Michael Dalby Blog

What Do Jay-Z, Swizz Beatz, and Kanye West have in common?

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:36:00 GMT

They have all been inspired by or collect art by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Jean-Michel Basquiat is the only Afro-Caribbean artist who really seems to speak to Hip-Hop artists. His name is commonly referred to in raps by those artists. There is a kinship, in a sense, because they are all African-American men, who use their art to express their place in the urban landscape.

Basquiat (1960-1988) was born in Brooklyn, New York. He came of age in the 1970’s, when there was strong hybridization of street life, music and multiculturalism. One of the by-products of this pollination was hip-hop, which revolutionized popular culture. Basquiat was influenced by his Haitian/Puerto Rican heritage, Jazz, French poetry, and the art of Franz Kline and Cy Twombly. Around 1977, Basquiat started to spray images and texts on walls and buildings under the name or “tag” SAMO, which stood for Same Old. He became a popular figure in the thriving creative hot bed that was the Lower East Side of New York. In 1980, Basquiat was discovered by the art world. His emotionally stimulating style fusing text, graffiti and cartoon, developed into one of the most significant interpretations of modern painting. Sadly Jean-Michel Basquiat’s career was short lived. He died of a drug overdose at the age of 27.

The Special Collections Department, of the Cleveland Public Library, has two books that allow viewers to escape into the world of this cultural phenomenon.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Drawings
NC179.B37 A4 1985
Special Collections

Jean-Michel Basquiat
Works on Paper
Q NC139 .B373 A4 1999
Special Collections

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Artists’ Catalogues in the Fine Arts Department

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:39:00 GMT

If you are researching an artist's works the appropriate catalogue raisonné is your best bet for credible information. They are almost always very expensive, though, so finding catalogue raisonnés through an art library is recommended for anyone on a budget. Cleveland Public Library Fine Arts is fortunate to own a large number of catalogue raisonnés, dating back as far as the 17^th century.

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Get into the holiday spirit with music from the Fine Arts Department

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:38:00 GMT

The Cleveland Public Library has made it easy for you to get into the spirit of the Holiday Season! Stop by the Popular Department on the 1st floor floor of the Main Library to browse the immense collection of holiday sound recordings as well as stopping by the Fine Arts Department on the 3rd floor to browse the vast array of sheet music available for check out.

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"Out of The Kokoon" exhibition catalog now on sale

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:32:00 GMT

The exhibition catalog, Out of The Kokoon (2011) by Henry Adams, with an essay by Lawrence Waldman is available for $40 through The Cleveland Artist Foundation and Friends of the Library Gift Shop, Cleveland Public Library.

The catalog celebrates the 100th Anniversary of Cleveland’s Kokoon Arts Klub.

It features the early years of the Klub and their affiliation with Cleveland Public Library, the annual Bal Masques, membership by artists, costume design, decorations, and posters created for community events and activities.

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Turn-of-the-Century Cleveland Photographs from the Art and Architecture Vertical File

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:07:00 GMT

The Art and Architecture Vertical File housed in the Fine Arts library is a rich resource for those interested in Cleveland and Ohio arts, architecture and history. The vertical file contains clippings, pamphlets and brochures that were kept up to date by the librarians working in Fine Arts and Special Collections from the early 20th century to the present. The materials contained within the vertical file present an interesting portrait of the changes that Cleveland experienced throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries.

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Pochoir

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:07:00 GMT

The Cleveland Public Library has a number of beautiful books exhibiting the art of pochoir. Pochoir is a stenciling technique that dates back to cave paintings in prehistoric Europe and in images found in China along the Asian silk route. Pochoir became popular in Paris during the early part of the 20th century, and used in some limited-edition magazines and books associated with interior design and haute couture fashion. The vivid colors and elaborate designs reflect the “Belle Epoque,” a time when Paris was viewed as the center of the fashion world.

The library is lucky to own examples of these works, some of which are on display in Special Collections on the third floor of the Main Library until the end of December 2011. The exhibit is one of the featured events of the 2011 celebration of Octavofest, Celebrating the Book and Paper Arts.

On view is the work of Emile-Alain Seguy, entitled Insectes and Papillons; vingt planches en phototypie colories au patron donnant 81 papillons et 16 compositions decoratives. The plates were published in the mid-1920’s in Paris. Seguy describes the prints as "un monde somptueux de formes et de couleurs" -- a world of sumptuous forms and colors. He intended the prints to be a record of rare insects and butterflies but also for the colors and forms to be an inspiration for designers of the day.

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100th Anniversary of the Cleveland Kokoon Arts Klub Exhibit

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:31:00 GMT

100th Anniversary of the Cleveland Kokoon Arts Klub Exhibit
August – December 31, 2011
Cleveland Public Library - Main Library 325 Superior Ave.
Exhibit & Programs on 3rd Floor - Fine Arts & Special Collections Department

Join in on the festivities and revel in the spirit of the Kokoon Arts Klub with the Cleveland Public Library.

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Remembering Jane Scott

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:18:00 GMT

On July 4th, 2011, renowned Cleveland Plain Dealer rock critic Jane Scott passed away at age 92. Read the following remembrances and then check out some books in the Fine Arts Department about Rock in Cleveland.

Cleveland.com article

NY Times article

LA Times article

BOOKS IN FINE ARTS

Adams, Deanna R. Rock ‘n’ Roll and the Cleveland Connection. KSU, 2002. [ML3534 .A26 2002]

Wolff, Carlo. Cleveland Rock & Roll Memories. Gray, 2006. [ML3534 .W616 2006]

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June 25, 1876: Custer defeated at the Little Big Horn!

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:47:00 GMT

BACKSTORY: Significance of June 25th

The most famous action of the Black Hills or the Great Sioux War of 1876-1877, the Battle of the Little Big Horn (aka Battle of the Greasy Grass) was fought on the 25th and 26th of June, 1876, near present day Crow Agency, Montana. The battle was waged between 5,000 Arapahoe, Lakota and Northern Cheyenne warriors (under the leadership of Chiefs Crazy Horse, Gall and Sitting Bull) and the 700 men of the US Seventh Calvary (commanded by Civil War veteran Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer). By dusk of the 26th, 268 US Soldiers--five companies of men as well as Custer himself, two of his own brothers, a nephew and a brother-in-law--lay dead in the tall grass.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Michelle Black's An Uncommon Enemy. New York: Forge, 2001.

Michael Blake's Marching to Valhalla: A Novel of Custer's Last Days. New York: Villard, 1996.

Frederick J. Chiaventone's A Road We Do Not Know: A Novel of Custer at the Little Big Horn. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Ralph Cotton's Trick of the Trade. New York: Pocket Books, 1997.

Ernest Haycox's Bugles in the Afternoon. Norman: University of Oklamhoma Press, 2003.

Earl Murray's Flaming Sky: A Novel of the Little Big Horn. New York: Forge, 1995.

Robert Skimin and William Moody's Custer's Luck. New York: Herodias, 2000.

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A hatred of principles and parties: Relive a famous feud through fiction in the Literature Department

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:41:00 GMT

On July 11, 1804, Former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton was mortally wounded in a pistol duel with Vice President Aaron Burr.

It was the New York governor's race of 1804 that pushed these two rivals to violence. In that election, candidate Aaron Burr turned his back on the Republican party and ran as an independent. The prospect of Burr leading New York so mortified Hamilton (a Federalist who despised and mistrusted Burr as “a man of irregular and insatiable ambition”) that he tried to convince New York Federalists not to support Burr. At the polls, Burr would be crushingly defeated. Shortly therafter, a letter was published in a leading newspaper of the day that had been written by an attendee of a dinner party that had also included Hamilton. The forceful comdemnations that the former Treasury Secretary had made against Burr within that small intimate gathering had now become the talk of the town. Outraged, Burr subsequently challenged his rival to a duel that was accepted.

After Hamilton's and Burr's seconds tried without success to settle the matter amicably, the two political enemies met on the dueling grounds at Weehawken, New Jersey on the morning of July 11. Each fired a shot from a .56 caliber dueling pistol. Burr was unscathed; Hamilton fell to the ground mortally wounded and died in agony the next day.

Instead of reviving Burr's political career, the duel helped to end it. Burr was charged with two counts of murder. After his term as vice president ended, he would never hold elective office again.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

George Keithley’s play, The Best Blood of the Country. Lewiston, NY: Mellen Poetry Press, 1993.PS3561.E378 B46 1993.

David Nevin’s Treason. New York: Forge, 2001.

Charles J. Nolan, Jr.’s Aaron Burr and the American Literary Imagination. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980. PS169.B85 N6 1980.

Anya Seton’s My Theodosia. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2007.

Gore Vidal’s Burr: A Novel. New York: Random House, 1973.

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