I’m just a librarian sharing Xavier University Library events and resources with students, scholars, bibliophiles and library wonks. Of course, at times my interests leave the library and wonder onto Xavier’s campus or out further into the great city of New Orleans. As I continue this blog I hope to highlight the skills of my colleagues as well as the unique collection of the Xavier University Library.
Good morning,
This is Grace Wilson at the New Orleans Museum of Art. We have a wonderful library and an amazing librarian – much like yourself! – who heads up all sorts of great programing.
Please find below details on a new series we are starting called NOMA Reads. The first one is in conjunction with our next big exhibition called Beyond the Blues: Reflections of African America in the Fine Arts Collection of the Amistad Research Center.
I hope you can circulate this information to interested parties, or perhaps even join us yourself.
I’m looking forward to working with you all – let me know what programs are going on there and maybe we can cross promote.
We should also get Xavier University on as a member of the Museum so all the students and faculty can come for free!
Let’s keep talking.
Very best,
grace
Grace Wilson
Director of Communications & Marketing
New Orleans Museum of Art
Desk: (504) 658-4106
Cell: (504) 729-0887
Fax: (504) 658-4199
New Orleans Museum of Art’s (NOMA) Felix J. Dreyfous Library is proud to present NOMA READS, a series of events, book discussions and programs coinciding with Beyond the Blues: Reflections of African America in the Fine Arts Collection of the Amistad Research Center, an exhibition at NOMA from April 10 to July 11.
The featured book is Barthé: A Life in Sculpture by Margaret Rose Vendryes. “Richmond Barthé (1910-1989) was the first modern African American sculpture to achieve real critical success. His accessible naturalism led to unprecedented celebrity for an artist during the 1930s and 1940s,” (publisher’s quotation available at Amazon.com.) Barthé, a sculptor with New Orleans and Mississippi connections, has two pieces included in Beyond the Blues: Shoe Shine Boy and Head of a Man. [Images available upon request.]
Beyond the Blues is an exhibition curated by Vendryes and jointly organized by NOMA and the Amistad Research Center . It is the first large-scale exhibition of this seminal collection of work by African American artists about the African American experience featuring works from the late 19th century to the first decade of the 21st century including over 100 paintings, works on paper and sculpture.
Vendryes received her AB in fine arts from Amherst College , MA in art history from Tulane University , and a second MA and Ph.D. in art history from Princeton University . She taught at Princeton University and Amherst College before entering the faculty at York College and the Graduate Center of City University of New York in 2000 as Associate Professor of Art History. University Press of Mississippi published Vendryes’s book Barthé, A Life in Sculpture, the first monograph on the late African American sculptor Richmond Barthé, in 2008.
Please contact Librarian Sheila Cork at (504) 658-4117 or scork@noma.org as soon as possible to reserve space at the meetings and field trips.
Thursday, April 8, noon – 1pm // Book Signing and Discussion
Margaret Vendryes will discuss and sign copies of her book in the Felix J. Dreyfous Library
Thursday, April 15, 9:15 am – 2:00 pm // Field Trip
Field trip to view Barthé sculptures at Hancock County Library System in Bay St. Louis, Mississppi, which is the hometown of Barthé. Lunch at a local restaurant to follow.
Friday, April 23, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm // Field Trip
Field trip to the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University for viewing of collections relating to artists represented in Beyond the Blues. Lunch at the Lavin-Bernick Center, Tulane University to follow.
Friday, April 30, noon – 1:00 pm // Book Discussion Group
Felix J. Dreyfous Library at NOMA. Bring a packed lunch, NOMA will provide water and soft drinks.