SCENE IN A LIBRARY by MARY ELLEN BARTLEY
In 2019, Bartley spent six weeks at Penumbra making hundreds of prints, using a toner-based copier machine. All images were forged using the Taubman collection of 19th and early 20th century photographic manuals, treatises, and monographs, housed at the Foundation’s location in New York City.
In her image-making process, Mary Ellen Bartley playfully explored the possibilities that the surface of these historical objects offer, both visually and tactilely. The result, Scene in a Library, is a limited edition artist book containing 28 images in six leporello signatures, a fold out and a photogravure, presented in a foil stamped slipcase.
“Here, in your hands” writes art historian Kim Beil in her text, “is a book of books, an index, a codex. […] The photographs that last longest are the ones that are hidden from the light of day. They are pasted in albums or bound in books, like secrets. A photograph of a book is a question, whispered with exquisite patience.”
Photographs: Mary Ellen Bartley
Edition: 40. Copies 1-20 include a photogravure (signed and numbered by the artist).
Concept: Mary Ellen Bartley & Leandro Villaro
Size: 8.25 x 11 inches
New York City, May, 2021
Order now (ships by early-June):
Mary Ellen Bartley is known for her photographs exploring the tactile and formal qualities of the printed book and its potential for abstraction. She has exhibited in numerous institutions including The Queens Museum, The Walker Art Center, Houston Center for Photography, Parrish Art Museum, and The Watermill Center. One aspect of her practice is working in unique libraries and archives where she responds to collections and their habitats. Bartley has realized projects in the private libraries of artists such as Robert Wilson, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and most recently the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi. Bartley received a BFA from Purchase College and lives and works in Sag Harbor, New York.
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