#HarvardFineArtsLibrary

ALT ALT ALT ALT ALT “When I went to art school, a neighbor said, ‘Some of the people in the art school just don’t work at all. Lazy buggers.’ And I said, ‘Oh, I am going to work, don’t worry.” And I did. “I knew when I was very young that gay people hid things and I didn’t want to do that I thought: ‘Well, I’m just going to be an artist, I have to be honest.” “Love is the only serious subject.” “Drawing makes you see clearer and clearer, and clearer still.” “I draw flowers every day on my iPad and send them to my friends so they get fresh blooms every morning.” “Artists, even when they’re dead, are alive in their work.” Quotes are from “ The World According to David Hockney ” Rest in peace and power, David Hockney.

ALT Any excuse to post a kitty image is always good. Happy National Kitten Day! Kitten and butterfly from Miscellaneous Studies Scroll Katsushika Hokusai, 1760-1849, Japanese [artist] Ink and color on paper, inscription, signature and three seals of the artist 26.6 x 1385.0 cm. Japanese Edo Period Creation Date: n.d. Repository: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, District of Columbia, United States HOLLIS number: olvwork251954 This image is part of FAL’s Digital Images and Slides Collection (DISC), a collection of images digitized from secondary sources for use in teaching and learning. FAL does not own the original artworks represented in this collection, but you can find more information at HOLLIS Images .

Happy National Student Employment Week! We’re celebrating our student workers by giving you an exclusive look at our student worker art wall. Highlights were chosen by two of our student workers for your viewing pleasure.

We’re still riding high from a great turnout and insightful readings from tarot decks at our event last week. This was our second annual event of “ The Art & Visual Culture of Those Who Seek” at the Tozzer Library. Our collaborative event featured tarot and divination decks from the Fine Arts Library and Tozzer Library, as well as spooky collections from the Botany Libraries and Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. A colleague from the Harvard Divinity School Library did birth chart readings, which were very popular. This year also included a special guest, Bobby Abate, creator of “Outsider Tarot.“ Thanks to everyone who came! Here’s a quick video from the event. More posts to follow.

ALT ALT Editing photographs wasn’t so easy before the advent of the smartphone or Photoshop, but people always found a way to alter images. Our current display entitled “ Trying to Forget: The Removal of Figures from Early Photographic Images ,” guest curated by Madison Brown, John R. and Barbara Robinson Family Curatorial Fellow in Photography at Harvard Art Museums, examines our desire to forget or erase certain memories. Madison selected examples that show the creative and sometimes laborious modes of alteration in early photographic work. Some tintype photos, as shown in this post, figures carved out with shears or faces roughly scratched out. These scratches and rough edges only highlight the very act of erasure, rather than achieving a complete annihilation of memory. These objects from Special Collections at the Fine Arts Library demonstrate an enduring desire to forget, as well as the persistence of visual evidence that often forces us to remember. The Fine Arts Library is open to all Harvard ID holders. We recently switched out tintypes and turned pages in the case, so check out the new images currently on display! Untitled (portrait) Unidentified Artist United States Tintype 9 x 6 cm (3 9/16 x 2 3/8 in.) c. 1856 - c. 1910 HOLLIS number: FAL69602 Untitled (couple, man standing, woman seated, full-length, tintype cut into shape) Unidentified Artist United States Tintype 9 x 6 cm (3 9/16 x 2 3/8 in.) c. 1856 - c. 1910 HOLLIS number: FAL68993

ALT Happy Holi to those who are celebrating this holiday. Holi is celebrated to mark the arrival of spring and a time for new beginnings. The traditional color for Holi was made from the leaves of the ‘tesu’ tree ( Butea monosperma ), which is known as the ‘flame of the forest’ and produces bright red flowers. They are dried and grounded to give a saffron color when mixed with water. The yellow power was probably turmeric, and the red dye may be red sandalwood powder. (summarized from V&A website ) Today, the range of colors used for Holi include reds and yellows, and also blues and greens. It’s the Festival of Colors! Radha celebrating Holi (V&A IS.9-1949) . (1775). Opaque watercolor on paper 15.5 cm x 25.8 cm Indian c. 1788 Repository: Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom HOLLIS number: 8001073116 This image is part of FAL’s Digital Images and Slides Collection (DISC), a collection of images digitized from secondary sources for use in teaching and learning. FAL does not own the original artworks represented in this collection, but you can find more information at HOLLIS Images

ALT ALT ALT ALT ALT ALT We had fun brainstorming for National Walking Day post yesterday, so here’s another one about walking. But we’re seeing some snow showers today here in Cambridge. Not a good day for walking. We can’t wait for the spring to arrive! Francis Alÿs (b. 1959) is a Belgian-born, Mexico-based artist who creates a diverse body of artwork spanning from performance, social practice, video, and paintings. And walking has been an important element in his work throughout his career. In 1991, Alÿs dragged a small magnetic toy dog on wheels throughout the streets of Mexico City to collect any metallic residue lying in its path (“The Collector”). In 1995, he took a walk after unravelling the sweater he has on, leaving an ever-lengthening, blue-thread trail in his wake. (“Fairy Tales”). This small publication is a record of a unique series that has been described as a storyboard or archive of Alÿs’ oeuvre, polyptych of 111 paintings called le temps du sommeil . The intriguing images are paired with the words, or instructions, behind his past and future performances. Le temps du sommeil Francis Alÿs ; catalogue editor, Catherine Lampert. Dublin : Irish Museum of Modern Art ; Milano : Charta, [2010] English HOLLIS number: 990123544680203941

ALT ALT Another sneak peek for tomorrow’s event, “ The Art & Visual Culture of Those Who Seek” from 2-4pm at the Tozzer Library. Our collaborative event will feature tarot and divination decks from the Fine Arts Library and Tozzer Library. This year, a colleague from the Harvard Divinity School’s Library will offer birth chart readings. Bring your time, date, and city of birth if you want your birth chart read! There will also be spooky collections from the Botany Libraries and Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and of course, there will be divination crafting! The event is open to all Harvard ID Holders. Featured in this post is a recent acquisition entitled “The future ancestor tarot” by Filipina American artist, Alexa Toledo Villanueva (lexa luna studio). “This tarot deck is a love letter for hope, gratitude, and commitment to honoring the land we live on, the path our ancestors took to get us where we are here & now, and moving forward understanding the ripple effect our actions have on future generations to come.” “In these turbulent & uncertain times, I sincerely hope that these gentle cards provide you with a sense comfort, grounding, and loving guidance to keep you company whenever you need it.” – from the artist’s website The future ancestor tarot Art and words by lexa luna studio. 2nd ed.[Seattle, Wash.] : lexa luna studio, 2021. 78 cards : illustrations ; 13 cm + 1 folded guide English “78 cards, including major & minor arcana; custom tuck-box; Z-fold guide pamphlet with sweet translations of each card.” HOLLIS number: 99158744379603941

ALT ALT Happy Birthday to Maria Sibylla Merian who was born on this day in 1679! Maria Sibylla Merian : und die Tradition des Blumenbildes von der Renaissance bis zur Romantikfür das Kupferstichkabinett - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin und das Städel Museum Frankfurt am Main ; herausgegeben von Michael Roth, Magdalena Bushart, Martin Sonnabend ; unter Mitarbeit von Catalina Heroven ; Autoren: Magdalena Bushart [and twelve others]. München : Hirmer Verlag, [2017] 255 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), portraits ; 29 cm. German HOLLIS number: 990150061140203941 Merian, Sybilla, 1647-1717. Portrait of Maria Sibylla Merian . 1679. https://jstor.org/stable/community.13608112 .

ALT ALT ALT February is also National Embroidery Month , and we’re excited to show you some cool items we have in the Special Collections. The first one is a hand-embroidered canvas book made by Candace Hicks who collects coincidences from the books she reads and gathers them in her artists’ books and installations. Hicks created a variant series of hand-embroidered books, copying the form and design of dime-store “composition” books. In this volume, Hicks kept a record of coincidences in the books she was reading and noted every time the word “coincidence” occurred. Common threads : Volume 28 Hicks, Candace [Austin, Tex. : C. Hicks,] 2011. English HOLLIS number: 990128839780203941