Until June 1, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, presents Better on Paper, an exhibition of prints, drawings, photographs, books and other works on paper. The installation gathers recent acquisitions and previously unseen pieces from the museum and the College Library’s Special Collections, highlighting the range and vitality of works on paper.
“Better on Paper presents a stunning array of visionary works of art from Wellesley’s collections in this collaboration between the College Library’s Special Collections and the Davis,” said Amanda Gilvin, the exhibition’s co-curator and interim co-director, and Sonja Novak Koerner ’51, senior curator of Collections and associate director of Curatorial Affairs.
© Magdalena van de Passe after Crispijn de Passe the Elder
Centered on contemporary practice, Better on Paper features more than 100 works added to the collections through recent acquisitions and gifts. The exhibition underscores Wellesley’s strong engagement with photography and contemporary book arts, and includes Ekundayo by Nigerian artist Taiye Idahor; Self Portrait, Harlem, NY by photographer Ming Smith; Architects of the Future, City Inside Her by Chitra Ganesh; and selections by Boston-based multimedia artist Jo Sandman. From Special Collections the display also highlights historical and experimental material, such as 18th-century publisher John Pike’s The Land of Matrimony [and] Land of Celibacy, alongside It is Bitter to Leave Your Home: A True Story Depicted in Typographic Images, an artist’s book by Swiss graphic designer Romano Hänni.
“It is a tremendous opportunity for the College Library’s Special Collections to be off the shelves and on view to a wider audience,” said Ruth R. Rogers, curator of Special Collections and visiting lecturer in the Art Department. “Better on Paper allows us to share a selection from the range of international rare books, contemporary artists’ books, and other evidence of material communication that are the basis of teaching and research on campus.”
The Davis Museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.