Dayton, OH – Eli Saslow’s Rising Out of Hatred, which chronicles the awakening of a prominent young white supremacist, and Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde’s What We Owe, a story of Iranian refugees living in Sweden, today were named the winners of the 2019 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for nonfiction and fiction, respectively.
 
Tigerland, Wil Haygood’s story of two sports teams from a poor, black high school in Ohio who both become state champions in 1969, was named runner-up for nonfiction. Richard Powers’ The Overstory, a novel about nine Americans whose unique life experiences with trees bring them together to address the impact humans have had on forests, was named the fiction runner-up.
 
Winners receive a $10,000 honorarium and runners-up receive $5,000.
 
Inspired by the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia, The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is the only international literary peace prize awarded in the United States. The Prize celebrates the power of literature to promote peace, social justice, and global understanding. This year's winners will be honored at a gala ceremony in Dayton on November 3rd.
 
“This year’s winners explore four of the most pressing issues facing our planet today - climate change, white supremacy, racial and economic inequality, and the plight of refugees,” said Sharon Rab, Chair of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation. “With grace, empathy, and creativity, each author reminds us that while hate, racism, violence, and destruction have long-term impact, individuals can take meaningful steps that move families, communities, and societies closer to peace, resolution, and reconciliation.”
 
The 2019 Dayton Literary Peace Prize in Nonfiction:
 
In Rising Out of Hatred (Doubleday), Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Eli Saslow tells the powerful story of how prominent white supremacist and radio host Derek Black changed his heart and mind. With great empathy and narrative verve, Saslow explores how white-supremacist ideas migrated from the far-right fringe to the White House through the intensely personal saga of one man who eventually disavowed everything he was taught to believe, at tremendous personal cost.
 
On receiving the Prize, Saslow said: "What I appreciate most about my job as a reporter is it allows me a passport to spend time in places I wouldn’t otherwise go, with people I wouldn’t otherwise meet — and hopefully I get to take the reader along with me. That act feels even more essential at a time when Americans are increasingly isolated into our own bubbles by technology, by class, by ideology, and by geography. The best nonfiction journalism requires thorough investigation, but ultimately it is also an act of understanding, empathy, and peace."
 
The 2019 Dayton Literary Peace Prize in Fiction:
 
What We Owe (Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt) by Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde is an extraordinary story of Iranian refugees living in Sweden. Exploring exile, dislocation, and the emotional minefields between mothers and daughters, it is a tale of love, guilt and dreams for a better future, vibrating with both sorrow and an unquenchable joie de vivre. With its startling honesty, dark wit, and irresistible momentum, What We Owe introduces a fierce and necessary new voice in international fiction.
 
Bonde said: “My father tended to explain the unknown through stories. Not from his own imagination, but from telling whatever tales he could find—the kind of tales that dug deep into the human soul, and brought understanding. My first pet in Iran was a chicken named Papillon, and the movie Papillon is the first I remember watching. This was my father’s way of telling me about freedom—about how he, who does not have it, cannot stop fighting until he does. War and the fight for freedom eventually made us flee Iran for Sweden. How do you make sense of a new country? Well, I was only three years old but this was done through stories. Through the work of Astrid Lindgren, author of children’s literature and the creator of several universes that helped me understand the beauty and pains of Swedishness. I am forever grateful for these tales, for how reading them made me feel as if I were part of them. The strength of the written world, in creating empathy and reflection, is the most powerful thing I know. But I wish there had been tales that could tell my new country about me. Who I was, the refugee child. Why I had come, what I had brought, what my contribution would be. There were none of these stories when I grew up. I am honored to now be taking part in creating them, and thus help humanize the displaced.”
 
The 2019 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Runner-Up in Nonfiction:
 
In Tigerland (Knopf), Wil Haygood, the author of the best-selling The Butler, tells the emotional, inspiring story of two teams from a poor, black, segregated high school in Ohio, who, in the midst of the racial turbulence of 1968 and 1969, win the Ohio state baseball and basketball championships in the same year.
 
Haygood said: “The mission that I gave myself in writing Tigerland was to excavate a forgotten story set against the America of 1968-69. Having earlier traveled the world as a correspondent to war zones, I came across a story in Columbus, Ohio, of black high school athletes set loose in that fiery year. Their peace-hungering hero, Martin Luther King Jr., had fallen to a white supremacist. The Tigers of East High School unleashed their talents not in the fires of the time, but on the basketball courts and baseball diamonds, winning two state championships in those sports that year. It was a history-making moment for them, and for the black and white coalition that supported their rise to glory. The black athlete - then as now - has never been far from the social and political swirl of America. Literature is the whistle that won’t stop blowing at game’s end; the stories go on and on. I’m both honored and touched by the recognition given this saga by the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Committee.”
 
The 2019 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Runner-Up in Fiction:
 
Winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, The Overstory (W. W. Norton & Company) by Richard Powers is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of—and paean to—the natural world. There is a world alongside ours—vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and are drawn into its unfolding catastrophe.
 
Powers said: “No justice, no peace. No kinship, no justice. No empathy, no kinship. Reading and writing are exercises in empathy: How would the urgencies of the world look and feel, if I could get beyond myself? The best way to get beyond the self is a good story. No good stories, no peace.“
 
Organizers previously announced that writer N. Scott Momaday, who for more than half a century has illuminated both the ancient and contemporary lives of Native Americans through fiction, essays, and poetry, will receive the 2019 Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, named in honor of the noted U.S. diplomat who helped negotiate the Dayton Peace Accords.
 
Winners were selected by a judging panel of prominent writers including Lesley Nneka Arimah (What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky), Bob Shacochis (The Woman Who Lost Her Soul), Brando Skyhorse (The Madonnas of Echo Park), and Helen Thorpe (Soldier Girls: The Battles Of Three Women At Home And At War; The Newcomers:  Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom).
 
To be eligible for the 2019 awards, English-language books had to be published or translated into English in 2018 and address the theme of peace on a variety of levels, such as between individuals, among families and communities, or between nations, religions, or ethnic groups.
 

Philadelphia — The Rosenbach is excited to present the Moby-Dick Marathon Reading, a 25-hour celebration of Herman Melville’s classic novel of Ishmael and the Great White Whale.
 
Beginning on Saturday November  9, and continuing through Sunday November 10, this collaboration with the Independence Seaport Museum celebrates the iconic novel and the adventures of 19th-century seafarers with the live reading, an interactive artifact show-and-tell, hands-on activities for all ages, boatloads of food and fare for purchase, a late-night happy hour, and much more. The Moby-Dick Marathon is free and open to everyone.
 
The event highlights include:
 
•  Family Friendly Activities, beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday before Marathon readers take the stage, will feature scrimshaw crafts, kid-friendly Moby-Dick storytimes, squid dissection, and whaling coloring activities.
•  The Marathon Reading, now in its second year, runs from 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 9—when Ishmael arrives to kick off the reading—through 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 10. The Marathon Reading features volunteer readers and special guests reading Moby-Dick aloud cover to cover.  
•  Artifact Show and Tell: The Real-Life History of Whaling will offer visitors a close-up look at artifacts related to the real-life history of whaling around the time that Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. Collections staff from The Rosenbach and the Independence Seaport Museum will be on hand to share rare artifacts including the log book from the whaling vessel Ceres, which sailed out of Wilmington, Delaware in the 1840s; scrimshaw made aboard the Ceres, historic prints depicting the process of whaling, a model whaleboat, and other relics of the whalefishery.
 
The Moby-Dick Marathon is presented alongside American Voyager: Herman Melville at 200, a new exhibition on view at The Rosenbach through April 5, 2020. Few writers have achieved the cultural impact of Melville, yet he died unrecognized for his genius. To commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth, the new exhibition explores the life, works, and legacy of this iconic but under-read author and considers what Melville might have to say about the modern United States.
 
“With our new exhibition activating our collection of Melville's rare books and letters, The Rosenbach is the ideal producer for a marathon reading of his greatest work, Moby-Dick,” says Derick Dreher, John C. Hass Director of The Rosenbach. “We couldn’t be happier to partner with the Independence Seaport Museum again this year, which provides the perfect setting for the unique event.”
 
The Moby-Dick Marathon Reading and American Voyager are inspired by and celebrate The Rosenbach’s extensive Herman Melville collection, which includes handwritten letters and first editions of his novels, including Moby-Dick. For more information, visit rosenbach.org/mobydickmarathon

New York — The emergence of etching on paper in Europe in the late 15th and early 16th centuries—when the technique moved out of the workshops of armor decorators and into those of printmakers and painters—was a pivotal moment that completely changed the course of printmaking. Opening October 23, The Renaissance of Etching will trace the first 70 years of the etched print through some 125 etchings created by both renowned and lesser-known artists, displayed alongside a selection of drawings, printing plates, etching tools, illustrated books, and armor. The works are drawn from the collections of The Met, The Albertina Museum, and a number of European and American lenders.
 
The exhibition is made possible by the Diane W. and James E. Burke Fund, the Placido Arango Fund, The Schiff Foundation, and Ann and Matthew Nimetz.

It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Albertina Museum.
 
The catalogue is made possible by the Drue E. Heinz Fund. Additional support is provided by the Tavolozza Foundation.
 
"When etching on paper was first introduced, the ease and access of the technique enabled artists to expand the reach of their work, and exchange ideas and images in a new way," said Max Hollein, Director of The Met. "This exhibition will offer a fascinating examination of this trailblazing moment, and an opportunity to appreciate a time in which the sharing of images—something we are so clearly immersed in today—underwent a revolutionary technical advancement."
 
"By focusing on the 70-year period right at the onset of this groundbreaking technology, we are able to observe artists at a time of great experimentation and creativity," added Nadine Orenstein, Drue Heinz Chair of Drawings and Prints at The Met. "The exhibition will show the dissemination of information between artists and their individual desire to embrace etching in creative ways—from Dürer's dense networks of lines in Germany to Parmigianino's use of colored inks in Italy, each artist tried to make the medium distinctive and unique."
 
Etching is an intaglio printmaking technique in which lines or areas on a metal plate are incised with acid in order to hold ink; the image on the plate is then printed onto paper. Artists today etch prints much the way they did in the early 16th century. In essence, the technique is equivalent to drawing on the surface of a printing plate. As a result, etching has an ease that opened the door for all kinds of artists to make prints. Among the pioneers of the medium are some of the greatest painters of the Renaissance, including Albrecht Dürer, Francesco Parmigianino, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
 
The Met's exhibition will begin at the end of the 15th century with the origins of etching in the workshop of the German printmaker and armor decorator Daniel Hopfer and then move on to explore the ways in which a range of artists from Germany, Flanders, Italy, and France began to experiment with the new medium. In the transition from armor to print, a technique used to create unique and costly armor for elite patrons transformed into one used to produce relatively inexpensive prints for a broad audience. Furthermore, what was once the artwork (the etched metal armor) was now the tool used to create the artwork (the metal plate printed on paper). The exhibition will conclude with the period around 1560, when the technique became professionalized and the Netherlandish print publisher Hieronymus Cock employed etchers to create prints after designs produced by other artists. This period marked a transition from the use of etching as a means of experimentation to its standardization and expansion by printmakers and print publishers.
 
Following its presentation at The Met, the exhibition will be on view at The Albertina Museum in Vienna (February 12–May 10, 2020).
 
A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition.
 
Related Programs
 
The exhibition will be complemented by a number of education programs, including free Teen Studio programs about the process of printmaking and a MetFridays talk inviting curators and skilled printmakers for a discussion about the origins of etchings and the experimental techniques employed by artists working today (Fri., Nov. 22, 6:30–7:30 pm).

Amherst, MA — The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is pleased to present The Pursuit of Everything: Maira Kalman's Books for Children, a colorful panorama of Kalman's picture book career, on view November 10, 2019 through April 5, 2020. The exhibition premiered at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA in June 2019.

Perhaps best known for her humorous New Yorker covers and her brilliant pictorial essays for The New York Times, Kalman has also published 18 acclaimed children's books (plus a dozen for adults). She illustrates the comic adventures of Max Stravinsky, the dog-poet in Max Makes a Million (1990), and the escapades of a gluttonous canine named Pete in What Pete Ate (2001). The exhibition features Next Stop Grand Central (1999) alongside illustrations from her recent publications Beloved Dog (2015) and Cake (2018). Kalman addresses important historical figures and events in Looking at Lincoln (2012), Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote (2018), and the 9/11-inspired Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey (2002). Balancing the ridiculous and the profound, Kalman's vibrant gouache paintings and witty word play delight audiences of all ages.

With an idiosyncratic style all her own, Kalman employs compressed space, unpredictable pacing, and often shocking colors to keep readers on their toes. Her first children's book was Stay Up Late (1987), in which she gave visual form to a famous Talking Heads song. She's collaborated with other writers, including U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote (2018), food writer Barbara Scott-Goodman for Cake (2018), and children's book author Lemony Snicket on 13 Words (2010). Paintings from all three books are represented in the exhibition. Kalman also loves dogs and explains her fascination with them in Beloved Dog (2015). (Viewers who look closely will find dogs amongst the array of characters in her books.)

Kalman says of her wide-ranging work, "The best children's books are as appealing to adults as they are to children. There have to be different levels of humor, different levels of reference, which allow a dialogue between adults and children. If you live with children, the kinds of conversations you have during the day range from the surreal to the mundane to the insane to the pedantic. And that language can be duplicated in writing because the world is all of those things."

In addition to Kalman's original picture-book art, the exhibition presents personal glimpses of the artist's family and her inspirations. On view is a humorous video--featuring a piano-teaching chicken--made expressly for the exhibition by her son Alex Kalman. The gallery entryway is a tableau vivant of Kalman's New York City studio. From shoes to family photos, postcards and musical instruments, she lays out hundreds of meaningful images and objects, many of which can be found in her paintings. Other personal items include sketchbooks, illustrated correspondence with her two-year-old granddaughter, Olive, and ephemera such as a collection of crazily-named candy bars. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to "decorate" cakes, design hats for Max Stravinsky, take a scavenger hunt through Kalman's colossal Grand Central Terminal mural, and playfully add items to Pete's stomach on a magnetic board.

"It is such a wonderful thing to meet a gifted illustrator or a talented writer, and Maira happens to be both," said Jane Bayard Curley, the exhibition's curator. "She is just like her work: funny, smart, and an undisputed champion for the universal appeal of the picture book. Her highly personal and somewhat eccentric worldview appeals to anyone who wants to be verbally and visually amused and challenged."

New York—The Thursday, September 26 sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana at Swann Galleries was an overall success with an 88% sell-through rate, bringing in over $1M.

Material relating to slavery & abolition led the sale. The top lot was an important archive of the Dickinson & Shrewsbury salt works in West Virginia: “Because of the massive extent of the institution of slavery, original manuscripts relating to those who were enslaved are not scarce. However, we rarely see a large archive which tells the story of one location and one group of people over time. Most of what does survive is agricultural,” said Rick Stattler, the house’s Book Department Director & Americana Specialist. “The Dickinson & Shrewsbury salt works archive is unusual because it documents a large industrial operation which relied on slave labor.  Many dozens of individuals can be traced over the decades through correspondence, lists, and receipts. The plant's numerous connections to Booker T. Washington, who lived near the salt works after abolition, give it even greater historical significance; his stepfather appears several times in the records.” The archive brought $173,000, the top price for an archive in Swann’s history. The lot was immediately followed by the Shugart family papers. Notable for its log listing passengers on the Underground Railroad, it brought $100,000.

The sale opened to a flurry of bidding for a volume of early St. Louis almanacs, including the first issued in the city. After a tense back-and-fourth round of bidding between phones, the lot brought $27,500.

A cache of material from the legendary Western collection of Herbert Auerbach was led by a record $11,050 for the first edition of the Mormon cornerstone Pearl of Great Price, 1815, by Franklin D. Richards. Other notable records included Richard Price’s Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution, 1784, at $2,750, and José Rami rez’s Via Lactea, 1698, at $3,750.

Civil War diaries included an eventful Mississippi River naval diary by Samuel Walker that earned $15,000. The beautifully written and illustrated Civil War diary of Adam Reinoehl brought $6,500.

Additional material of note included a small archive of whaling business records of Luther D. Cook from Sag Harbor, New York, which brought $30,000; a three-page printed treasury report by Alexander Hamilton earned $6,750; and William J. Stone’s 1833 Force printing of the Declaration of Independence at $20,000.

The next auction from the Books Department at Swann Galleries will be Fine Books & Manuscripts on October 10. Visit swanngalleries.com or download the Swann Galleries App for catalogues, bidding and inquiries.

New York –– Poster Auctions International’s Auction #79 on Sunday, October 27th, will feature robust collections of bicycle posters, designs from Cuba’s first revolutionary posterist, hundreds of travel images, and seminal works from the legends of lithography: Alphonse Mucha, Leonetto Cappiello, Jules Chéret, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and more.

The Rare Posters Auction will be held live in PAI’s gallery at 26 West 17th Street in New York City and online at posterauctions.com. The auction will begin promptly at 11am EDT.

Jack Rennert, president of Poster Auctions International, Inc., said he is “very pleased to present this capsule of historically significant lithographs from a wide range of eras and artists. The 530 lots span from 1883 to 2007, with estimates ranging from $700 to $120,000. This breadth of designs is well suited for both new poster lovers and seasoned collectors.”

The auction will begin with PAI’s largest and best bicycle collection to date, which comprises 89 heralded lithographs from 1891 to 1940. Notable works include Bradley’s Victor Bicycles (est. $20,000-$25,0000), Mucha’s Cycles Perfecta (est. $17,000-$20,000), Penfield’s Orient Cycles (est. $14,000-$17,000), and Toulouse-Lautrec’s Cycle Michael (est. $8,000-$10,000).

23 designs for automobiles will follow, including Dupont’s incredibly rare Circuit de l'Anjou (est. $17,000-$20,000), Tranchant’s rare and revered 3me Grand Prix d'Endurance (est. $17,000-$20,000), and Witzel’s Audi (est. $7,000-$9,000). For fans of air travel, 22 soaring aviation designs will be on offer, including Brossé’s Meeting d’Aviation / Nice (est. $12,000-$15,000), and Anonymous’ Aeropostale / La Fleche d'Argent (est. $3,500-$4,000). Rounding out transportation posters, 21 designs for ships will be presented. Highlights include Schindeler’s Voyage Autour du Monde / Round the World (est. $20,000-$25,000), Cassandre’s Normandie / Service Régulier (est. $6,000-$8,000), and Auvigne’s Normandie / Voyage Inaugural (est. $5,000-$6,000).

For fans of magic and myths, our Circus and Wild West section is sure to delight. Revel in animal ferocity with Bidel (est. $2,000-$2,500), Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey / Pawah / The White Elephant (est. $2,500-$3,000), and Buffalo Bill's Wild West (est. $3,000-$4,000). Buffalo Bill shines as a beacon of the rough riders in three different promotions for The Life of Buffalo Bill in 3 Reels (est. ranging $4,000-$10,000) and in The Life and Adventures of Buffalo Bill (est. $4,000-$5,000). All of these designs were created anonymously.

This auction features a rare collection of 22 designs by Eladio Rivadulla, who captured the development and spirit of the Cuban Revolution from the first day of Castro’s reign. Highlights of his work include the newly discovered 26 de Julio / Fidel Castro: Maquette (est. $20,000-$30,000), and two early film posters featuring Castro: De la Tiranía a la Libertad (est. $10,000-$12,000) and De la Sierra Hasta Hoy (est. $4,500-$5,500).

For the more traditional poster collector, Art Nouveau options abound. Chéret’s lithographs are ever charming, as in Librairie Ed. Sagot / Affiches-Estampes (est. $6,000-$7,000) and his dreamy quartet, The Arts (est. $14,000-$17,000). Several delightful decorative works by Livemont will also be available, including his most iconic design, Absinthe Robette (est. $7,000-$9,000). And Orazi’s La Maison Moderne (est. $50,000-$60,000) exudes the decorative luster of the era.

Of course, Alphonse Mucha continues to reign supreme with his lush Art Nouveau designs. Notable quartets include Times of Day (est. $30,000-$40,000), The Seasons (est. $45,000-$55,000), and The Arts (est. $40,000-$50,000). Individual works also impress: Lorenzaccio (est. $10,000-$12,000), Salon des Cent / XXme Exposition (est. $10,000-$12,000), a rare Chinese promotion for Bisquit's Brandy (est. $12,000-$15,000), and Princezna Hyacinta (est. $25,000-$30,000).

Similarly, the Belle Epoque works of Toulouse-Lautrec are guaranteed to inspire awe. Some of his particularly outstanding lithographs include Divan Japonais (est. $15,000-$18,000), The Ault & Wiborg Co. / Au Concert (est. $60,000-$70,000), Partie de Campagne, from an edition of 100 (est. $100,000-$120,000), and Le Jockey (est. $60,000-$70,000).

For collectors of Art Deco, our 79th auction presents many stunning designs from the 1920s-1930s. Cappiello delights with his unforgettable innovation in such works as Contratto, the smaller format of Bitter Campari, and the very rare Xérez-Quina-Ruiz (all est. $4,000-$5,000).

From Paul Colin, several rare and impressive works will be available: Lisa Duncan (est. $30,000-$40,000), La Nuit du Theatre / Luna Park (est. $8,000-$10,000), and André Renaud (est. $7,000-$9,000).

Further Art Deco delights include: Dupas’ XVme Salon des Artistes Decorateurs (est. $12,000-$15,000); Laborde’s energetic design for the first ever FIFA World Cup, 1er Campeonato Mundial Football / Uruguay (est. $5,000-$6,000); Wood’s New York / Pennsylvania Railroad (est. $8,000-$10,000); and two venerable designs for the most famous golf course in Scotland: Gawthorn’s St. Andrews: Maquette (est. $14,000-$17,000) and Higgin’s St. Andrews (est. $12,000-$15,000).

Modern and contemporary works will also be on offer, most notably by Saul Bass, David Byrd, Keith Haring, Erik Nitsche, Bernard Villemot, and Andy Warhol. Further enticing designs will also be available for bidding: over 100 travel posters, including Alpine winter sports; a collection of Josephine Baker posters; international designs for film; and 37 delightful and audacious posters by Pal.

Pubic viewings will be held daily from October 11-26. For more information, visit www.posterauctions.com or www.rennertsgallery.com. Or, you may call the gallery at (212) 787-4000. The 200-page, full-color catalog is available for $40. You may call or visit our website to order a copy.

Jack Rennert, president of Rennert’s Gallery / PAI, is the world’s foremost authority on rare original poster art, and is the author of over a dozen books on the subject, including the catalogue raisonée for the ‘father’ of modern French poster art, Leonetto Cappiello.

New York – The Morgan Library & Museum today announced site improvements to its 36th Street grounds as part of its four-year, $12.5 million project to restore and enhance the exterior of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library. Developed by award-winning landscape designer Todd Longstaffe-Gowan and lighting designer Linnaea Tillett, the new garden and lighting will revitalize the southern section of the Morgan’s campus and provide visitor access to its grounds for the first time in the institution’s history.

The exterior restoration of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library that is currently underway presents a unique opportunity to reimagine its setting. The existing landscaping—essentially a simple lawn—does little to complement the architecture of the Library, nor does it encourage visitor interaction with the landmark building’s exterior. By creating new spaces and opportunities for engagement and drawing attention to the site, the project will reinvigorate this portion of the Morgan’s campus, which was somewhat removed from visitors’ experience when the Morgan’s entrance shifted from 36th Street to Madison Avenue as part of the 2006 Renzo Piano–designed expansion.

The new plan will create an accessible route from the interior campus to the exterior of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library, and an inviting space for tours and other programs. The low profile of the design respects and enhances the restrained façades of both the original Library and Renzo Piano’s addition. Paths of bluestone, set in patterns that derive from the Library’s floor and exterior paving, will provide a fully accessible surface for garden visitors. Limited use of elegant pebble work will add texture and visual variety to the ground plane.

The garden’s planting strategy includes an extension of existing groundcover, the introduction of beds of periwinkle flanking the Library’s loggia, and the addition of colorful, low-height herbaceous beds. The garden will also display several antiquities from the Morgan’s holdings that up until now have been inaccessible to the public. These include a large Roman sarcophagus, a Roman funerary stele, and a pair of Renaissance corbels.

Todd Longstaffe-Gowan has extensive experience designing and developing landscapes for some of the most distinguished sites in the United Kingdom, including Hampton Court and both Kensington and Kew Palaces, and his imaginative designs respect the spatial and historic significance of a site while enabling new functionality. The Morgan Library & Museum commission is the firm’s first in the United States.

“The new 36th Street garden is a significant part of the Morgan’s commitment to increasing public engagement with our historic original building and surrounding site,” said Director Colin B. Bailey. “The enhanced grounds will allow visitors and school groups to look closely at the fascinating exterior architectural and sculptural details of the Library. It is a privilege for us to be able to share such a significant architectural marvel with our community.”

The Morgan’s site improvements also include a lighting scheme by Tillett Lighting Design Associates that will enhance the building’s presence at night and accentuate both the architecture and the new garden.

The new lighting design will create an enchanting, moonlit nocturnal environment, which will sit in contrast to and mediate the ambient street lighting. J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library was originally commissioned as a private space, and the lighting will emphasize the domestic quality of the architecture. The design centers on the relighting of the historic lantern that hangs in the Library’s loggia, and spotlights that will gently highlight the building’s details and the garden’s antiquities and sculptures.

In combination, the comprehensive exterior restoration of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library and the 36th Street improvements will bring new life to a magnificent library over one hundred years after its initial construction. The complete restoration and site enhancements will be unveiled to the public in fall 2020. The unveiling will be accompanied by an exhibition chronicling the history of the Library, as well as a scholarly publication that will be released in spring 2021.

Philadelphia —Freeman’s is honored to present Pop prints, multiples, graphics and art reference books from the estate of distinguished collector and philanthropist, Robert J. Morrison. The sale will feature iconic works by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Jim Dine and many others. High value signed prints will be offered alongside his equally cherished rare exhibition posters, signed invitations, art books and other graphics that Morrison lovingly curated and amassed over a lifetime.
 
“There’s no doubt that collecting contemporary art can be a wonderful passion. Maybe even an obsession. For me, it has always been both, and I have never regretted the journey.” -ROBERT J. MORRISON

Sale Highlights
The core of Morrison’s collection is comprised of graphic works by two of the most important and influential artists of the Pop Art movement -- Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Top works by Lichtenstein include Sweet Dreams Baby!, 1965 (Lot 26; $60,000-100,000); Crying Girl, 1963 (Lot 6; $30,000-50,000); and Shipboard Girl, 1965 (Lot 32; $30,000-50,000). Top works by Andy Warhol include Liz, 1964 (Lot 48; $20,000-30,000); Flowers, 1970 (Lot 65; $25,000 – 35,000); and three variations from his Mao series, two estimated at $30,000-50,000 and one at $20,000-30,000 (Lots 51-53). Other highlights to be offered include Ed Ruscha’s Rodeo, 1969 (Lot 83; $6,000 – 10,000); Wayne Thiebaud’s Black Suckers, 1971 (Lot 45; $15,000-25,000); and Robert Longo’s Rick, 1994 (Lot 76; $10,000-15,000).
 
Robert Morrison:  A Lifetime Love of Print
A celebrated advertising executive, Morrison was awarded more than 200 national creative awards over the course of his career, and later in life, turned his attention to philanthropic causes. He began what became his lifelong passion—collecting art—at the young age of 12. By the end of his life, Morrison owned hundreds of cherished graphic works, ranging from vintage postcards and gallery announcements to rare prints and multiples

Bob was also a dedicated philanthropist in Philadelphia, serving as a Board member and Chair of the Delaware Valley Legacy Fund. He also gave time and support to OutGivers, amfAR, and helped launch the WillPower Project. In 2007, in partnership with the Rockefeller Group, Bob created “The Fine Art of Tangible Assets,” a monograph and conversation discussing the transformation of collections into philanthropic capital, and more recently, helped launch an emerging art collectors’ group, Philly Stewards.

Dallas – A collection from one of the most celebrated American authors of all time will cross the block Oct. 24 in Heritage Auctions’ Estate of John and Elaine Steinbeck Manuscripts Internet Auction.

The collection is from the family of Elaine Steinbeck – John’s third wife – and has been housed in a storage unit that held the contents of their apartment on New York’s Upper East Side. Called “a giant of American letters, John Steinbeck authored 27 books, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books and two collections of short stories. The Grapes of Wrath is considered his masterpiece, and earned him a Pulitzer Prize. He also won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature for “his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception.”

“These manuscripts and decorative objects have been in storage for several years and the family has decided to make them available to Steinbeck fans everywhere,” Heritage Auctions Trusts and Estates Director Elyse Luray said. “These are items that personally belonged to John. They give collectors a front-row seat into this life, travels, thoughts, family and personal feelings.”

One of the most intriguing lots in the sale is the John Steinbeck 1946-1947 "Warm Up Journal" (estimate: $20,000+), which he described as “one of those interminable notebooks that serves no purpose but to warm  me up and sometimes to cool me down.” Dated from November 1946 through June 1947 and written in both ink and pencil, the journal is approximately one-third full, with 103 of 300 pages used. The journal reveals insights into the author’s mind while he worked on The Wayward Bus, his (ultimately scrapped) play The Last Joan and other various projects.

John Steinbeck Tortilla Flat Typescript (estimate: $5,000+) is a 232-page manuscript with the title and author typewritten above the publisher’s information. One of the author’s great “California novels,” Tortilla Flat was Steinbeck’s first critical success, winning the California Commonwealth Club’s Gold Medal. Although not the clear social criticism that some of his later books became, Tortilla Flat and some of its characters probably contributed to Steinbeck expanding his readership. The novel later was adapted into a 1942 film starring Spencer Tracy and John Garfield.

A John Steinbeck Autograph Manuscript Unsigned with Carbon Copy (estimate: $2,500+) is a five-page document written in pencil with a few emendations. The manuscript discusses Steinbeck’s feelings and concerns about the current state of the United States. In the letter, he addresses the fact that “nerves are drawn tense” and the fact that emotions, “both in individuals and groups bail up and spill over into violence and largely in oblique and unnatural directions.” He bemoans the “legal and criminal distribution of “sleeping and pep pills” and expresses frustration over the fact that “Attempts to write and pass laws defining ethical conduct in public servants become confused and aimless because no two people can agree on what constitutes ethical conduct.”

Jacqueline Kennedy Autograph Letter Signed “Jacqueline Kennedy” (estimate: $2,500+) is a six-page handwritten letter dated March 22, 1964 from the First Lady to Steinbeck, in which she answers questions about her late husband. The questions likely were meant to be used in a biography that Steinbeck never ended up writing. The letter is accompanied by one of two Mass cards of John F. Kennedy, as well as a hand-addressed stamped envelope, the top right corner of which is signed “Jacqueline Kennedy.”

A John F. Kennedy Typed Letter Signed “John Kennedy” (estimate: $2,000+) is a single typed sheet dated September 8, 1961 from the 35th United States president to Steinbeck, regarding future collaborations between the government and those in the arts. In the letter, Kennedy discusses the pleasure he and his wife had going through two albums of letters received from Miss Kay Halle, adding that he is “hopeful that this collaboration between government and the arts will continue and prosper. Mrs. Kennedy and I would be particularly interested in any suggestions you may have in the future about the possible contributions the national government might make the arts in America.”

Other top lots include, but are not limited to:

Jacqueline Kennedy Autograph Letter Signed (estimate: $2,000+)
Jacqueline Kennedy Autograph Letter Signed "Jacqueline Kennedy" (estimate: $1,800+)
John Steinbeck Proof of the Dust Jacket for First Edition of The Grapes of Wrath (estimate: $1,000+)

Bristol, UK — The physical copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence used by the judge in the landmark obscenity trial of 1960 has been acquired by the University of Bristol.

The annotated Penguin Books edition of the novel will be housed in the Library as part of the Penguin Archive, held by the University’s Special Collections.