Museums and Women gathers twenty-nine short stories from the 1960s and early 1970s. It is John Updike’s most various collection, a book as full of departures and surprises as the historical period that produced them. Some stories, such as the title piece, have the tone and personality of essays. Others objectify the chimeras of middle-class life, especially life in a fictional New England enclave called Tarbox. The illustrated jeux d’esprit in the section called “Other Modes” place Updike somewhere between Robert Benchley and Donald Barthelme as a toymaker in prose. Crowning the collection are five scenes from the marriage of Richard and Joan Maple, a story sequence with the narrative interest and cumulative power of a novel.
In John Updike's largest and most varied short story collection he captures people, their marriages, children, affairs, and wrings emotion from what others consider sterile suburbia.
Short-listed for the 2020 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection “As profound as it is lyrical. The stories are music.” —Marcela Davison Avilés, NPR In Ayse Papatya Bucak’s dreamlike narratives, dead girls recount gas explosions and a chess-playing automaton falls in love. A student stops eating, and no one knows whether her act is personal or political. A Turkish wrestler, a hero in the East, is seen as a brute in the West. And in the masterful title story, the Greek god Apollo confronts his personal history to memorialize, and make sense of, generations of war. A joy and a provocation, Bucak’s stories confront the nature of memory with humor and myth, performance and authenticity.
Artists' books have emerged over the last 25 years as the quintessential contemporary art form, addressing subjects as diverse as poetry and politics, incorporating a full spectrum of artistic media and bookmaking methods, and taking every conceivable form. Female painters, sculptors, calligraphers, and printmakers, as well a growing community of hobbyists, have played a primary role in developing this new mode of artistic expression. The Book as Art presents more than 100 of the most engaging women's artist books created by major fine artists such as Meret Oppenheim, May Stevens, Kara Walker, and Renee Stout and distinguished book artists such as Susan King, Ruth Laxson, Claire Van Vliet, and Julie Chen. Culled from over 800 unique or limited-edition volumes held by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, these books explore the form as a container for ideas. Descriptions of the works are accompanied by colorful illustrations and reflections by their makers, along with essays by leading scholars and a lively introduction by the most famous book artist in our culture, best-selling author Audrey Niffenegger. The exquisitely crafted objects in the The Book as Art are sure to provoke unexpected and surprising conclusions about what constitutes a book. The Book as Art accompanies the exhibition of the same name at the Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., beginning in October 2006.
This beautifully designed volume is an accessible, comprehensive treasure that spans art history from the Renaissance to the present, featuring eighty-six women artists from around the world. The book is divided into seven sections representing chronological and regional groupings. Each section contains an introductory essay that places the works in historical context to provide an overview of the social and political forces that shaped the eras and regions in which the works were created. Also included is a section on artists' books.
The first museum in the world to focus exclusively on art created by women, the National Museum of Women in the Arts opened to the public in Washington, D.C., in 1987. Its treasures include paintings, sculpture, photographs, and crafts by renowned women artists from the Renaissance through this century and from four continents. Full-color illustrations.
"This is the first attempt to recover the entirety of women's contribution to British museums in the period 1850-1914. It sheds lights on women as museum workers, donors and visitors, demonstrates that through such roles women profoundly influenced the development of museums in the period and suggests that museums were a key site for the development of modern gendered identities"--Back cover.
Every year 100 million visitor's tour historic houses and re-created villages, examine museum artifacts, and walk through battlefields. But what do they learn? What version of the past are history museums offering to the public? And how well do these institutions reflect the latest historical scholarship? Fifteen scholars and museum staff members here provide the first critical assessment of American history museums, a vital arena for shaping popular historical consciousness. They consider the form and content of exhibits, ranging from Gettysburg to Disney World. They also examine the social and political contexts on which museums operate.
"Until quite recently, the work of great women artists was ignored, forgotten, or denied; they were largely left out of museums and histories of art. Along came Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, who boldly rectified this oversight in 1981, by founding a museum that was initially housed in her residence, where docent-led tours of the collection were offered." "This thrilling account of the birth and early years of NMWA provides a lively, anecdotal, behind-the-scenes glimpse of the efforts of the countless dedicated individuals who have shared Mrs. Holladay's vision and, under her leadership, helped to expand the permanent collection, renovate the Museum, and fund a robust endowment. Today, NMWA boasts a sizable membership - among the ten largest museum memberships in the world - including twenty-nine active committees in states across the nation and in eight countries. Among the major exhibitions presented at the Museum have been retrospectives of important women artists - Lavinia Fontana, Berthe Morisot, Camille Claudel, Lilla Cabot Perry, and Carrie Mae Weems." "Illustrating this captivating memoir are nearly 200 pictures, most in full color, including artworks, archival photographs, and candid images of the landmark events that led to the Museum's impressive growth. An additional feature is a color portfolio of "Selected Gifts and Promised Gifts of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay to the Museum." The remarkable story of NMWA, told through the eyes of its founder, is a priceless legacy for women today and for future generations." "Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, the founder and chair of the board of the National Museum of Women in the Arts."--BOOK JACKET.
