All exhibitions are free and open to the public.  Non-Yale community members must check in with the security guard in the lobby of the Loria Center, 190 York Street, to gain access to the Haas Family Arts Library.  Photo ID required to enter library.

Current Exhibition

Color Bound: Book Artists Seek Inspiration From Color Theory

January 2 - April 12, 2013

Drawn from the Faber Birren Collection of Books on Color this exhibition explores how the discipline of color theory has influenced the makers of contemporary artists' books and livre d'artiste. Book artists have engaged color theory in a rigorous, yet not specifically scientific, manner. How has the work of important color theorists been employed by book artists? How have more ephemeral, but equally important, color resources, such as paint chip catalogs, inspired works of art in the book form? How has research into color preference and visual phenomena been interpreted by artists?

The extensive examples in the exhibition will explore three major trends in this surprisingly fertile sub-category of book art. The first section looks at bookworks that embrace systems of color, particularly by well-known figures in the history of color theory. Many of these works are an homage to the theorist's original work. The second section emphasizes conceptual bookworks. The artists' books in the third section reference color nomenclature or identification. As works of art, all of the bookworks on display defy easy categorization; many of the works have characteristics of more than one category.

Upcoming Exhibitions

Withal the Craft: The Life and Work of Carl Purington Rollins

April 22 - August 23, 2013

Guest curator: Chika Ota, Rollins Fellow in Design Communications, Office of the Yale University Printer

Carl Purington Rollins was Yale's first University Printer. In the course of four decades, he designed more than two thousand books for Yale University Press as well as most of the University's ephemeral materials, and he introduced the craft letterpress tradition to students with his Bibliographical Press (now -- as originally -- housed in Sterling Memorial Library). Upon his death in 1960 at age 80, Rollins left a rich intellectual legacy of printing and design scholarship and an enormous archive of printed works that feature his distinctive typographic style.

Despite having received the highest distinction in his field -- the American Institute of Graphic Arts medal -- and the accolades of his peers, Rollins is virtually unknown today. This exhibition explores his life and works from his early days as printer for a utopian community in Massachusetts to his later work for Yale and numerous academic and graphic societies. It also traces the influence of William Morris on Rollins's early work and explores how Rollins's approach to design continues to influence both the University's visual "brand" and the teaching of design at Yale today.

Previous Exhibitions

Capturing the Inaccessible: The Aerial Photographs of Robert B. Haas '69

October - December 2009

The Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library welcomes the installation of 34 works by noted aerial photographer and Yale alumnus, Robert B. Haas '69. Included in the installation are both published and unpublished photographs from three different National Geographic book projects by Haas: Through the Eyes of the Gods: An Aerial Vision of Africa (2005), Through the Eyes of the Condor: An Aerial Vision of Latin America (2007) and Through the Eyes of the Vikings: An Aerial Vision of Arctic Lands (forthcoming). The 18 images in the William H. Wright Exhibition Area will be on view through December. The 16 images installed in the atrium of the Haas Family Arts Library will remain on display. For more information see the press release.

Material Meets Metaphor: A Half Century of Book Art by Richard Minsky

August 2 - December 21, 2010

Richard Minsky, pioneering contemporary book artist and founder of the Center for Book Arts in New York City, is known for his conceptual approach to hand bookbinding and commitment to changing the perception of the book arts from craft to fine art. He combines a background in Economics with an innovative use of traditional methods and new materials to create sculptural, often political bookworks.  His blending of an eclectic mix of interests, from musical and theatre performance to social issues and virtual worlds, remain a hallmark of Minsky's career.  This exhibition showcases his editioned (non-commissioned, made in multiple copies) bookworks alongside selections from the Richard Minsky Archive, which documents the history of his career and his working process.

A PDF catalog of the exhibition is free to view and download at http://www.library.yale.edu/arts/specialcollections/Material_Meets_Metaphor-Minsky2.pdf

For more information on Richard Minsky's work, including his own commentary, visit his web site, www.minsky.com

Curator Jae Jennifer Rossman, Assistant Director for Special Collections
With assistance from Mia D'Avanza, 2009 Kress Fellow in Art Librarianship & Molly Dotson, 2010 Kress Fellow in Art Librarianship

The Book as Memorial: Book Artists Respond to and Remember 9/11

September 6 - December 16, 2011

Ten years have passed since the tragedy that occurred on September 11, 2001, in several locations on the East Coast of the United States.  People in all parts of the country were affected and many of them looked for ways to respond.  This exhibition shows art work created by artists in response to the events of that fateful day.  Specifically, this exhibition focuses on works that memorialize the people lost and the indescribable sense that we, as a people, also lost something more intangible.  Some might call it a sense of innocence, others might call it a sense of safety, but few Americans would deny that the world felt changed after that day.  Using the book format, these artists have given form to these difficult thoughts and emotions to share with a wider audience and to help us remember.

The exhibition includes work by: Art of the Book program (Art School, Pratt Institute), Maureen Cummins, Mimi Gross & Charles Bernstein (Granary Books), Kate Ferrucci (People to People Press), Emily Martin (Naughty Dog Press), Mac McGill (Booklyn Artists Alliance), Sara Parkel (Filter Press), Werner Pfeiffer (Pear Whistle Press), Maria G. Pisano (Memory Press), Otis Rubottom, Sibyl Rubottom & Jim Machacek (Bay Park Press), Rocco Scary, Gaylord Schanilec & Richard Goodman (Midnight Paper Sales), Robbin Ami Silverberg (Dobbin Books), Patricia M. Smith (P.S. Press), Gail Watson (Zuni Press), Marshall Weber (Booklyn Artists Alliance), Pamela S. Wood (Rarehare Creations), J. Meejin Yoon (Printed Matter & Whitney Museum of American Art)

Anamnesis: 9/11 Postings. Installation created by Robbin Ami Silverberg. Courtesy of the artist.

Book Eleven.  Rocco Scary.  Courtesy of the artist.