Art of the Book
(May 4 - May 19, 2007)In the spring of 2007, students in Art History 398: The Art of the Book, asked several questions. What is a book? How does one read? How do images and written texts complement each other? In following the evolution of the recorded word from roll to codex, they explored the efflorescence of decorated and illuminated manuscripts from antiquity to the Renaissance.
Then they considered the technological revolution of the printing press and followed the thread of the relationship between word and picture in modern hand-made books and livres d'artiste. Each student chose a book or a manuscript in a collection at Wheaton as the subject of a research paper. These objects are now on view and provide a window on some of the treasures at Wheaton College and a window on the glories of the book.
Without the enthusiastic guidance of Archivist & Special Collections Curator Zephorene Stickney in the Archives, and the generous help of Research Librarian Elliot Brandow in the Library, and Collections Curator Erika Namaka in the Wheaton College Study Collection, this exhibition would have been impossible.
The students in ARTH 398, all of whom have contributed to this exhibit, are Tracey Babin, Erin Binkley, Elizabeth Cogburn, Molly Fitzpatrick, Alicia LaTores, Katherine Moore, Emily Murgia, Carrie Peabody, Lauren Penner, Rachel Siegel, Sarah Scott, and Melissa Swanson, and I thank them.
Phyllis Anina Moriarty Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History
This page is maintained by Elliot Brandow.
Questions about this page? Use our query form.