Transcription of clements.umich.edu
1 , LEM EN T SLI BRA RYASSOCIATESSPRING1999"MYFAVORITETHINGS" TREASURESOFGRAPHICARTIN THECLEMENTSLIBRARY ecognizi ngtheimportanceofgraphicmaterialsashisto ricalevidence, over thepast twodecad esthe Cle mentsLibrary has actively collec tedthe pictorialrecordofAmerica's a ratherrandomaccumu-lationofill ustratedbooksande ighteenth-ce nturye ngrave dviews,RevolutionaryWarc aric atures, a few engravedBritishportrait s. and a sca tter -iogofhistoricall yimportantpictu res, the Library eventuallyacquired a sizea b lecollectionofprints .Butitwasnotuntilbuildingren ova tions werecom ple ted in 1980that itwaspossible to provide thespecia lizedcaretheydes rary' s origin alreadingroom was convertedto thePrintDivisionand Iagreed to be itsfirst curator, to organi zeadisparategatheri ng of graphicmateri al, attendto its conse rva-tionneeds, and begina be ased uc tiveassig nme nt,f rustrating only inthe lackoftime I co uld devoteto it, given my oth er Libraryrespo lon ge r an aftertho ught,prints weregiven newpriorityinacq uisitio ns.
2 The Librarydevelopeda coll ectin gpolicythat included a far broaderrangeof gra phicmaterial-from rare colo nialprints tonineteenth-c entury pulpmagazine woodcuts,from finemezzotints to mass -producedThe Ed ward Savageengrav Youth,is a triump hofclassicalallegoryAmerican style. PublishedinPhiladelph ia in1 796,its designappealedtothe city'spatrioti c sentiments and wasthe largest,wealthiestcityin America,andthe temporarycapitaloftheUnited broughtprosperity-s-bankingandcomme rce. trade and manufacturingboomed,arts andscienceflourished. Philad elphianswere rapidly expand ing theircit)' aftertheWar;creatingtree -lined str ee tsofred brick housesandelegantnewpublicbuildings designedin the designfi tfora NewRepub his audie nce with afamiliarsetofsymbols." Youth " isequatedwith theNewRepublic."Liberty;" asensuous,auburn-hairedbeautyin cup tothe ba ld eagle hoveringaboveherhead;herbare f oot tramplesthe BritishOrderoftheGarter;a the background.
3 An Amer icanflag and Frenc h libertycap appeartorise ~.:--V! ..~~~lithographs, fromposters toprintson fabri c. Everygenrewasincluded-port rai ts, views,repres enta tio nsofhistoricalevents, allegoric al andsatirica lworks , commercial gra phicart,andepheme ted she etmusiccovers w eretran sferredto the Prin t Division,a goldm ineofpictorial evidenceforsocia l historians workin gin the nineteenthandea rlytwentie th ce creatingthe Print Division, LibraryDirect orJohnDan npursuedthe samestrategyhehasusedso successfully to developtheLibrary ' s othercollect io ns-concentrateon onearea,thenuseevery oppo rtunity to buildon that stre ng s theLibrary 'sPrintDivisionhas developedoverthe past two decade s,wehavebeen respo nd ing to the chang-ingneedsofour clie num berofsc holarsina varietyoffie lds in thehumanities areexplori ng newwaysin which visua levide nceca nbeused tostudy histori cal,literary.
4 Andc ultura l que stio nivers itycourse sare offeringundergraduates farmoreoppo rtu nitiesto do researchinprimaryso ur ces, the sametime, e d ucators and publishe rsareincorporatin gmore graphicmaterial ininstru ctiona lpublicati ons, w heth erintradi tio nalprintformorinelectronicforma ts. Te levisionproducer s and writers, respond-ing to the surgein popularity ofdocumentaryhistoryprogram s,havesought fresh. compelling imagestodramatize afamiliarhistoricalnarrativeor toexplore new gro rarebook libraries areusedto finding whatotherpeoplearelookin g for. not indulgin anyonewhospends acareerworkingwith rareand beauti fulartifacts devel ship withthe tre asuresunderher care. Overthe years, thegreatest plea sure has comefrom helpingothersexplorethe Clements' resources,for whetherI washelpin ga student orworking witha professor.
5 Catalog ing aprint or designing an exhibit. preparingatalk forUM Alumn ior even editing theQuart o,I wasreally conducting my owneducationin this extraordinary collec-tion. When John Dann invited me to doan exhibitof graph icartas a reti rementfarewell. his onlywords were, " Choosethethingsyou love most."And soIhave ! Aselec tion from"MyFavoriteThings "is offeredin the hopethatourreaderswillenj oy abriefglimpse acro ssfive Shy,Head,Reader EN ,ria&:optlm~.uuLitludiis :recerensIen ua:, ebemuolennatU~nlhtl remerepet"crp eri :putau leu mi op ufp. lhh u iusu ics uelid utlrlap ecmp ucsfuffr~giu:uelbmignirasumiamrpondeb~ ,berdtadcom pen d iumpr~ :(j, ~ff~eft:Itamoderat ereprcC" rneeicop rodizafltw pta:ncc da mnoC3concimus.~UIflammu mproplUSin t t"ndens:udut fermennicogni-cornsmagisci tnc:fk:ilbrareaseloquenned eprehend es,& 'femc:co pidiofarec r: ur&:an o nonbus referremp<'di:&.)
6 Lcccrcmcommemo u nmumtenet:iquapanefamein etl:ur uuerfamateries:q uorucommeminuTeitautfumttl:utmclytosrerr arum(ltus & :fuoq uoq:ordme reddeeemes, Inlennmu sec amplcaq;ddfaent(( finJul uan erasIpCalcgentiufafl td u&:~ .w lif\a(asexprdTi earbonbustklaprdibusexcu esdentuMonoab-dU3funationum :n onnuUactumdtgn amemoraunquzpurrrmirttte:incunofumuideba ru uclc n ranquodimp 't ua:mfmua rumudun:defcrip"tortbusmanatt ~ yby PatrickYoungOpposit epage,top:Caius Julius SolinusDe Situ OrbisTerrarum etMemorabilibusquae MundiAmbitu Continentur LiberVenice,14 73 Incuna , have a uniquebeauty. Theseearliestprintedbookscloselyimitated manuscripts,not only in reproducinggothiccharactersbutalsoin the useofabbreviations, ligatures, andin thear rangementofwordson the p roblem0/rubricationbyha ving it addedbyhandwithClp enin redand blu doit mechanically: IJJuminationwasdonewithfinebrushesusin gaf ullrangeofco l ors as well as goldamisilver;The Renai ssanceusedancienttexts, likethisbySolinu s,a third-cent ury Roman, compilerofmarvels,Solinus toldwondroustalesoftherichesofIndi a and Ceylon,offabulous animals, exotic plants, ,bottom:JamesI.))))
7 King of EnglandLettersPatent .Westminister,1622 The finestelementsofmanuscriptilluminationca nbeseenin thisseventeenth-cem ur),document ,LettersPatent .bywhichJamesIraisedSi r Edwa rdRichto thepeerageasBaronKensingtonofKensin g toninM iddlesex. dated Westm inister, Latintex t, writtenin a chanceryhandinbrowninkonvellum,issurroun ded byafineilluminatedborder conta ini ngth e RoyalA nns,peacocks. andexoti c birds, twocorone tswithlion s,anda profusionofflowers. The King's portrait,within thein itial"J"of goldandbluestrapwork design. showsJamesenthroned, inermine -lined robe,againsta purplesc yof SirEdwardRich( 1590-164 9) wereamongtheearlyinvesto rsin the yearthi spatentwas granted,1622, the strugglingsettleme nt atJamestownwasdevastatedby anInd ian massacreandsoonafterswepthy a plague ,leavingprobably no morethan300surv ivo rs outofa popul ationof5,000 Engl ishcolonistsin and Miss SnowPublis he d by Bret herton.
8 London,1783aquatintA veryth in man anda very/atlady ride side by e back ,th e horsesareperfectlyp ropo rtion edto legantly drawn, th is soc ialsatire is the workofattorneyJamesSayer s(1748-1823),a gentleman-amateurwhoseeng raving swouldholdtheirownwithhisfamousprofessio nal count erparts H EQ!)i\RT OPAGE3 Left:GrantandB on nef oy, engrave rs,after Ben j aminWeMThe Wes(FamilyPublishedby Smith, I stipp leengravingBenj am inWest, histo rypaintertoGeorgeIIIandpresidentoftheR oya lAcademy,returnedtvhisAmer icanoriginsin ,~t'slatherandstep-brothe r,recentlyarrivedinLondon, theirsobe r expressions andQuakerdres sinstarkcontrast to thewarmthandeleganceofthe youngfa mi ly;appeartobe"s ittingforafewm inutesins ilentmedi tat elidedbythe oldmUlltakingoffhis hatandofferi ngup aprayerfor the moth erandin/alii."When Westexhibitedtheoriginal at the Roy alAcad emyin1777,c riticsfoundthesubj ecttoopersonalbutth epublic ado ulardemandforthisengra vingmade it oneofWest 'sbest-knownpictu res,esp ecia llyin France, whereanglomaniafoundexp ress ion in thevog ueforcollectin gEngli shstippl eeng rav :Will iamPether;afterJo sep hWrightA PhilosopherGivingaLectureo n the OrreryPublishedby101mBoyd zotintsojeig hteenth-ce ntury a Lectureonthe ecollabo rationoftwofriends,theartist JosephWrightof D erbyandengraverWilliamPe th lelig ht,with theuseof concentratedligh tto ,p roducinga fine, velvetyg round perfectlysuited10 Wright ' an age when print swere themainsou rcea/visualinf ormation, thepublicWllShung ryfo r pictures that rints thatreproduced paintingswereindemand.
9 All themvresoIftheirsubjectwasan !)ARTOR ight:KarlBodm erFort Clarkon the Missouri ,February1834aquatintPrinceM axim ilianAlexanderPhilippofWied-NeuwiedTrave lsin the Interior of NorthAmeric aCoblentz, London,Paris, 1843-4 The Swissartist KarlBodm er(J809-J893)travelledinAmericafrom/ 832to1834asillustratoronthescientificexp editionto theupperM issouriconductedhy the Germannaturalist Maxi m ilian,PrinceofWied-N eu wied .Arriving in the lastyearsbefore thewesternlandscapewastransformedby the greatmassmigrationoverland toOregonandCalifo rnia,Bodmer 'swatercolorsketchesand aquatintsoffera uniquevisualrecordofanunspoiledA merican frontier. In theirsensitivityand meticulousdetail,theyprovidethefirstaccu ratepictureofthefarwesternInd andMaximilianspentthewinterof1833-34atFo rt Clark, theAmericanFur Company 'soutposton theMissouri,nearmodemBism a rck, North Dakota, in the territory of theM vingin a hastilybuilt shack with no chinksbetweenthelogs, in cold thatreached46degreesbelowzero, these mon thswere thehardest but them ostrewardingpa rt a/ y came toknowtheIndiansintimately, observingthem imi lian 'sstud iesandBodme r 's drawingsaretheprimaryaccountofthesetribe sandtheirculture, soonto be destroyedby the great 'sFortClarkisa masterpiecea/west ernlandscape, a spectacularview acrossthef rozen andan villageMih-Tutta-Hang-Kusch.
10 And thestockad eof FortClarkare barely visible on the bluffs, setagainsta leaden gray theforeground,Indi anwomengath erwood, the men sit on horses, slumpedagainst the cold, a lineofIndi an figuresstretchesinto the distan of Bodmer 's aquatints,amongthefinestofni net eenth-centurycolo rplates,isdue in part to the artist'sdi rectinvol vementintheirproduction. Par tly printedin col or,theseaqua tintshadcolor andvarnishadded by hand,a processthatcloselyimita tes thequality0/the :James Gil/rayShakespear eSacrifi ced :-Of-TheOffering to Avaric ePublished by HannahH ump hrey,London, 1789etchingwithaquatintcoloredbyhandBy the late 1780s, Jame s Gillraywas theacknowledgedmasterof savage persona l sati ere heattacksJohnBoydell,London 'sleadingpublisherofprintsandthe eliteRoyalA Shak espe areGalleryclaiminghewantedtopromotean "Englishschoolofhistory painting.
