MoMA | Category: Library and Archives

Posts in ‘Library and Archives’

August 29, 2016 | Collection & Exhibitions, Library and Archives

Modernism in the Air

Posted by Jennifer Tobias, Librarian, Reader Services

Fairchild Aerial Surveys. Fairchild Plant, N.Y. 1949. New York State Archive

Aerial Imagery in Print, 1860 to Today, the current MoMA Library exhibition, examines the use of traditional publishing in cultivating a discourse around aerial imagery.

A section of the show focuses on 20th-century popularization of aerial photography, including its development as a tool for land use by architects, developers, governments, and the agriculture industry. Looking at some of these uses more closely reveals a persuasive element, especially regarding subtle debate about modernist approaches to architecture and planning.

July 29, 2016 | Artists, Collection & Exhibitions, Library and Archives

From the Archives: Faith Ringgold, the Art Workers Coalition, and the Fight for Inclusion at The Museum of Modern Art

Posted by Michelle Elligott, Chief of Archives

Faith Ringgold. American People Series #20: Die. 1967. Oil on canvas, two panels, 72 × 144″ (182.9 × 365.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase, and gift of Sarah Peter. © 2016 Faith Ringgold/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

After seeing Faith Ringgold’s monumental, harrowing painting, American People Series #20: Die (1967), currently installed in the Museum and reading Thomas J. Lax’s incredibly thoughtful and moving post (as well as this recent notice from ARTnews, I was inspired to reflect upon this new acquisition.

July 27, 2016 | Events & Programs, Library and Archives

Take a Breather: Summergarden at MoMA

Posted by Michelle Harvey, The Rona Roob Museum Archivist

Guests, participants, performers or guides, “Interpenactors,” at art happening, “Interpenning,” created by Marta Minujin, with technical assistant, Gary Glover. Summergarden Program, August 11, 1972. Photographic Archive. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York

“A mere glimpse restores my sagging soul,” wrote Lillian Gerard, Special Projects Coordinator at MoMA, of The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden in a letter to Richard Shepard at The New York Times in 1975. She went on to describe it as “as a meeting place for young lovers, senior citizens, jumping children, foreign travelers, and out-of-towners” and in particular singled out “…its evenings with performers as ardent and free as the trees and the sculpture that thrive in this oasis of fountains and pools, with the sky above and cement below.”

April 22, 2016 | Learning and Engagement, Library and Archives

Touching Art: Teaching with the MoMA Library’s Artist Book Collection

Posted by Alethea Rockwell, Assistant Educator for Exhibition, Gallery, and Artist Programs

Making the Moving Image: Past to Present workshop, April 2, 2016, The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Manuel Martagon. © 2016 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Earlier this month, I worked with artist and educator Mark Joshua Epstein to bring a group of workshop participants to view objects in the MoMA Library that are not typically associated with modern art: artist-made flip books. This visit was part of Making the Moving Image: Past to Present, a studio workshop about experimentation with animation techniques that predate the invention of cinema. I watched participants hold and manipulate the books and was struck by how the direct physical contact with an artist’s work makes visiting the library’s collection of artist books so unique.

April 1, 2016 | Artists, Library and Archives

From the Archives: Seeing Double with Ray Johnson

Posted by Elena Cordova, Project Archivist, MoMA Archives

It’s no secret that Ray Johnson’s tongue-in-cheek and often ambiguous style was meant to both highlight and obscure meaning through an appropriation of words and images. His life-long commitment to that practice is visible in a collection of correspondence sent to Robert Rauschenberg between the years 1952 and 1965, which is newly available in MoMA’s Archives. This collection—which includes small collages, newspaper clippings, postcards, and flyers—serves as an excellent example of Johnson’s enigmatic mail art of the 1950s and 1960s.

February 12, 2016 | Behind the Scenes, Library and Archives

Don, the MoMA Guard Dog

Posted by Thomas Grischkowsky, Archives Specialist, Museum Archives

June 3, 1933. New York Herald Tribune. Public Information Records, I.Z. [mf 43;257]. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York

New York Herald Tribune. June 3, 1933. Public Information Records, I.Z. [mf 43;257]. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York

In June 1933, Don, a German Shepherd, was given to The Museum of Modern Art by Vanity Fair magazine’s kennel department. Frank Crowninshield, editor of the magazine, was a trustee of the Museum.

December 17, 2015 | Library and Archives

From the Archives: Holiday Cards from MoMA

Posted by Michelle Elligott, Chief of Archives

Robert Indiana’s LOVE (1965) is one of many holiday cards commissioned by The Junior Council of the Museum. The image subsequently became well-known in various other contexts. © 2015 Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The Museum of Modern Art’s Christmas card program was initiated in 1954 by the Museum’s Junior Council. The Junior Council, an affiliate group, had been founded five years earlier “to bring together a group of younger people who have a common interest in the arts and a desire to see them fostered soundly and liberally in this country.”

November 4, 2015 | Library and Archives

From the Archives: “GOOD NEWS PICASSO HAS AGREED TO EXHIBITION AT MOMA”

Posted by Jonathan Lill, Project Manager, MoMA Archives

That all-caps title was the message relayed by MoMA staff from Alfred H. Barr, Jr., the Director of Museum Collections, to René d’Harnoncourt, the Museum’s director, confirming that the landmark exhibition The Sculpture of Picasso would indeed

October 23, 2015 | Library and Archives

From the Archives: Dance and Theater

Posted by Michelle Elligott, Chief of Archives

Dance and performance are enjoying a renaissance at MoMA—take for example, performances happening at MoMA this fall, such as Trajal Harrell’s The Return of La Argentina or Walid Raad’s Scratching on things I could disavow: Walkthrough. This tendency is apparent at other modern and contemporary arts organizations around the world as well, like the Live program at Tate Modern. But at MoMA the interest in dance and theater is not new. In fact, since its inception in 1929, The Museum of Modern Art has adopted a radical approach to presenting the art of our time.

October 13, 2015 | Library and Archives

The Margaret Scolari Barr Papers: Now Open for Research at MoMA Archives

Posted by Elena Cordova, Project Archivist, MoMA Archives

Margaret Scolari Barr with Alfred H. Barr, Jr., January 7, 1971. Photograph by Gjon Mili. Margaret Scolari Barr Papers, V.9*. The Museum of Modern Art Archives

The Margaret Scolari Barr Papers, which document the life and career of Margaret Scolari Barr—noted art historian, teacher, supporter of the arts, and wife of MoMA’s founding director, Alfred H. Barr, Jr—are now open for research at the MoMA Archives.

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