The famously democratic art of printmaking is a perfect medium for experimentation and innovation, creative collaborations, and the fluid sharing of ideas among artists and audiences. All of these qualities shine brightly in the artist print portfolio called: In Unison: 20 Washington, DC Artists. This post celebrates the recent acquisition of this portfolio, published by the Millennium Arts Salon in 2010-2011.
The following is a guest post by Technical Services Technician Michelle An, with contributions from Technical Services Technician Jenni Orme and Curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Art Sara Duke. All authors work in the Prints & Photographs Division. With 6,000 items, the Dietrich Hecht collection of Bilderbogen (picture sheets) provides a robust cross section …
Many of us may be focusing on stay-cations and armchair travel this summer. One of my favorite modes of seeing the world through others’ eyes is to try searching phrases and word combinations in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC). Although it yields a different kind of experience than one might encounter traveling in …
A version of the following post by Katherine Blood and Melissa Lindberg originally appeared in the Library of Congress Poetry and Literature Center’s “From the Catbird Seat” blog as part of a series discussing Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s visits to several Library of Congress reading rooms. We were excited by the news that Joy Harjo …
Reference Librarian Ryan Brubacher added this photo by Toni Frissell to our “Caught Our Eyes” wall for sharing pictures from the collections with our colleagues, noting that it had caught her eyes again. She recalls encountering it first because it was one of the hundreds of photos featured in the landmark “Family of Man” exhibition …
Fancy, Romance, and Tragedy. They sound like the plot points for a romantic tearjerker, but they are in fact the titles of three drawings recently donated to the Prints and Photographs Division by the family of the artist, George Randolph Barse, Jr. Barse was one of nearly 40 artists and sculptors charged with decorating the …
The calavera, or skull, is one of the most recognizable symbols of the Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a Mexican celebration of the dead that has both Indigenous and Spanish Catholic roots. The Prints and Photographs Division holds a treasure-trove of prints by eminent Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913). Posada helped …
As summer gets into full swing, I’m recalling how much I enjoyed my public library’s summer reading club challenges when my children were younger (shout-out to all the public libraries that run summer reading clubs for children and adults!). One thing I loved about the challenge was the “randomizer” techniques library staff designed to inspire …
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? The lengthy title of John Bower’s famous print [below] depicting the 1814 British bombardment at Fort McHenry both describes the scene portrayed and provides a tidy summary of the sustained barrage: “A view of the …
