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Acquired Tastes
http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Acquired-Tastes-Stanley-Ellis-Cushing-David-B-Dearinger/9780934552738?cf=3
Two Hundred Years of Collecting for the Boston Athenaeum
By
Stanley Ellis Cushing, David B. Dearinger
$107
Price includes NZ wide delivery! Ships from UK supplier | Rating: | | | Format: | Hardback, 384 pages | | Other Information: | 219 colour & 16 b/w illustrations | | Published In: | United States, 15 February 2007 | Hurry - Only 2 left in stock! |
This book celebrates the 200th anniversary of the historic Boston Athenaeum, one of this country's earliest and most prestigious repositories of books, paintings, sculpture, engravings, maps, photographs, manuscripts, decorative arts, and other artifacts of history and design. "Acquired Tastes" is the first in-depth, scholarly study of the Boston Athenaeum's collections and the manner in which they were gathered from the early nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries. These topics are expanded and brought into sharper focus in fully-illustrated catalogue entries on a wide variety of objects that represent the breadth of the Athenaeum's holdings. From its founding in 1807, the Boston Athenaeum's primary mission has been to provide collections that stimulate study, discussion, and debate on all topics of interest to the enquiring mind. In the Enlightenment of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries - the historic period that saw the founding of the Boston Athenaeum and similar organizations - it was believed that intellectual endeavors more easily germinated and thrived in an atmosphere that was spacious, comfortable, quiet, and aesthetically pleasing. Here, books and manuscripts could be preserved, logically organized, and made accessible, and utilitarian objects could be logically grouped with didactic ones for comparison and discussion. In this setting, too, fine examples of paintings, sculpture, drawings, and engravings fulfilled their traditional purposes of education and inspiration and - together with those from the world of science - stimulated imaginations, improved morals, and refined aesthetic tastes. Celebrate the Boston Athenaeum's 2007 bi-centennial with this lavish tribute, published in conjunction with one of the most ambitious Athenaeum exhibitions ever mounted. |
About the AuthorStanley Ellis Cushing graduated from Boston University and joined the staff of the Boston Athenaeum in 1970. For thirty years he served as Chief Conservator of the Library, responsible for the care and preservation of its book and manuscript collections. Currently, he is the Athenaeum's Curator of Rare Books. He is the author of The George Washington Library Collection (1997) and 50 Books in the Collection of the Boston Athenaeum (1994). David B. Dearinger is the Susan Morse Hilles Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Boston Athenaeum. He holds a Ph.D in American art history from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has curated many exhibitions in Boston and New York, and published and lectured widely on various topics in nineteenth-century American art. Among his publications are Rave Reviews: American Art and Its Critics, 1825-1925 (2000) and Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design (2004). He is currently an adjunct member of the art history faculty at the State University of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Reviews"The goal of this catalogue . . . has been to demonstrate how a collection of many collections evolves through the work of generations of donors, curators, librarians, and trustees all working together for a common task . . . all [libraries] have need to educate even their closest friends and supporters on the intricate relationship between all objects carefully collected . . . and why art has a purpose and indeed a birthright in such a setting. A good starting point in that process would be to peruse this volume . . . "--Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America
| Publisher: | Boston Athenaeum Library | | ISBN: | 0934552738 |
| EAN: | 9780934552738 | | Dimensions: | 31.14 x 23.42 x 3.4 centimeters (2.50 kg) |
| Age Range: |
15+ years |
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