since its founding in 1964, the Foundation has supported organizations that advocate for and defend civil rights and civil liberties, with special emphasis on First Amendment rights and rational sex and drug policies.

The legendary magazine founder was recognized as one of the leading voices in the ongoing battles for freedom of expression, civil rights, and sexual freedom, including reproductive and LGBT rights.

The Printed World: Masterpieces of Seventeenth-Century European Printmaking opens February 3 and remains on view through March 24, 2019, at the Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums. The seventeenth century, often called the age of the Baroque, was a period that saw important changes to European society and culture. The settlement of the Americas and continuing exploration of the planet, motivated by religion and commerce, are symbolic of the ambitious spirit of the time, which confronted newness in many realms. In particular, the scientific revolution, with the invention of the telescope and the microscope, furthered new ways of seeing the world empirically. This is also an important era of consolidation: in politics, rulers such as Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain dominated; the religious climate included the Counter-Reformation seeking to overcome Protestant beliefs that had arisen in the sixteenth century; and large-scale wars were carried out by sacred and secular armies.

These historical changes had a deep impact on the art of the time, perhaps nowhere more extensively than in the medium of prints, which were quickly distributed and had broad and engaged audiences. Etching became the dominant form of expression, with great artists such as Rembrandt exploiting the aesthetic capabilities of the medium. In seventeenth-century prints, subjects from biblical and classical literature reached a new refinement, while landscape achieved a new prominence. The exhibition examines these developing genres and how they were depicted by the printmakers of the Baroque period.

Selected from the Frank Raysor Collection and the Harnett Print Study Center Collection, the exhibition features works by more than thirty artists, such as Jacques Callot (French, 1592-1635), Stefano della Bella (Italian, 1610-1664), Hendrick Goudt (Dutch, 1583-1648), Wenceslaus Hollar (Bohemian, 1607-1677), Claude Lorrain (French, 1604-1682), Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669), and Jacob van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628-1682). 

The exhibition is a collaboration of the University of Richmond Museums with Frank Raysor and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. It includes selections from the Harnett Print Study Center Collection, University Museums, and promised gifts to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts from the Frank Raysor Collection. Presented as a companion to Hollar’s Encyclopedic Eye: Prints from the Frank Raysor Collection (on view February 2 to May 5 at the VMFA), the exhibition was curated by Mitchell Merling, Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art, VMFA; Richard Waller, Executive Director, University Museums; and Morgan Mitchell, ’20, art history major, the 2018 Harnett Summer Research Fellow, and Curatorial Assistant, University Museums. The exhibition and related programs are made possible in part with funds from the Louis S. Booth Arts Fund.

Programming

Sunday, February 3, 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., Curators’ Talk and Reception, Harnett Museum of Art, Modlin Center for the Arts: “Deciphering Prints of the Seventeenth Century." Richard Waller, Executive Director, University Museums, and Morgan Mitchell, ’20, art history major, 2018 Harnett Summer Research Fellow, and 2019 Curatorial Assistant, University Museums. Reception and viewing of the exhibition follow talk. Harnett Museum of Art, Modlin Center for the Arts.

Monday, February 4, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., Gallery Walk-Through with the Curators, Harnett Museum of Art, Modlin Center for the Arts. Richard Waller, Executive Director, University Museums, and Morgan Mitchell, ’20, art history major, 2018 Harnett Summer Research Fellow, and 2019 Curatorial Assistant, University Museums.

New York — Doyle to the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Joanne Porrino Mournet to the role of President. The appointments mark a new generation of leadership at one of the world’s premier auction houses. Kathleen M. Doyle, who has served as the company’s CEO for the past twenty-five years, will continue as Chairman, and Kenneth McKenna will continue as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Established in New York in 1962, Doyle is recognized worldwide for its commitment to providing professional auction and appraisal services of the highest standard. A vital player in the global auction market, Doyle combines vast scholarship and in-depth knowledge of industry trends with the latest digital strategies and technological capabilities. This winning strategy attracts thousands of seasoned buyers and newly affluent collectors from over ninety countries around the world, setting world auction records across all sale categories.

“Laura Doyle and Joanne Mournet are experienced and accomplished business professionals who will continue to advance the expansion of Doyle while adhering to our core values of Integrity, Expertise and Service,” said Kathleen Doyle. “I am delighted to be working alongside this dynamic team leading us into the future!”

“I am passionate about the auction business. We are so fortunate to work with beautiful objects and fascinating people,” said Laura Doyle. “New generations of buyers are continually entering the auction market globally, creating new trends in collecting. Never has there been a more exciting time in our industry!”

“Doyle is privileged to bring to auction property from distinguished collections and prominent estates throughout the year,” said Joanne Mournet. “Together with our team of specialists and regional representatives, I look forward to expanding our relationships with the national trusts and estates community while maintaining the level of excellence that our clients rely on.”

The youngest daughter of company founder William Doyle, Laura Doyle quite literally grew up in the auction business. During her almost twenty years at Doyle, she has spearheaded digital strategies and continues to implement new technological capabilities with an eye toward the future. An accomplished and articulate spokesperson for the industry, she, together with Kathleen Doyle, discussed technology and the future of the auction industry in a televised program on Yahoo Finance with Andy Serwer.

In 2016, Laura Doyle was the founder of Doyle’s online-only Hayloft Auctions division in the burgeoning and artistically vibrant South Bronx. A successful Internet start-up, and a valued member of the neighborhood, Hayloft Auctions was honored by the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (BOEDC) for its work and commitment to Bronx residents and the community. Laura Doyle and Hayloft Auctions were also recognized by Crain’s New York Business in a feature on Bronx business and real estate trends.

Ms. Doyle was educated at Deerfield Academy and earned a BA in the History of Art from the University of Pennsylvania, during which time she spent a year studying at the Courtauld Institute in London. She began her career at Doyle in Client Services, later serving as Director of the Jewelry Department. As Vice-Chairman, she expanded Doyle’s network of regional representatives while focusing on strategies for global growth in collaboration with Doyle’s luxury, digital and real estate marketing partners. She recently oversaw a major renovation of the company’s Manhattan headquarters and the acquisition of a new warehouse in the Bronx.

Joanne Porrino Mournet has held senior positions at Doyle for over twenty-five years, most recently as Executive Vice President and Executive Director of Estate and Appraisal Services. In her new role as President, she will continue serving as Doyle’s senior liaison with prominent banks and law firms in providing Doyle’s comprehensive range of professional appraisal and auction services.

Highly regarded in the field of Trusts and Estates, Ms. Mournet is frequently invited by law firms and banks to speak as an expert on estate appraisals and the auction industry. She regularly represents Doyle at professional estate planning conferences, among them the New York State Bar Association, The Estate Planning Council of New York, The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), UJA law conferences, and The University of Miami Philip Heckerling Law Institute. A graduate of Douglass College, Ms. Mournet is a member of the Professional Advisory Council of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Heart Association Trust and Estates Advisory Council.

An accomplished auctioneer, Ms. Mournet has sold collections totaling well over one billion dollars over the course of her career. She has presided over the landmark auctions of countless estates of celebrities and prominent figures of society and commerce, as well as property from our nation’s most distinguished public and private institutions.

“At Doyle, we believe that every estate and collection is unique,” Ms. Mournet is fond of saying. “We excel at tailoring our services to meet the individual needs of each client.”

Continuing that thought, Laura Doyle stated, “Our goal in this digital age is to ensure that every client, whether a buyer or seller, whether in New York or across the world, receives the personal attention that has always been a hallmark of Doyle.”

Opening January 30, 2019 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Monumental Journey: The Daguerreotypes of Girault de Prangey will present masterpieces of early 19th-century photography by one of its unsung pioneers. A trailblazer of the newly invented daguerreotype process, Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey (1804-1892) traveled throughout the Eastern Mediterranean from 1842 to 1845, producing more than one thousand daguerreotypes—the largest known extant group from this period and the earliest surviving photographs of Greece, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Jerusalem, and among the first depicting Italy. Featuring approximately 120 of his daguerreotypes, supplemented by examples of his graphic work—watercolors, paintings, and his lithographically illustrated publications—the exhibition will be the first in the United States devoted to Girault, and the first to focus on his Mediterranean journey. Many of the sites depicted have been permanently altered by urban planning, climate change, or conflict.

The exhibition is made possible by the Arête Foundation/Betsy and Ed Cohen.

Additional support is provided by Jennifer S. and Philip F. Maritz and the Alfred Stieglitz Society.

It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration with the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

Daguerreotypists in the early 1840s faced enormous technical challenges, especially in the desert, so daguerreotypes from these years are exceedingly rare. No other photographer of the period embarked on such a long excursion and successfully made a quantity of plates anywhere near Girault’s production of more than a thousand daguerreotypes. The resulting photographic campaign remains an unparalleled feat in its appearance, scope, scale, and ambition. Using an oversize, custom-made camera, he exposed more than one image on a single plate to create at least six different formats, including unexpected horizontal panoramas and narrow vertical compositions.

The fact that a collection of this size survived at all is extraordinary and attests to the achievement of an unheralded innovator working with unprecedented technology. The survival of this monumental and exemplary collection is also a result of Girault’s meticulous archival process—precocious at the time, even if today it seems commonplace. The artist stored his daguerreotypes in custom-built wood boxes; in addition, he carefully sorted, labeled, and dated the images so that he could retrieve them for future use, occasionally recording when he utilized them, for example, as the basis for a painting or published print. He also had them inventoried several times during his lifetime. In essence, he created the world’s oldest photographic archive.

“The exhibition reveals Girault as the originator of a thoroughly modern conception of photography, by which visual memories can be stored, retrieved, reassembled, and displayed,” stated Stephen C. Pinson, Curator, Department of Photographs. “At the same time, it is perhaps more important than ever to recognize that Girault was himself the product of a complex network of political, social, and historical forces that had far-reaching impact on the West’s relationship with the world he photographed.”

The exhibition presents a unique opportunity to experience these rarely seen works, as Girault never exhibited his daguerreotypes and died without direct heirs in 1892. In 1920, a distant relative, Charles de Simony, purchased Girault’s estate outside Langres, France, and discovered the photographs—labeled and carefully stored in their original wood boxes—in a storeroom of his  dilapidated villa. A handful of intrepid collectors and curators were henceforth aware of the collection, but its dramatic content and scope remained little-known to the world until 2003, when the first of several auctions of material drawn from the original archive was held.

Monumental Journey: The Daguerreotypes of Girault de Prangey is curated by Stephen C. Pinson, Curator in the Department of Photographs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The catalogue is made possible by the Diane W. and James E. Burke Fund.

The exhibition is featured on The Met website, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via the hashtag #MonumentalJourney.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) presents Chronicled in Clay: Ceramics and the Art of the Story, an exhibition that brings together ceramics and contemporary book arts. Chronicled in Clay is presented in conjunction with Claytopia, the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts’ (NCECA) 53rd Annual Conference, which explores “the human imagination as a vehicle of restless yearning for a more livable, just, and meaningful world.” 

Chronicled in Clay: Ceramics and the Art of the Story examines how contemporary artists express narratives in clay through text, imagery, multiples, and sequence. The jurors, Tetsuya Yamada (artist and faculty at the University of Minnesota), Monica Edwards Larson (MCBA Board member and artist / proprietress of Sister Black Press), and Torey Erin (MCBA Exhibitions and Artist Programs Manager), have composed an exhibition that provokes new perspectives and challenges traditional ideas of narrative and linear storytelling through clay form, including notebook tablets, book vessels, a wall installation of wave-like ceramic pages, and more.  

Participating artists include:

Eileen Cohen, Minneapolis, MN

Corie J. Cole, Colorado Springs, CO

Paula McCartney, Minneapolis, MN

Stefana McClure, Newburgh, NY

Teri Power, Amery, WI

Derek Prescott, Columbia Heights, MN

Nicole Roberts Hoiland, Saint Paul, MN

Jennifer Rose Wolken, Springfield, MO

Molly Streiff, Missoula, MT

The exhibition will be on view and open to the public February 8th, 2019 through April 28th, 2019 in MCBA’s Main Gallery, with an opening reception on Friday, March 28th, 6-9pm.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) is a visual arts nonprofit organization that supports creative expression through traditional and contemporary book arts, including papermaking, bookbinding, and letterpress printing. MCBA’s philosophy and artistic vision challenges its artist community to think beyond the traditional notion of “book.” Today, books can be bound and unbound, fabricated into sculptures, interpreted as metaphor, experienced as installation or performance, and interacted with virtually. What unites this varied work is a focus on the interdisciplinary expression of narrative. To learn more, visit our website at https://www.mnbookarts.org. 

Chicago—Potter & Potter Auctions is pleased to announce its nearly 800 lot Fine Books and Manuscripts sale to be held on Saturday, February 2nd, 2019 starting at 10am at the company's gallery, located at 3759 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL 60613. All lots from this upcoming sale from are on display and available for public preview on Wednesday, January 30th, Thursday, January 31st, and Friday, February 1st from 10:00am to 5:00pm in the Potter & Potter facility. Everyone is also welcome to attend a special gallery celebration with hors d'oeuvres and beverages on Thursday, January 31 from 6:00pm to 7:30pm.  All times noted are CST. 

This event features over 200 lots of materials honoring a century and a half of Chicago's remarkable history. Chicago has been making headlines since its incorporation as a town in 1833 and as a city in 1837.  As such, presidential-caliber antiques related to this key city in the Land of Lincoln are well represented in this sale. Lot #153, a collection of John Dillinger materials, including his death mask, hair from his moustache, and a letter from Melvin Purvis, is estimated at $6,000-9,000.  Dillinger, an infamous Depression-era gangster, was responsible for over two dozen bank robberies and multiple other crimes.  On July 22, 1934, he was captured, shot, and killed by FBI agents - including Purvis - at the Biograph Theatre near Lincoln Park in Chicago. This fascinating grouping of Dillinger materials is from the collection of noted crime collector Michael Webb (1950—2009). Lot #172, a 20th century handmade model of Fort Dearborn said to have been displayed at the 1933 World’s Fair, is estimated at $900-1,300. Fort Dearborn's history and that of the city are deeply intertwined and include the war of 1812 and the great Chicago Fire of 1871. This skillfully rendered mixed-media model is mounted on an oak base with glass sides and features a painted canvas background. It measures 10" x 22" x 22” and is accompanied with an inlaid Fort Dearborn marquetry sign.  And lot #33, a mid-century yellow enameled Diversey Avenue street sign is estimated at $300-500.  Diversey Avenue is now a major east-west Chicago roadway; it was named after 19th century brewer, philanthropist, and alderman Michael Diversey. 

Also on offer are a number of important antique reference publications documenting the geography, roads, infrastructure, and buildings of the Chicago area during the last quarter of the 19th century. Lot #3, Atlas of the Village of Hyde Park is estimated at $250-350.  Published by Rhoades, Dobson, and Rascher in the 1870s, this 23" x 25" time capsule includes an index map showing the area from 130th Street to 39th Street, and from State Street to Lake Michigan. Rare in any state of completeness, the atlas is listed on the title page by the publisher at the handsome sum of $100 - the equivalent of nearly $2,000 in 2019 dollars. And lot #131, Edwards’ Thirteenth Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1870—71 is estimated at $300-500. According to its front page, this scarce tome includes a full listing of the areas "Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, and Manufacturing Establishments." One can only imagine how different subsequent editions would read, given the monstrous hit every aspect of the city took with the 1871 Chicago fire. 

Now let's focus on this auction's offering of collectible posters capturing stunning Chicago images.  Lot #20, a 1929 color litho poster from Chicago/ New York Central Lines featuring some of the city's highlight buildings of the "roaring 20s" is estimated at $2,600-3,500. It is by commercial artist Leslie Ragan (1897—1972), who is known - among other things - for his fantastic rendering of clouds. And lot #19, a c. 1950s Chicago via Braniff Airways color silkscreen poster by Don Marvine is estimated at $800-1,200. It features a a trio of travelers, including a cowboy, under the neon lights in downtown Chicago at night, each apparently hailing taxis. 

Impressive selections of livre d'artiste works add an international dimension to this Midwest sale. These items fall at the intersection of illustration, books, and limited editions and are often housed in boxes or folders that are works of art in themselves. Lot #297, a group of twelve erotic pochoir plates after watercolors by Gerda Wegener is estimated at &1,800-2,600. This cloth-backed portfolio from 1925 is printed in gilt and is one of 350 copies.  Lot #290, Les Aventures du Roi Pausole featuring seventeen erotic illustrations by Brunelleschi colored in pochoir is estimated at $1,200-1,500.   It is number 56 of 450 and is presented in a navy morocco over midnight blue calf binding with gold-veined marbled endpapers. And lot #264, Oscar Wilde's Ballade de la Geole de Reading with artwork by Andre Dignimont is estimated at $1,500-2,600. This rarity from 1942 is number one of three deluxe artist's copies.  It is signed by Dignimont on the limitation page, housed in a slipcased chemise with files of original and proof artwork, and includes more than 40 original drawings.

First edition and other important traditional bound books are also page turners at this can't miss auction.  Lot #244, a first American edition of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is estimated at $2,600-3,500.  Published in 1932 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, this is number 64 of 250 specially-printed and bound copies, and is signed and numbered by the author. It includes its near fine original slipcase - which often lacking or damaged - all handsomely enclosed in a quarter leather slipcase and box.  And lot #230, a first edition of Charles Bukowski's South of No North published by the Black Sparrow Press in Los Angeles is estimated at $1,500-2,000. This book from 1973 is number 5 of 50 hand bound copies and includes an original signed painting by the author. 

Potter & Potter Auctions enjoys a worldwide reputation of presenting the most eye-catching archives of all sorts, and this event will only confirm that leadership position. Lot #520, a Christine Jorgensen (1926-1989) archive from the 1940s-50s is estimated at $600-900.  Entertainer Jorgensen was an American transgender woman, and the first who became widely known for having undergone sex reassignment surgery in Sweden in 1951. This collection includes sixteen original photographs featuring Christine as well as an oversized, illustrated advertising program headlined, “America’s No. 1 Box-Office Attraction.” Lot #71, an archive of photographs, documents, and ephemera from Chicago Fire Marshal Charles Seyferlich is estimated at $400-600.  These materials span the 1890s—1910s time frame and include a bound memorial album, a lithographed memorial resolution issued and signed by the Chicago Board of Underwriters, 49 snapshots of intense scenes of firefighting at the Stockyard Fire, Seyferlich’s business card as Fire Marshal, postcards, news clippings, and other materials. And lot #165, a collection of 1933—34 Chicago World’s Fair souvenirs and ephemera is estimated at $200-300. Highlights of this most eclectic archive include a glass and rubber Firestone Tires ashtray, an engraved Oneida spoons depicting Fort Dearborn, a tin Sky Ride ashtray, a box of eight sealed souvenir matchbooks, a boxed souvenir jumbo “Key to the Chicago World’s Fair”, and three sealed “souvenir views” photo-card sets. 

This sale offers many distinctive ephemeral items, including photos, postcards, blueprints, and "everyday" goods that bring the past to life.  Lot #512, a cabinet photo of actor Richard Mansfield as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from c. 1887 is estimated at $1,000-1,500. Lot #151, a collection of eight Chicago Police Department Daily Bulletin "Wanted Flyers" from 1961 is estimated at $50-100. These are ominously illustrated with photos of wanted criminals and missing persons, including men wanted for bogus checks, bond forfeiture, armed robbery, deceptive practices, burglary, and other crimes.  Lot #8, architect Frank Lloyd Wright's signed, original 36" x 46” floor plan for the Louis Frederick House from 1956/57 is estimated at $6,000-8,000. This 2,550-square-foot home, located in Barrington, IL, was one of Wright's last projects and most recently sold for $795,000 in 2016, a mere three days after its listing. And it’s easy to get carried away over lot #409, an all-original Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup shopping bag from 1966. This first printing, color silkscreen depicts a Campbell’s Tomato Soup can on a wove Guild Paper Products shopping bag and is estimated at $800-1,200.

This auction comes full circle with carefully curated offerings of prints and drawings, photos, atlases, antiques, and other rarities, including early and collectible comic books. Lot #647, a Marvel Comics Incredible Hulk number 181 from 1974 is estimated at $1,800-2,400. This monster of an edition features the first full appearance of Wolverine as well as an appearance from Wendigo. 

According to Gabe Fajuri, President at Potter & Potter Auctions, "As a proud "Windy City" business, we are thrilled to be offering this fine collection of Chicago materials.  Despite their regional theme, they should have enormous universal appeal given our city's prominent role on the global stage. Looking over these items, it is so interesting to me to see how much the city has evolved and changed - and not - over time. The sale's other key categories, including important books, ephemera, and livre d'artiste, also offer spectacular temptations."

Potter & Potter, founded in 2007, is a Chicago area auction house specializing in paper Americana, vintage advertising, rare books, playing cards, gambling memorabilia, posters, fine prints, vintage toys, and magicana - antiques and collectibles related to magic and magicians. For more information, please see www.potterauctions.com.  Follow us on Facebook (potterandpotterauctions), Twitter (PnPAuctions), and Instagram (potterauctions).