The Boston Public Library holds over 15 million book volumes, making it the third largest library in the country. With that kind of collection, narrowing down a search could mean judging a book by its cover, and in an exhibition in the Rare Books Department, "Covering Photography: Imitation, Influence ... and Coincidence," visitors find that there is more to book covers than a superficial reading. In each dimly lit display case, photographer and curator Karl Baden has placed books from his collection that he finds resonate with famous photographs.
As the subtitle of the exhibition reveals, not all of these parallels are definite -- in fact, none are explicit, and with the book covers next to photography books, Baden's choices sometimes seem dubious. Some covers seem to be direct copies of photographs, as in the case of "Subversive Intent: Gender, Politics, and the Avant-Garde" (1992), a book by Susan Rubin Suleiman, which is an obvious appropriation of Barbara Kruger's "Untitled (Your body is a battleground)" (1989). The wall text explains that this particular cover was done with Kruger's permission, as the book's subject calls for Kruger's feminist imagery.
Most covers differ from this example, drawing on imagery and composition without giving direct and obvious credit to their photographic predecessors. As the exhibition progresses, the cases reveal more and more coincidences, comparisons that may strike interest, or disbelief, in visitors. It is not unreasonable to think of the cover-designer's process, which must find the best subject matter to illustrate a book's concepts and characters, and which will have an aesthetically alluring effect. In the case of a cover of Violette Leduc's "La Batarde" (1964), the illustration, by Jacqueline Schuman, appropriates Brassai's "Lovers' Quarrel" (1936). The original photograph shows a young man and woman facing away from each other in a café; he has a stern expression and is dressed in an overcoat, and she, with downcast eyes, languidly holds a cigarette in her lap. The image is honest and sad, but Schuman's illustration gives it color, and, with electric shades of purple and pink, she crops out the boyfriend. This omission creates a stylized portrait of the young woman, but by opening her eyes and giving her once-curly hair a blunt bob, the identical countenance gets a new personality.
Many of the display cases contain composite images which show the similarities between pieces, revealing the reasoning behind Baden's pairings. One particularly effective composite draws support for the difficult-to-see comparison between the cover of the Harper Perennial edition of Thulani Davis' novel "1959" (1993), which takes place during the Civil Rights Movement and Nan Goldin's "Sun Hits the Road, Shandanken, NY" (1983). In Goldin's photograph, a road lined with trees recedes sharply into the distance, where a small white house lies on the horizon. The book cover shows an illustration of this same road and house, but it is only a cropped image of the larger photograph. If it weren't for the composite image, the cover would just be a generalized and anonymous rural image. By putting the Goldin next to it, everything, from the angle of the telephone pole to the curve of the road and the leaves on the silhouetted trees, is identical.
In this unusual exhibition, the parallels between cover designs and the photographs that inspire them can sometimes be a stretch. Yet, when thinking about appropriation, one often has to suspend disbelief. The text accompanying each comparison explains that the intention of the cover designers is, for the most part, unknown. Though these illustrators may never have seen the photographs their work resembles, the imagery, style and subject matter can still be attributed to photography's innovations.
Without Aaron Siskind's photographs of peeling wall paint, and Eadweard Muybridge's motion studies, artists of other mediums may never have thought to depict similar subjects. "Covering Photography" brings up many important questions of collective consciousness, subconscious imitation, the dangerous artistic tradition of appropriating from "the greats" and reverence for the masters. Visiting this unusual exhibition means exercising a discerning view of images and making more informed opinions of a book's cover.
The Boston Public Library holds over 15 million book volumes, making it the third largest library in the country. With that kind of collection, narrowing down a search could mean judging a book by its cover, and in an exhibition in the Rare Books Department, "Covering Photography: Imitation, Influence ... and Coincidence," visitors find that there is more to book covers than a superficial reading reveals. In each dimly lit display case, photographer and curator Karl Baden has placed books from his collection that he finds resonate with famous photographs.
As the subtitle of the exhibition reveals, not all of these parallels are definite -- in fact, none are explicit, and with the book covers next to photography books, Baden's choices sometimes seem dubious. Some covers seem to be direct copies of photographs, as in the case of "Subversive Intent: Gender, Politics, and the Avant-Garde" (1992), a book by Susan Rubin Suleiman, which is an obvious appropriation of Barbara Kruger's "Untitled (Your body is a battleground)" (1989). The wall text explains that this particular cover was done with Kruger's permission, as the book's subject calls for Kruger's feminist imagery.
Most covers differ from this example, drawing on imagery and composition without giving direct and obvious credit to their photographic predecessors. As the exhibition progresses, the cases reveal more and more coincidences and comparisons that may strike interest, or disbelief, in visitors. It is not unreasonable to think of the cover designers who must find the best subject matter to illustrate a book's concepts and characters that will have an aesthetically alluring effect. In the case of the cover of Violette Leduc's "La Bâtarde" (1964), the illustration, by Jacqueline Schuman, appropriates Brassai's "Lovers' Quarrel" (1936). The original photograph is of a young man and woman facing away from each other in a café; he has a stern expression and is dressed in an overcoat, and she, with downcast eyes, languidly holds a cigarette in her lap. The image is honest and sad, but Schuman's illustration gives it color, and, with electric shades of purple and pink, she crops out the boyfriend. This omission creates a stylized portrait of the young woman, but by opening her eyes and giving her once-curly hair a blunt bob, the identical countenance gets a new personality.
Many of the display cases contain composite images which show the similarities between pieces, revealing the reasoning behind Baden's pairings. One particularly effective composite draws support for the difficult-to-see comparison between the cover of the Harper Perennial edition of Thulani Davis' novel "1959" (1993), which takes place during the Civil Rights Movement, and Nan Goldin's "Sun Hits the Road, Shandanken, NY" (1983). In Goldin's photograph, a road lined with trees recedes sharply into the distance, where a small white house lies on the horizon. The book cover shows an illustration of this same road and house but is only a cropped image of the larger photograph. If it weren't for the composite image, the cover would just be a generalized and anonymous rural image. By putting the Goldin next to it, everything, from the angle of the telephone pole to the curve of the road and the leaves on the silhouetted trees, is identical.
In this unusual exhibition, the parallels between cover designs and the photographs that inspire them can sometimes be a stretch. Yet, when thinking about appropriation, one often has to suspend disbelief. The text accompanying each comparison explains that the intention of the cover designers is, for the most part, unknown. Though these illustrators may never have seen the photographs their work resembles, the imagery, style and subject matter can still be attributed to photography's innovations.
Without Aaron Siskind's photographs of peeling wall paint and Eadweard Muybridge's motion studies, artists of other mediums may never have thought to depict similar subjects. "Covering Photography" brings up many important questions of collective consciousness, subconscious imitation, the dangerous artistic tradition of appropriating from "the greats" and reverence for the masters. Visiting this unusual exhibition means exercising a discerning view of images and making more informed opinions of a book's cover.
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Covering Photography: Imitation, Influence...and Coincidence
At the McKim Building, through Dec. 31
Boston Public Library
700 Boylston Street
617-589-2280
