#charleslummis

New painting! “It is a picture, a romance, a dream / Lantern Series” 60x40” title from #charleslummis #ninatichava #newfavorite #newpainting #lanternseries #mixedmedia https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwmgp14B8vi/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1kgyup14rkkem

“It is a picture, a romance, a dream” 42x42”, acrylic, ink, charcoal, graphite, paper collage, brass and copper on panel, unframed; title from #charleslummis #ninatichava #botanicalseries #newpainting #newfavorite #originalart #contemporarypainting (at Santa Fe, New Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqNb1lxjs5P/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=idf2cwoiugwa

The @lapubliclibrary recently sent me an official letterhead with the simple request to “improve the enclosed page”; thus partaking in a special tradition that has 112 year-old roots in this great city ... This was my humble contribution. ✨🌴✨ Here’s some more information on this thoughtful initiative: “In 1906, City Librarian #CharlesLummis initiated an #autographcollection, soliciting hundreds of notable men and women from across the country to submit a representative expression or artwork to the #LosAngeles Public #Library’s permanent collection. Lummis sent blank stationery out with the call to “improve the enclosed page”, 📜 and received paintings, #poems, speeches, and #music from the likes of author L. Frank Baum, anthropologist Franz Boas, painter James Carol Beckwith, and “America the Beautiful” songwriter Katherine Lee Bates. The collection continued to grow intermittently after Lummis’ request, eventually adding pieces from Langston Hughes, Isaac Asimov, Helen Keller and many others. The library is now re-visiting the #Autograph Collection, asking how to improve upon the city’s many pages. This project culminates in Spring 2019 with a city-wide conversation and a book that will draw from the Autograph Collection to help us think about the culture, history, and politics of the #LA autograph and signature—from sidewalk cement names to murals and street names. Following Songs in the Key of L.A. and To Live and Dine in L.A., this is the third in a series of projects examining and activating the special collections of the #LosAngelesPublicLibrary, 🏛 curated by @joshdkun, author and Director of the USC Annenberg School of Communication.” https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpmn5TNByJ1/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1vgl71inav3sf

"It's easier to make a drawing than money and it lasts longer"—C. J. Taylor Did you know we have an autograph collection? Former City Librarian Charles Fletcher Lummis collected over 1,700 autographs between 1905 and 1910 by sending specially-designed library stationery to all the leading men (and some) women of the day, asking them to "improve" the page with a saying, drawing, or other inspiring example of their work. Here's a 1906 handwritten note and illustration by Charles Jay Taylor. #NationalHandwritingDay #lapl #lapltreasures #CharlesLummis #autographs #cjtaylor #1906 #quote #illustration