Elliott Erwitt at Weinstein Gallery

Meet a former president of Magnum, a fabulous photographer of those absurd and poignant moments that zip past us.  He is one of the most iconic photographers of the last 60 years and he will be here at the Weinstein Gallery tonight Oct 29th from 6-8:30pm. The show is up until January 9th.

Elliott Erwitt was born in Paris in 1928 but has lived in many locations including Italy, Los Angeles, Germany, France and mostly New York. He studied photography and filmmaking at Los Angeles City College and at the New School for Social Research in New York before working for the US Army as a photographer.  After he met and was mentored by Edward Steichen, Robert Capa and Roy Stryker he was invited to join Magnum Photos agency and went on to be their president for 3 terms.

He has worked as a freelance photographer for many magazines and done advertising and industrial photography as well as producing 20 books.  He also has made documentary films and comedy programs for Home Box Office.

You can see examples of his work at his website and at Magnum Photos. Take a look at these images and you will realize how many you recognize because they have been routinely published over the years.  They are so beautiful, funny or moving that they are very memorable. You will be glad to have seen them.

Eva Hyvarinen
Visual Resources Assistant
Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Lecture by photographer James Welling Oct. 14

Don't miss photographer James Welling's lecture this Thursday at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It will be held in the Pillsbury Auditorium from 6-7 pm. and it is FREE to MCAD students with an I.D.

And do stop by the Library and have a look at some of the books in the collection on Welling's work. They're now on display in the main reading room.

John Tenniel's Civil War Cartoons

Editorial cartoons and satirical drawings by English artist John Tenniel, famed as the original illustrator of Lewis Carroll"s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, will be the subject of a talk given by Allan Kohl, MCAD's Visual Resources Librarian, at the October meeting of the St. Croix Valley Civil War Roundtable on Monday, October 25, at the Lowell Inn in Stillwater, Minnesota.

Tenniel's cartoons offer an unusual look at the events and personalities of the Civil War from a European perspective.  As the principal cartoonist for the venerable British periodical Punch, Tenniel reflected the political views of that periodical's Tory (Conservative) readership.  These views are evident in his pro-Southern spin on events, and especially in his viciously negative portrayals of the American President, Abraham Lincoln. 

Kohl is particularly interested in the interaction of “high art” and popular visual culture –- including materials such as theatrical posters, political cartoons, sheet music covers, currency, and even advertising -- during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many of the illustrators and designers who created these early examples of “mass publications” began their careers as traditionally-trained artists, and freely appropriated compositions, figure poses, and gestures from “high art” sources such as classical statuary, or narrative and genre paintings.  Kohl’s three-year study of Tenniel’s cartoons commenting on the Civil war resulted in his web publication John Tenniel and the American Civil War:  Political Cartoons from Punch, 1860-1865.  

The St. Croix Valley Civil War Roundtable meets on the fourth Monday of each month at the historic Lowell Inn, located at 102 N. 2nd St. in Stillwater, MN.  Social hour is at 5:00 PM, with dinner at 6:00 PM and program at 7:00 PM.

Four generations of Yoshida Family artists

Did you know that Ayomi Yoshida whose installation, Reverberation, now in the MCAD Gallery was born into a dynasty of famous Japanese printmakers?  For more than a century the Yoshia family has created work wedding traditional and modern artistic practices.

To find out more about their body of work take a look at the book A Japanese  Legacy: Four Generations of Yoshida Family Artists in the Library's collection (N 7359.Y67 A4 2002).  This beautifully illustrated exhibition catalog produced by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which includes essays by Matthew Welch, curator of Japanese art at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts and others, "provides new insights into each artist as well as a broad view of major issues confronting Japanese art in the late 19th and 20th century. The unique perspective of a single family also offers a rare opportunity to examine how family ties impact artistic creation."

The Library also has the catalog for Yeodensis, Ayomi Yoshida's installation at Northern Illinois University in 2008 (Pamphlet N 7359.Y674 A4 2008)

Enjoy Reverberation now in the MCAD gallery!

Kay Streng
Technical Services Librarian

Color Observations Outside

Get outside and see our leaves changing. The Twin Cities are at about 50-75% peak color now. We have plenty of beautiful trees right here on campus including the MIA courtyard.  For farther afield check out the Fall Color Reports from the Minnesota DNR which show a state map, photos, videos and reports for each state park.

If you are wondering what is actually happening in the leaves take a look at Wikipedia's explanation with graphics showing the carotenoids and anthocyanins and how they form.

And if while you're staring at the leaves you begin to notice how much the leaves, bark and shapes vary from tree to tree you might want to use a key to identify the trees.  Try these:
Dichotomous Tree Key (DNR Wisc.)
Tree Identification Arbor Day Foundation
Key to Wisconsin Woody Plants for the iPod

The library also has some books to help you key your trees:
A field guide to trees and shrubs Ref QK 482 .P43 1972
The illustrated encyclopedia of trees, Ref QK 475 .E29 1978 
Trees of North America and Europe Ref QK 477.2 .I4 P45

Have fun observing nature and enjoy the wonderful color combinations.

Eva Hyvarinen, Visual Resource Assistant

MCAD Library

Explore the Dark Side

Ready or not, Halloween will be here soon!
To prepare you, to get you in the mood,  we have pulled some items from the Library's collection for display, celebrating the dark side, the macabre, the gruesome and the ghastly.
Among the selections are DVDs (including The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror and Nosferatu), graphic novels,  childrens books, exhibition catalogs (100 Artists See Satan), critical works on the Gothic, books on the holiday itself (Dressed for Thrills), on The Day of the Dead, and the art of Edward Gorey.
Stop by the Library circulation desk and check them out (literally).

Richard T. Brewer, MCAD Alumnus at Gallery 360

Dick Brewer will be in a two-man show with Al Wadzinski at Gallery 360  from 2 Oct. to 7 Nov. with an opening Saturday night from 7-10 pm.  They will be showing "unorthodox object d'art"  with some masks, animal-forms carved and painted plexiglass and mixed media sculptures according to the gallery.  The Star Tribune's article claims that "you should expect a scene at the opening party". 

Richard Brewer graduated from MCAD in 1969 and exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1977.  He also won a Bush Foundation fellowship in 1989 and a McKnight Foundation fellowship the same year.  His works are owned by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Frederick R. Weisman Museum, Minnesota Museum of Art and by many local corporations. His website has a beautiful gallery of his work and background information about him.

Whether or not you see the show you can see more about Richard Brewer in the following publications in our library:  Alumni exhibition / Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Pamph N6535.M54 M4 1986; Bush artist fellowships, Pamph NX412 .B8 1989; Eight McKnight artists, Pamph N6530.M6 E3 1990;  Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program presents five geniuses, N6530.M6 M556.

-- 

Eva Hyvarinen

Visual Resource Assistant

Minneapolis College of Art and Design