IMA Library & Archives

Tilly

Not your average book: book/briefcase/LP

For National Book Lover’s Day, we’re sharing one of our favorite “not your average book” selections from the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s Stout Reference Library collection--a piece that is not only a book, but also a vinyl-record-containing briefcase, complete with lock and handle.

Hultén, Pontus, Jean Tinguely "Méta" [Trad.: Paul Lebeer et Anne Rubinlicht-Proux; Malou Höjer], Paris: Pierre Horay, 1973.

Diego & Frida in Detroit

Rosenthal, Mark, Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo in Detroit, Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 2015.

Not all books conform to the shapely norm.

Baj, Enrico, General Crisis: the large scale works 1964-1984, Miami, Fla.: Center for the Fine Arts, 1985 [catalogue by Jan van der Marck].

Travel the world through print: Naples, Italy.

Fitzgerald, Sybil, Naples [painted by Augustine Fitzgerald; described by Sybil Fitzgerald], London: A. & C. Black, 1904.

Not your average book: some assembly required.

Tuttle, Richard, Richard Tuttle: community, Chicago: Arts Club of Chicago, 1999.

Stout Rarities: Kimono pattern book

Mori, Yūzan, Shiki no yosooi, Kyōto : Yamada Unsōdō, Meiji 29 [1896] Meiji 36 [1903 reprint].

Decoding alphanumerics: N 7113 .G68 A4 2014

N 7113 (Fine Arts > History) .G68 (Goya) A4 (Reproductions/Collections)

Stepanek, Stephanie Loeb et al., Goya: order and disorder, Boston: MFA Publications, 2014.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude ephemera

You never know what you will discover in our artist files, including fabric samples and exhibition ephemera for Christo and Jean-Claude’s environmental works of art. They have since been cataloged and moved to the library’s ephemera collection for preservation.

Around the library: Reference Section

#TBT 1971

In 1971, Robert Indiana’s original LOVE sculpture traveled to New York City where it was on display in Central Park. Today, the sculpture is protected from the elements (like the massive amounts of rain that we have been getting in Indianapolis this week) at its new home in the Pulliam Great Hall.

The sculpture: Robert Indiana (American, b. 1928), LOVE, 1970, Cor-ten steel, 144 × 144 × 72 in. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Gift of the Friends of the Indianapolis Museum of Art in memory of Henry F. DeBoest. Restoration was made possible by Patricia J. and James E. LaCrosse, 75.174 © 2016 Morgan Art Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Travel the World Through Print: Berlin, Germany

Collection of Die Mode (The Fashion) magazine from WWII era Germany.

Die Mode, Berlin: Verlag Otto Beyer, 1941-1943, Magazines, Pamphlets, Adult collection, Stout Reference Library, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN.

Collection Connection: Dining Designs

Just in time for the weekend, we bring you a colorful Collection Connection from the Miller House and Garden collections of both the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the IMA Archives.

The Items: In the 1970s, Alexander Girard created custom monogrammed dining chair cushion patterns for each member of the Miller Family, as well as a simpler pattern for guests. Instead of having the cushions manufactured for the Millers, Xenia S. Miller (XSM) requested the patterns and color samples so that she and her friends could make the cushions themselves!

The Collection: When the Miller House and Garden was given to the IMA, the the property and many interior design elements became part of the museum collection, while the extensive archives documenting the design, construction, decoration, and maintenance of the home went to the IMA Archives. Though separated into two collections, the cushion patterns and the actual dining chairs and cushions can now be brought back together online!

Alexander Hayden Girard, Designer (American, 1907-1993), JIM cushion and XSM cushion, ca. 1974, cloth. Copyright Alexander Hayden Girard, Gift of Margaret, Catherine, Elizabeth and Will Miller, MH2010.53.4B and MH2010.53.1B.

Collection Connection: Easter Addition

The Items: In 1916, Hoosier quilt designer Marie Daugherty Webster created this blueprint and tissue paper placement guide for her “Bunnies” baby quilt pattern kit. The bunny, basket, and brightly-colored egg motifs make this pattern and quilt an irresistible Tumblr share in the week leading up to Easter.

The Connection: The quilt pictured was created in 1939, and is currently on loan to the Indianapolis Museum of Art from the collection of Rosalind Webster Perry. A collection connection couldn’t be more straight-forward than this!

Marie D. Webster, “Bunnies” quilt pattern kit, 1916, Mariety Webster Study Collection (M008), IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Marie Daugherty Webster (American, 1859-1956), Bunnies (quilt), 1939, quilted and appliquéd cotton. Copyright Marie Daughtery Webster, Lent from the collection of Rosalind Webster Perry, TR7219/4.

IMA at VRA

Last week, former IMA Library & Archives Ursula Kolmstetter Scholar, Rebecca Pattillo, presented a poster at the Visual Resources Association (VRA) conference in Louisville, KY. 

In 2016, Rebecca returned to the IMA through the VRAF internship award program to work on a cross-departmental project with Conservation, Photography, and Archives at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). The primary purpose of her project was to establish a conservation image collection within the museum’s digital asset management system, Piction. As a test case, Rebecca worked with over 1,500 conservation treatment images of Old Masters paintings from the Clowes Collection--updating filenames to a new convention, adding embedded descriptive and technical metadata, creating a controlled keyword vocabulary, and establishing and documenting the workflow for adding those and all other conversation images to Piction. The result has been increased access and better organization and preservation of IMA Conservation Department photography--all stored in the same system as digital assets from around the IMA.

Around the Library: Serials Wall

The Stout Reference Library of the Indianapolis Museum of Art maintains subscriptions to many serial publications including auction catalogs, museum magazines, and art periodicals. The most recent are displayed on the serials wall in the Rick and Alice Johnson South Reading Room, and are available for browsing to all visitors.