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Superfine: Tailoring Black Style

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by Ashley Parry

Monday 5th May saw the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s latest Costume Institute exhibition – Superfine: Tailoring Black Style – and with it, another Met Gala! Like the Met, we at the Art Library have decided to celebrate Black fashion with a display of items from across the Bodleian’s collections.

Superfine: Tailoring Black Style book display. Image Credit: Iona Spark

As a topic, this is extremely fertile ground for exploration, combining history of fashion, decorative arts, fine art, social history, philosophy, and literature. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity by Monica L. Miller. This book – which serves as the main inspiration for the Met’s exhibition – is a rich, nuanced and fascinating examination of key moments in the development of the Black dandy as a popular cultural figure and explores the tensions that this figure evokes. As Miller states, ‘the dandy is a figure who exists in the space between masculine and feminine, homosexual and heterosexual, seeming and being, even when not specifically racialized’.1

Book cover for Slaves to Fashion, depicting Iké Udé posing in profile upon a chaise, wearing a dark frock coat with light gloves and a buttonhole

One person who consciously plays with these boundaries and who is intimately tied up with the Met’s exhibition is Nigerian artist, Iké Udé. Not only is his work featured in the exhibition and not only did he contribute an epilogue to the exhibition catalogue, but one of his photographic self-portraits graces the cover of Miller’s book. This photo provides an excellent example of how Udé practices the ‘discipline’ of dandyism – as he calls it2 – in both his art and his appearance. He is further represented in the display through the sartorial photography catalogue Beyond Decorum: The Photography of Iké Udé. In this collection, Udé explores the boundaries between his subjects’ outward seeming and inner worlds as deep, dark secrets are stitched to the insides of their clothes.

Furthermore, as a Nigerian artist who largely resides and practices in the US, Udé is in some ways representative of another ‘thread’ of Miller’s exploration – namely, the complex relationship between blackness and Africa as cultural constructs. She discusses how racialised colonialism can lead to a perceived collapsing of many African diasporic experiences, but how, at the same time, Black people in the diaspora have been able to use these constructs in order to build their own styles and identities. This could be seen at the Met Gala through the inclusion of subtle cowrie detailing on Lewis Hamilton’s outfit, and in the books of the display through Mickaël Kra: Jewellery Between Paris Glamour and African Tradition, for which Kra takes inspiration from the jewellery-making practices of various hunter-gatherer peoples of southern Africa.

Then, in African Dress: Fashion, Agency and Performance, the opposite side of this exchange is presented through essays detailing the style experiences of a variety of communities throughout the African continent, and in the issue of African Arts on the display, including an article about the Sapeuses – the feminine equivalent of the more famous, besuited Sapeur Congolese subculture. Also, I have included here a photo by Kinshasa-based photographer Justin Makangara of a man whose striking combination of Congolese adornment with western-style garments and accessories illustrates the ways that some African communities are forging their own style paths.

Photo of a Congolese Sapeur wearing a suit jacket, cap and sunglasses, decorated heavily with beads and shells. Image Credit: Justin Mkangara. Via Wikimedia Commons

Yinka Shonibare – represented here through catalogues for his Fabric-ation and Double Dutch exhibitions – similarly uses his sculptural dioramas, sumptuously dressed in African wax prints and often recreating the silhouettes and poses of famous white historical figures and events, to push past the boundaries and stereotypes created by colonialist narratives. Shonibare’s use of wax prints is a symbolically loaded one, not only because of the contrast between the stereotypically African patterns and the Europeanness of the clothing, but because that fabric contains within it a complex but often overlooked story of colonial appropriation and adoption. Wax prints originated in Indonesia, were then mass-produced first by the Dutch and then even more prolifically by the British, and finally sold to West African buyers.

Photo of Shonibare’s sculpture Big Boy from Double Dutch, page 62

Through these works he makes statements about identity construction, cultural appropriation and consumerism in ways that play out interestingly with Miller’s work on Black dandyism. For example, her exploration of the fraught nature of using extravagance for defiance is echoed by Shonibare when discussing his work: ‘In order to have aristocratic freedom to indulge, others need to be colonised. Fine art is excess par excellence. It is not going to emancipate you in any direct way.3 He also addresses the interplay of dandyism, race and class directly in Double Dutch through the photograph series ‘Diary of Victorian Dandy’.

In Afro-Fabulations: The Queer Drama of Black Life by Tavia Nyong’o– available as an ebook via SOLO and via the QR code in the display – the author discusses the same problem of high art, but with a fashionable twist. In the chapter ‘Critical Shade: The Angular Logics of Black Appearance’, Nyong’o dissects Trajal Harrell’s solo dance piece Twenty Looks or Paris Is Burning at the Judson Church, Size Small. Harrell, in this piece, incorporates and dissects elements of both high fashion catwalks and the New York ballroom culture inspired by the same. Nyong’o in turn highlights the tensions of Harrell ‘performing in the avant-garde milieu that was once the stuff of vogueing fantasy4’ and explores possible interpretations of this tension.

Online book cover for Afro-Fabulations

In The Politics of Black Joy: Zora Neale Hurston and Neo-Abolitionism, Lindsey Stewart similarly examines the trials and limits of liberation – for example, how both Black joy and Black tragedy can be weaponised by white institutions to simplify African-American narratives into either abject tragedies or enchanting fables. Stewart uses the works of Zora Neale Hurston, blended with the art of famous contemporary figures such as Beyoncé and stories from her own experience as jumping-off points, and I thought this a fitting addition to this display as the 1934 Zora Neale Hurston essay, “The Characteristics of Negro Expression” was one of the inspirations for the Met’s exhibition. As Stewart details, one of Hurston’s key preoccupations was, in ways sometimes controversial, challenging the ‘tradition of tragic southern Black representation’5

Saint Adeline by Kehinde Wiley, a stained-glass work depicting a haloed young black man in light-coloured denim, on a dark blue background.

Kehinde Wiley likewise challenges pervading narratives applied to African Americans – especially their exclusion from the canon of western art. In his portraits, he poses his black subjects in imitation of a variety of famous ‘Old Master’ paintings and stained-glass windows, constructing new meanings from their symbolic resonances. However, I thought Wiley’s art particularly works in a display on Black style and especially dandyism because of his keen interest in Black masculine identity – and especially how young Black men construct themselves. This can be seen in the participatory nature of some of his paintings and glassworks, in which he invited his models to choose their own outfits and which paintings they would like to copy. In this way, while the streetwear of these men might seem completely divorced from the flamboyance of a dandy, the two can be brought into conversation in Wiley’s art through a mediated process of self-fashioning and evidence of assertive masculine vanity. Furthermore, Wiley’s paintings also evoke connection with dandyism through his use of floral designs for his backgrounds, inspired by the prints of William Morris, a key contributor to the English Aesthetic movement.

The cover of Fashioning Masculinities with a photo of Omar Victor Diop in Regency era clothing.

Unfortunately, there isn’t space to write in-depth about every book in a single blog post, and I wish I could do so to recommend these fantastic books even further, but here I will quickly emphasise just a few. The exhibition catalogue for the V+A’s Fashioning Masculinities exhibition, while its focus is menswear more generally, pays tribute to the indispensability of Black male style, and features black men literally front and centre with a portrait of Omar Victor Diop on the front cover and other famous figures such as Marcus Rashford and Prince inside. Then, in The Birth of Cool, Carol Tulloch, like Monica Miller uses a key central idea – in this case, the concept of “cool” –to organise a tracing of Black style narratives through time, and, like Lindsey Stewart, she also draws upon personal experience in examining these narratives.

The cover of The Woman in the Zoot Suit, depicting three Pachuca women being arrested.

Finally, no display on Black style would be complete without the iconic zoot suit, represented here not only through Zoot Suit: The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style, but also through The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory which focuses specifically on the style’s proliferation into the Pachuco subculture and specifically among Pachuca women.

I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of Black fashion inspired by these books and by the Met Gala as much as I enjoyed researching them. These are just a selection of the books available on Black history, art, and style in the Bodleian Libraries and I hope you will use it as a launch pad for further research on the subject.

Bibliography

A. Braun, M. Kra, and F. Vormese, Mickaël Kra: Jewellery Between Paris Glamour and African Tradition (Stuttgart: Arnoldsche, 2006).

S. Coulson, Lilley, C., and Y. Shonibare, Yinka Shonibare MBE: Fabric-ation Exhibition Guide (Wakefield: Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2013).

N. Gainer, Vintage Black Glamour: Gentlemen’s Quarters (London: Rocket 88, 2016).

T. Garrard, African Gold: Jewellery and Ornaments From Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal in the Collection of the Gold of Africa Barbier-Mueller Museum in Cape Town (Munich: Prestel, 2011).

R. Garelick, ‘America’s Premier Dandy Doesn’t Want the Title’, The New York Times, New York, The New York Times Company, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/style/met-gala-ike-ude-black-dandyism.html (Accessed: 07 May 2025).

T. Golden, Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994)

K. Hansen and M. Soyini (eds.), African Dress: Fashion, Agency and Performance (Oxford: Berg, 2013)

J. King, ‘The Art of Masculinity’, Colorlines, Oakland, CA; New York City, Race Forward, 2015, https://colorlines.com/article/art-masculinity/ (Accessed: 07 May 2025).

K. Laciste, ‘Practical Work: Sapeuses (Women Sapeurs) in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo’, African Arts, vol. 56, no. 4, 2023, pp.62-79.

G. Lamia (ed.), Kehinde Wiley: Peintre de L’Épopée (Gand: Snoeck, 2020).

J. Makangara, ‘Justin Makangara’, Congo in Conversation, Hyères, Fondation Carmignac  2021 https://congoinconversation.fondationcarmignac.com/en/journalists/justin-makangara (Accessed: 08 May 2025).

J. Marsh, Black Victorians: Black People in British Art, 1800-1900 (Aldershot: Lund Humphries, 2005).

M. McCollom, The Way We Wore: Black Style Then (New York: Glitterati Incorporated, 2006).

M. McCurdy, Kehinde Wiley: A Portrait of a Young Gentleman (San Marino, California: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 2022).

R. McKever and C. Wilcox (eds.), Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear (London: V&A Publishing, 2022).

K. Mercer, ‘Art That is Ethnic in Inverted Commas’, Frieze, London, Frieze Publishing Ltd., 1995, https://www.frieze.com/article/art-ethnic-inverted-commas (Accessed: 07 May 2025).

T. Muriu, Camo (Los Angeles, California: Chronicle Chroma, 2024).

T. Nyong’o, Afro-Fabulations: The Queer Drama of Black Life (New York: New York University Press, 2019)

K. Peiss, Zoot Suit: The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011).

R. Powell, Cutting a Figure: Fashioning Black Portraiture (Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press, 2008).

C. Ramírez, The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory, Durham; London: Duke University Press, 2009).

L. Roach, How to Build a Fashion Icon: Notes on Confidence From the World’s Only Image Architect (New York: Abrams Image, 2024).

D. Rodgers, ‘Everything You Need To Know About The Met Gala 2025’, Vogue, Condé Nast, New York, 2025 https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/met-gala (Accessed: 07 May 2025).

Y. Shonibare and others, Yinka Shonibare: Double Dutch (Rotterdam : Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen ; [Vienna] : Kunsthalle Wien ; Rotterdam : NAi Publishers ; New York : D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, 2004).

L. Stewart, The Politics of Black Joy: Zora Neale Hurston and Neo-Abolitionism, (Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2021).

E. Tsai, C. Choi, and K. Wiley, Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic (Munich: DelMonico, 2015).

C. Tulloch, Black Style (London: V&A Publications, 2004).

C. Tulloch, The Birth of Cool: Style Narratives of the African Diaspora, Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016).

Victoria and Albert Museum, An introduction to the Aesthetic Movement, https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/an-introduction-to-the-aesthetic-movement?srsltid=AfmBOop4qQvK1h4Jr7J5AGtwvgeHxKr_XFZjWxmsxcVbtyl-5WvKEGdF (Accessed: 07 May 2025).

S. White and G. White, Stylin’: African American Expressive Culture From its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit (Ithaca, N.Y.; London: Cornell University Press, 1998).

K. Wiley, Kehinde Wiley: Saint Louis, (Culver City, California: Roberts Projects, 2019).

  1. Miller, Monica L., Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity (Durham ; London: Duke University Press, 2009), p. 6.
    ↩︎
  2. R. Garelick, ‘America’s Premier Dandy Doesn’t Want the Title’, The New York Times, New York, The New York Times Company, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/style/met-gala-ike-ude-black-dandyism.html (Accessed: 07 May 2025). ↩︎
  3. K. Mercer, Art That is Ethnic in Inverted Commas, Frieze, London, Frieze Publishing Ltd., 1995, https://www.frieze.com/article/art-ethnic-inverted-commas (Accessed: 07 May 2025). ↩︎
  4. T. Nyong’o, Afro-Fabulations: The Queer Drama of Black Life (New York: New York University Press, 2019), p.30 ↩︎
  5. L. Stewart, The Politics of Black Joy: Zora Neale Hurston and Neo-Abolitionism, (Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2021), p.47 ↩︎

Ukraine: Three Years On (22/02/2025)

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Ukraine Book Display

By Jamie Copeland

As the third anniversary of the Russian invasion has arrived I have arranged a new display of some of the books held by the Bodleian Libraries regarding Ukraine, with a particular focus on the subject areas held by the Art, Architecture and Ancient World Library. Previous displays initially covered a general overview of material, from Scythian golden artifacts, medieval church architecture, and modernist artists. A second display concerned questions raised by competing narratives of Ukrainian history, and the effect of this on Ukrainian people and cultural traditions. This issue was particularly problematised by the shifting aims of Russian Imperialism and the interactions of the state with both it’s subjects and a wider diaspora of artists with a Ukrainian heritage. A third attempted to highlight contemporary artists and promote the recent acquisitions of the library.

The main aim of the current display is, in light of recent events, in an attempt to use the material to look back over the contemporary period since the Russian invasion of the Donbas and Crimea and to centre the experience of the Ukrainian people, while contesting attempts to recreate a narrative of the last few years by providing a source of context.

The initial part of the display is focused upon recent acquisitons to the ART Library’s collections and an attempt to use the periodical collections to give an indication of the reaction to them.  The increasing prominence of the Odessa born Sonia Delauney is indicated by the recently published ‘Sonia Delaunay : living art’ by Waleria Dorogova and Laura Microulis.

The recently published Ukraine addition to the ‘World of Art’ series shares its cover image with a review of the exhibition on the artists linked to the communities formed by the art schools of Kyiv, Kharkov, and Odessa in the early 20th century. The accompanying book, although part of a previous display has also been included.

An article from the Burlington Magazine on the deliberate theft and destruction of Ukraine’s cultural heritage acts as a form of bridge between the new Art books and the books documenting, and to some degree, aestheticizing the impact of Russian aggression.  Forming a kind of core are a series of books describing both the resistance to the Donbas occupation, with journals and letters from the Ukrainian forces opposing the Russian occupation in the face of international resignation while establishing an artistic link, both to their past as a culture, and their present as a nation. As mentioned above, the second Ukraine display had attempted to examine, through the work and biography of a variety of artists some of the problems raised by the competing claims of Ukrainian nationhood.

An artist such as the ex-serf Taras Shevchenko, born near Kiev and dying in St Petersburg, living in the Russian Empire period; could be contrasted with a figure such as the avant-garde painter Kazimir Malevich who shared his place of birth and death. Although one died just before the liberation of the serfs and the other near the advent of the Stalinist purges, they had a common history, both alternately feted and repressed, establishing connections and a range of influences in the face of a system determined to establish a coercive process of control.

Supplementing these personal histories was the inclusion of material discussing the geographies affecting Ukrainian people. Whether artists influenced by a change of borders or the establishment of institutions, such as the art schools and movements founded in Ukrainian cities, or their experiences as part of an exiled diaspora whose work echoed memories of alienated childhood landscapes and separated families.

Part of the criteria for the selection of the material in the display was to show the record of responses to ongoing events, no longer part of an established trauma such as the Holodomor or the Executed Renaissance, but as a contested narrative of unknown outcome, contextualised by the artistic narratives of both direct experience and processed works.

During the breakup of the Soviet Union, following an attempted coup by the Communists, a referendum was called by the Ukrainian Rada in order to approve the Act of Declaration of Independence on the 1st December 1991. After winning by 92% Ukraine’s independence was recognised both globally and by the USSR which officially dissolved itself days later. As Putin succeeded to the presidency various methods from political pressure to financial coercion were used to exert Russian control. Various political scandals, including the collusion of President Kuchma in the murder of a journalist and repeated vote-rigging allegations culminated in the 2004 Orange Revolution. After the Ukrainian president Yanukovych refused to sign an Association Agreement with the EU large protests erupted in several cities, the largest being in the Maidan in Kyiv. Despite attempts to suppress the demonstrations by denouncing them as the result of Western interference and the use of increasing violence from security services and militias the demonstrations ended with the flight and deposition of the president. Russia responded by annexing Crimea and sending troops and equipment over the Ukraine border in support of ‘separatists’ such as the Russian Nationalist Igor Girkin, later charged with the shooting down of Flight MH17. Ukraine, under the new President Poroshenko, reacted by strengthening their armed forces, calling for international mediation, and the introduction of legislation intended to decentralise political authority, part of which established Ukrainian as the sole national language whilst leaving the status of Russian and minority languages up to their districts administrations.

The Donbas war continued more or less at a stalemate while various peace plans were mooted. Russia complained about Ukrainian ‘Russo-phobia’ citing attacks on Russian speaking civilians, the use of Nationalist forces such as the Azov Brigade, and the removal and renaming of monuments commemorating Russian and Soviet figures. In 2019 President Zelensky was elected, and began efforts to incorporate Nationalist fighters into the regular army and remove restrictions on the official use of the Russian language. In late 2021, as the Covid crisis receded and supply chains were rebuilt Russia began a large-scale deployment on Ukraine’s border.

On the 22nd of February 2022 Russia initiated a full invasion, bombarding cities and infrastructure throughout Ukraine, and launching attacks intended to surround and seize the capital. The invasion was accompanied by a variety of claims, headed by Putin’s “Address concerning the events in Ukraine”, denying the nationhood of Ukraine and the concept of a culture separate from Russia.

Sketch of abandoned miliatry vehicles.
Ukraine, remember also me , Illustration
Sky Above Kharkiv

A large part of this display has focused on the response of Ukrainians to these actions, either in written narratives and journals, or documented in photography and art produced to record the reaction of people under physical and existential assault.  Images, such as the flight of refugees, the rubble of cities, and the day to day lives of civilians and soldiers has been mixed with longer narratives such as the struggle between workers at the Chernobyl power plant and the occupying forces, or the struggle over Bakhmut.

The girlfriend of a Ukrainian soldier trapped in the Avozstahl Steelworks protests in Kyiv.
Chernobyl Maternity Hospital. Points Between…Up Till Now

The question over the ‘truth’ of a photograph has existed since the invention of the medium. One of the earliest practitioners of war photography was Roger Fenton, whose work in the Crimean War was used in a prior display. Contemporary images, such as the protestor holding an English language sign against a background of rubble, have elements of staging and selection even without requiring lengthy exposure times or expensive equipment. The use of such products is inextricably a contested territory. The hand-coloured panoramic photographs of non-staged scenes in the work of Viktor and Sergiy Kochetov is an alternative approach to the question.

That ‘all art is propaganda’ may be almost a truism but the necessity of promoting an idea, whether of a self-hood or of an experience, is a right I have tried to use this display to centre. That a diversity of permitted speech can exist is as much of a conflict as any struggle over territory. The inclusion of scholarly works by Ukrainian authors donated to the AAWL collections on subjects unrelated to the war are intended to represent this, by highlighting a cultural life beyond the mere present and include material outside of the art collection.

There were also several books that were not available in time for the creation of the display but the content was too relevant to the themes of the display to be left out. The first of these, ‘Lviv-God’s Will’,
is a collection of photographs of mundane objects that have been aesthetically altered by by Ukrainian citizens. The objects, painted street debris. have been altered by unknown people but otherwise left untouched by the photographer. The only alteration, other than the standards of photographic composition has been the removal of the street setting which has been replaced with a gallery style background. Complementing this are two other books, one ‘Invicta: Unconquered’ is a selection of the works of Urainian artists that were made in the first months of the war, accompanied by short narratives of the artists experience of the invasion. The second, ‘”ARTBOOK CRYONES’ is a collection of works created at a therapeutic camp for child survivors. The entries, designed by the children assisted by the counsellors, contain a variety of pieces created by the children as they process the war and the common experiences of enduring shelling and the loss of relatives. They vary in media, from military badge collections, to drawings and journal entries but have a repeated aim of interactivity with the reader, who is encouraged to physically engage with the book..


‘Lviv-God’s Will’ cover
Introduction

Finally, one of the challenges presented by collecting this is the difficulty in presenting work that is absent. There are several books that have been purchased by the Bodleian Libraries that were ordered to strengthen the Bodleian collections regarding Ukraine. That works such as ‘Off the beaten track: urban regeneration of hidden world heritage in L’viv’ or ‘Decommunized, Ukrainian Soviet mosaics’ are absent is an invisible loss. Paper shortages, the economic stresses and the diversion of efforts may not be as visible as a shattered museum but still has lasting consequences on the production and dissemination of cultural works. Donations to the Bodleian of books to complement our collections can be made, and reader.services@bodleian.ox.ac.uk can be contacted who can provide the details of the relevant Subject Librarian. Conversely if you are aware of a publication that the library should obtain you can use https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections-and-resources/recommend-a-purchase to provide us with details.

There is also the ongoing attempt to present work by Ukrainian artists outside of the published form. As with previous displays I have used the publicity material to promote their work, this time an image by Maxim Dondyuk whose work as a visual artist explores subjects such as Chernobyl, the Maidan protests, and the aftermath of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. Their website can be found at https://maximdondyuk.com/.

A list of the publications used in the display may be found in the bibliography at the end of this post.

Bibliography

Apollo (2024 Apr)

Artforum International (2024 Dec)

Artforum International (2025 Feb)

Bakhmut / Myroslav Lai︠u︡k.

Chernobyl : a stalkers’ guide / Darmon Richter

Chernobyl roulette : a war story / Serhii Plokhy.

Cryones : zbirka zovsim nedytiachykh dytiachykh istoriĭ = a collection of not-at-all childish children’s stories / Oksana Lebedieva, Ivan Holub, Polina Klibus [editors]

Icons on ammo boxes : painting life on the remnants of Russia’s war in Donbas, 2014-2021 / Sonya Atlantova and Oleksandr Klymenko

Ikonohrafii︠a︡ skifsʹkoï eskhatolohiï = Iconography of Scythian Eschatology / Hanna Vertii︠e︡nko

In isolation : dispatches from occupied Donbas / Stanislav Aseyev ; translated by Lidia Wolanskyj.

In the eye of the storm : modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s / edited by Konstantin Akinsha

Invicta : unconquered : stories of Ukrainian artists and their paintings created in the first 111 days of the war against Russia 24.02.22 to 14.06.22 / Timonti︠e︡i︠e︡va, O. (Olʹha), editor.

 Istorii͡a ukrainskoĭ fotografii XIX-XXI veka / avtor Oleksandr Trachun

Lviv-God’s Will / Poliakov, Viacheslav

Papirusnyĭ svitok na vinʹetkakh drevneegipetskoĭ Knigi mërtvykh / N.A. Tarasenko.

Points between … up till now / [Robert Polidori

Relentless courage : Ukraine and the world at war.

Sky Above Kharkiv : dispatches from the Ukrainian front / Serhiy Zhadan.

Sonia Delaunay : living art / Waleria Dorogova and Laura Microulis, editors.

Studies on the vignettes from chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead. I, The image of MS.W Bdšt in ancient Egyptian mythology / Mykola Tarasenko.

Take my grief away : voices from the war in Ukraine / edited by Katerina Gordeeva.

The art of Ukraine / Alisa Lozhkina.

The art of Ukrainian sixties / editors, Olha Balashova

The Burlington magazine. (2022 July)

Ukraine rising : contemporary creative culture from Ukraine / co-creator: Lucia Bondar

Ukraine, remember also me : testimonies from the war / George Butler.

Viktor Kochetov = Kochetov / photography  Victor and Sergey Kochetov ; editor Sergiy Lededynskyy ; text Victor Kochetov

‘Ode to Independence’ from Istorii͡a ukrainskoĭ fotografii XIX-XXI veka / avtor Oleksandr Trachun

Like @Art! – Militant Eroticism: The Art+ Positive Archives – An LGBTQ+ History Book Recommendation

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Inspired by the theme of last month’s LGBTQ+ History Month – ‘Medicine – #UndertheScope’ – I have decided to highlight a book in the Art Library’s collections that I feel very enthusiastic about.

Front cover of the Art Library’ Militant Eroticism. Image credit Ashley Parry

That book is the exhibition catalogue Militant Eroticism: The ART+Positive Archives. The exhibition which it documents – curated by Dr. Daniel S. Berger and John Neff – took place in Chicago in 2015 and combines ephemera and art-pieces from Art+Positive. That collective formed in 1989 as an affinity group of the famous ACT UP / New York.

Sheet of Art+ Positive protest chants on page 5 of Militant Eroticism

There is an understandable reticence to discussing the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 90s as it is very easy for such discussions to focus solely on tropes of fatalism and tragedy. However, it is my belief that focusing down on the specifics of the lives and works of activists – ‘under the scope’ – reveals examples of resilience and strategies for care that can inform discourses on health and art today – relevant not only within LGBTQ+ communities, but potentially to us all. The Militant Eroticism exhibition provides many such examples, blending as it does, ephemera, such as lined sheets of scribbled notes and protest chants, with artworks by the likes of Ray Navarro and David Wojnarowicz. As John Neff, one of the exhibition’s curators, describes it, ‘Art+Positive’s project was irreverent, hysterical, pleasurable, and deeply serious.’[1]

In particular, it was Navarro’s piece Equipped, which was a centrepiece of the exhibition, that spoke to me most strongly. This triptych of photos features various prosthetic devices with cheeky, innuendo-laden captions – an upside-down wheelchair entitled Hot Butt, a walking frame on its side called Studwalk and an upside-down cane dubbed Third Leg. I was struck by how the piece manages to succinctly convey a powerful message about disabled queer life, which its humour serves to enhance. The fact that queer disabled people not only exist but have active sex lives should not still be a radical statement in 2024, but, even though awareness is growing it is something that is often forgotten. For evidence of this forgetfulness one only need look at examples of inaccessible queer-friendly venues and Pride events.[2] [3] [4]

 

The Equipped triptych from pages 26-27 of Militant Eroticism.

But, there is even more to be understood about this piece and this book, and some further enlightenment can be found in Debra Levine’s essay on pages 37 to 51. In the essay, Levine explains not only the story of how Navarro’s piece was made, but also how it fits into its wider context.

Ray Navarro photographed at the 1989 “Stop the Church” demonstration in New York City, from page 36 of Militant Eroticism.

She describes how, as Navarro was, at that time, blind and unable to walk, he called upon Aldo Hernandez and Zoe Leonard to be his amanuenses, and recounts how Leonard described this not as a collaborative effort, but ‘understood [herself] as a prosthesis for the disabled body.’ Levine tells this story as just one concrete example of what she calls ‘prosthetic politics’ – a practice which she argues was a key feature of AIDS activism and which ‘enabled members disabled with physical complications from HIV and AIDS to retain their own creative, sexual, and political identities.’[5] Through her vivid evocation of the creation of Equipped, it is easy to see how valuable this ethos could be in other settings and crises. Indeed, Levine herself briefly brings up similarities between this practice and Haitian responses to AIDS,[6] but it might also be useful to think about prosthetic politics in responses to, for instance, those suffering from Long COVID.

 

However, Levine highlights how, despite these positive aspects, ACT UP was still a predominantly white and male movement, and so those who did not fit that demographic often felt side-lined or as if they had to work harder to make their voices heard. She points out how the frames of the photos in Equipped made of ‘wood sprayed to a high-gloss finish with Crayola “flesh”-colored paint to simulate plastic prosthetic material’, show how this work was an extension of Ray’s previous collaborations with Catherine Gund. Through that work, ‘as a lesbian and a gay Chicano male, they highlighted the price minority subjects pay by joining a predominantly white gay male movement.’ Levine points out how through using ‘pinkish-coloured’ medium for the frames, ‘Ray’s metonym for his brown body is both circumscribed and supported by this artificial white flesh.’

 

These insights are an important look at the intersections between healthcare, disability, race, and queerness – not only during global health crises, but in daily life – and that is extremely important, because the truth is that all people will become ill at some point in their life, and many will experience some form of disability. Time and again, queer communities have shown how to meet the specific needs of individuals and groups dealing with illness and disability, and I think that this exhibition catalogue provides a compelling example. I think it would be wonderful if, as the curators wished this, book could be ‘a vehicle for […] knowledge, elation and rage.’[7]

 

But, of course, this is only one of the LGBTQ+ history-related items available in the Art Library and Bodleian Libraries’ collections. For a place to start, I recommend checking out LGBTQ+ History Month blog posts from previous years.

Ashley Parry, Library Assistant
Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library, Bodleian Libraries

[1] D. S. Berger and J. Neff. Militant Eroticism : The Art+Positive Archives, Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2017, p. 10.

[2] G. Coi and A. Hernández-Morales. Disability rights activists fight for access to cities’ Pride events – POLITICO. POLITICO. 22-06-16. https://www.politico.eu/article/disability-rights-activist-lgbtq-pride-parade-events-accessibility-cities-epoa/ (Accessed 2009-08-24).

[3] Gwenyth Withers. Why are there so few accessible LGBTQ+ venues. Leonard Cheshire. 22-01-13. https://www.leonardcheshire.org/our-impact/stories/why-are-there-so-few-accessible-lgbtq-venues (Accessed 2009-08-24).

[4] Alaina Leary. If Your LGBTQIA+ Pride Event Isn’t Accessible to Disabled People, You’re Missing Out.. Rooted in Rights. 18-06-19. https://rootedinrights.org/if-your-lgbtqia-pride-event-isnt-accessible-to-disabled-people-youre-missing-out/ (Accessed 2009-08-24).

[5] Debra Levine, Another Kind of Love: A Performance of Prosthetic Politics, in Militant Eroticism : The Art+Positive Archives, 42. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2017, p. 42

[6] Ibid. p.47

[7] Ibid. p.10

Art, Archaeology, and Ancient World 101: Supporting Classics in Oxford

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Tempora mutantur: Two Decades as a Classics Librarian
By Charlotte Goodall

 

Acknowledgement: Reproduced by kind permission of the author; and of the editor of Antigone: An Open Forum for Classics

 

 

September next year will mark my twentieth anniversary as Classics Librarian for the Bodleian Library [and the Sackler Library] in the University of Oxford. My time overseeing the Classics collection at Oxford has coincided with a period of great change, both in librarianship and in the way scholarship in Classics is carried out.

I came into the job in the early days of electronic resources, when very few journals were available online, and the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae was still only available on CD-ROM, loaded onto specific computers and with a simple text based search interface. In the Bodleian, we operated a book-ordering system unchanged since the 1930s, consisting of hand-written slips, filled out in triplicate, inserted into zinc cases and sent down pneumatic tubes from the reading room to the bookstack. The concept of ordering books online via the library catalogue, accessible through the internet, was still very new.

Tunnel under Broad Street.

The book tunnel connecting the Bodleian beneath Broad Street.

In Classics, we were quite advanced for a humanities subject already, as we had the TLG as well as the Packard Humanities Index CDs. These would allow basic searching of Classical Greek and Latin texts and some epigraphical works. By today’s standards, it was clunky, but at the time these resources were starting to revolutionise the way the subject was being approached, and to challenge the way Classics was served by the libraries and librarians who were the concierges of this new information landscape.

I arrived in Oxford as a graduate student in 1999, having completed my B.A. in Classics at University College Dublin. For me, Oxford was a jarring experience. Dublin had been a fabulous city to be a student; bustling, exciting, with a cosmopolitan nightlife and a feeling of modernity and fun. Oxford, on the other hand, felt provincial, dark and quiet. Everything shut at 6pm (apart from one shop at the top of Headington High Street that was open 24 hrs: students would take taxis there and back to buy cigarettes and cheap bottles of wine). Even the streetlamps were less bright. College dinners (formal hall every night, gowns required) were fun at first but the quality of the food was sometimes astonishingly awful (mutton stew, overboiled carrots, not enough potatoes to go around).

Radcliffe Camera at night.

Oxford’s Radcliffe Camera of an evening.

Academically, I was extremely fortunate to have been taught by some of the finest Classical scholars of our time. I had papyrology classes from Peter Parsons; I got sent to a terrifying meeting with the philosopher Myles Burnyeat at All Souls (he was surprisingly kind). I went to Nigel Wilson’s palaeography seminars, and listened to Martin West’s lectures on Greek Metre. I spent most of my time in the libraries. The Bodleian Lower Reading Room had only one row of desks that were wired with sockets for laptops, and I would be waiting for the doors to open every morning to secure one of these precious spaces.

There was also the library of the Ashmolean Museum (the predecessor of the Sackler Library) which was located at the back of the museum, accessed through a door at the end of the Cast Gallery. The Ashmolean Library was tiny, with a precarious spiral staircase of filigree cast-iron that would take you up to the mezzanine floor (a warning to female readers not to wear skirts was part of the induction process!). There were anglepoise lamps on the desks, and a sense that this was where “serious scholarship” was taking place.

It had now become clear that this “serious scholarship” was probably not for me. I enjoyed my time as a graduate student, but realised that I didn’t want to be an academic. There were other things in my life that brought me joy, and I didn’t want to be tied to a lifestyle that demanded so much of me. So I got a part-time job with Oxfam as an archival assistant, which taught me some of the basics of information management, and helped me recognise that I wanted to work in an area that used my education. As someone who studied exclusively in these libraries as a student, I knew their collections intimately. I was also curious about how libraries were organised and managed. Timing worked in my favour, and when I was finally in a position to apply, the job of Classics Librarian happened to become vacant.

Entrance to Sackler Library.

The Art, Archaeology, and Ancient World Library, Oxford.

My predecessor had been an old-fashioned Librarian, who ruled over the Bodleian Lower Reading Room with a stern eye and hand-catalogued every book on the shelves. My role was expanded to encompass the newly-opened Sackler Library, and I was to oversee the provision for Classics across two sites. The Sackler had absorbed the collections of the old Ashmolean Library, as well as the Art History, Archaeology, and Ancient Near East collections, and had also taken in the Classics Lending Library for undergraduates.

The building was a new-build neo-Classical rotunda, tucked in behind the museum; it had been designed as a traditional library, though at a time when libraries were changing quickly. It housed the lending collection for Classics, and would in time become one of the preeminent collections in the world for Classical Studies, Egyptology and Ancient Near East, Art History, and Classical Archaeology. For the first time in Oxford, Classics had a budget and an individual (me) whose job it was to oversee the purchase of material published across the world, in multiple languages, covering the entire scope of Classical studies. I was also trained in the traditions of cataloguing, and the archaic workings of the Bodleian, with its confusing collection of classification schemes and complicated procedures.

At the same time, the relatively novel concept of electronic provision was gaining momentum. Journals, especially from English speaking countries, were increasingly published online, although the subscriptions were often complex and expensive. Online publishing was in its infancy and publishers were struggling with figuring out how to adapt to the evolving requirements of their customers.

Shelving in CSF.

Some of the fifteen miles of shelves at the Bodleian Libraries’ Book Store, Swindon.

Increasingly, as we moved through the mid and late 2000s, libraries were at the forefront of pushing innovation and facilitating new approaches to scholarship. The TLG went fully online in 2008, rendering the CD-ROMs obsolete, and Brepols’ Library of Latin Texts had an online searchable interface for Latin that was superior to the old Packard Humanities Institute disks[1]. Perseus, which had existed since the 1980s, was showing how open-source, web-based resources could be developed, giving access to searchable lexica for the first time.[2] Big publishers such as Brill started to digitise some of their large works of scholarship (such as the Jacoby, the essential collection of fragmentary Greek historians which we first purchased online in 2007).[3] Digitisation became the buzzword of the time.

In the libraries, we had to help our readers and scholars access these new resources, and figure out how to host and service them. Google partnered with the Bodleian, creating digital scans of the Bodleian’s 19th century collections in 2009. This project was overly ambitious for the time, as the technology was not quite ready for it, and the scans were often of poor quality; also, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which automatically converts printed type into a digital document, was not available at the time. However, there was a clear appetite for digital texts, and the technology was catching up with the requirements of readers.

Sophocles title page.Title-page of Elmsley’s edition of Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus (Oxford, 1811), one of nearly a million 19th-century books scanned from the Bodleian Library for the Google Books project.

In Oxford, as the 2010s came around, issues of space and conservation were impossible to ignore. The opening of the Gladstone Link, which used the refurbished area of the old bookstack under the Radcliffe Camera and the tunnel that attached this to the Old Library, was the first big physical change to the fabric of the buildings since the 1930s.

It had become clear that instead of the old bookstack, a modern “book storage facility” was needed, and it proved impossible to build such a facility in Oxford. It ended up being constructed in Swindon, 30 miles away. The facility provides a modern, climate-controlled environment where the majority of our books are stored, to be fetched when required by readers. The old bookstack and the 1930s “New Bodleian” were refurbished as the beautiful Weston Library, which opened in 2015.

New Library on Broad Street.Refurbished Weston Library.

The Bodleian’s Weston Library (below), the recent refurbishment of the New Bodleian (pictured above in 2009).

It was always difficult to balance the different media of publication with the needs of our different readers. While so much was becoming available online, it was clear that in certain circumstances, reading print would always be preferred. However, it took the COVID-19 pandemic to fully break down some of the barriers and preconceptions around using electronic publications. As a library service, we had to pivot quickly to provide fully remote services, and we were able to introduce scanning on demand, and a hugely expanded library of electronic texts. Now our library buildings are as busy as ever, but our electronic provision continues to expand: we are, for instance, the largest user of the TLG in the world.

Open Access is our newest challenge. The academic publishing world has changed hugely in the last few years, and open-access journal publishing is now a requirement for all funding bodies in the UK and for the REF.[4] Open Access monograph publishing will be a requirement in the future. The cost of academic journal publishing and access has been outsourced to the libraries, and it is a challenge to manage this in a fair and understandable way. Classics still follows a relatively traditional publication model, but Open Access is here to stay, and deals between libraries and publishers increasingly dictate what journals are accessible to researchers.

Venn Diagram of Open Access standards.

A Venn diagram of “Open Access colours”.

As librarians we are required to understand often confusing, fast-changing rules and concepts, and to be able to communicate them to our readers. As libraries, we have been paying huge amounts of money to facilitate access to journals, for which our own academics often acted as editors. The future of library provision will involve negotiating and understanding the quickly evolving world of Open Access publishing, and helping our academics do the same.

Trends in scholarship come and go, and the books that are published every year reflect this. Each week, we librarians receive a spreadsheet of every academic book received by the Bodleian. I scan the lists, picking out the Classics books and deciding where they should go. It gives me a perspective on how some of these titles could have been published at any time in the past century – but the scholarship and technology used to produce them have changed beyond recognition. As libraries, we house and preserve the physical or digital books and retain their contents for posterity, but we also facilitate the infrastructure that allows the scholarship that produces these books to take place.

Duke Humfrey's Library interior. Arts End.

Duke Humfrey’s Library, the oldest reading room in the Bodleian. Humphrey of Lancaster (1390–1447), 1st Duke of Gloucester (and youngest son of Henry IV), bequeathed 281 manuscripts to the university.

I was given the responsibility of looking after the archive of the Sackler Library, which holds the papers of a number of prominent Classicists and Archaeologists from the twentieth century. Part of my work involves making these papers available to scholars who are interested in the history of Classical scholarship, and the history of excavation and the study of Roman Britain. It always strikes me that the generation of scholars who left behind these detailed written remains will, in some ways, be the last: so much of today’s ephemera is created digitally, and it is very unclear how such material will be preserved for posterity. A notebook or a photograph from 1923 is far more accessible and more easily conserved than, for example, something saved on a 3.5-inch diskette in 2003. This will also change the way we understand the development of our subject in years to come.

The decisions we make as scholars and librarians affect the way our subject is studied in the future. The way we document these decisions will inform future scholars and librarians and their own perspectives and interests. This is one of the things that continue to intrigue and excite me about my role and about the future path of Classical scholarship.

Charlotte Goodall

Charlotte Goodall
Subject Librarian for Classics & Classical Archaeology
Bodleian Libraries

Notes

[1] The Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) was founded in 1987, and provided searchable digital texts of Classical Latin authors and epigraphical texts. In the 1990s and 2000s, these were issued on CD-ROM and had to be loaded onto individual computers, although they later became networkable. The PHI still exists as a web-based searchable database

[2] The Perseus Digital Library (formally the Perseus Project) is an open-access, open-source collection of Classical texts, translations, and other resources freely available online.

[3] Brill‘s New Jacoby is a digital edition of Felix Jacoby’s Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker (Fragments of the Greek Historians) Parts1–3 (published 1923–94).

[4] The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is an evaluation of British universities conducted by the national research funding bodies to assess the research carried out by these institutions and inform their future funding allocations.

Ukraine: One Year On (24/02/2023)

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Renewing and Displaying our Ukrainian Collections

By Jamie Copeland

Ukrainian Artists book display, marking one year since the Russian invasion (24 January 2023) Photo credit Jamie Copeland

 

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (24 January 2022), the Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library has maintained a book display celebrating Ukrainian culture and presenting a selection of the material held in our collections that can enrich awareness of Ukraine’s art, architecture, archaeology and history. It was also intended to refresh this display periodically, both to mark events such as Ukraine Independence Day and to guard against the impression that attention has moved on. The change of material is also an opportunity to address areas that may not have been as prominent in previous displays, while drawing on the expanding collection and resources available.

The first anniversary of the invasion was an obvious moment both to reflect upon the events of the past year and to address some of the issues that I have become aware of. One of the difficulties that I had encountered was in finding material featuring contemporary artists and their responses to the ‘special military operation’ and the preceding near-decade of Russian hostilities. Although many cultural institutions and journals have commemorated the war many of the articles and institutional resources remain online only. I was able, however, to find a physical issue of the journal Artforum that has a description of an artist’s experience of the onset of the war and images of their reaction to it.

 

 

The second issue that I wanted the display to address was a response to Putin’s speech denying Ukraine’s statehood, and his preceding essay “On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians”, something I had considered during the display’s previous iteration but had learned more about over the last year. The publication ‘Postcolonial Europe?: essays on post-communist literatures and cultures’ was useful in this regard, especially the chapter titled ‘Ukrainian Culture after Communism’.

 

 

One of the major figures of Ukrainian nationhood is Mikhail Hrushevsky, historian and President of the Central Rada (Central Council of Ukraine) before its overthrow by German backed forces in April 1918. Hrushevsky continued his efforts to claim a historical legitimacy for Ukraine independent of Russia for the rest of his life, despite mounting repression. One of his more popular works was The Illustrated history of Ukraine, a single volume edition derived from his ten volume Survey of the History of the Ukrainian People, the first major work on Ukrainian history. The early 1913 version can be contrasted with the revised, post-independence 1997 edition.

 

Mikhail Grushevskīĭ . History of the Ukrainian People. 1913/1997

 

A complication in selecting publications for the display was the definition of a Ukrainian. From various perspectives (for example frequent border and regime shifting) the list could include people of Ukrainian heritage, such as Hrushevsky himself, who was born in Chełm, then part of Poland subject to Imperial Russia, to a family of the Ukrainian aristocracy. There are also artists such as Abraham Manievich, born in Belarus to a Jewish family, who studied in Kiev and was a co-founder of the Ukrainian Academy of Fine Arts. Although primarily resident in Kiev, he travelled throughout the Russian Empire and Europe before emigrating to the United States after the murder of his son in a pogrom during the Russian Civil War. A similar example is Sonia Delauney, also Jewish, born in Odessa, but who moved to St. Petersburg in her early childhood. She then moved to Paris at the age of fifteen. Would it be justifiable to include an important artist, the first living female artist to have a retrospective exhibition of her work at the Louvre (1964), just because her birthplace was in Ukraine although her education and career took place abroad? One of the quotes about her work addressed the subject of Ukraine as a formative influence upon her work.

“About 1911 I had the idea of making for my son, who had just been born, a blanket composed of bits of fabric like those I had seen in the houses of Ukrainian peasants. When it was finished, the arrangement of the pieces of material seemed to me to evoke cubist conceptions and we then tried to apply the same process to other objects and paintings.” Sonia Delaunay.[12]

 

Sonia Delaunay. Compositions for a binding of ‘Der Sturm’.

 

The recent exhibition In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s (Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, 29/11/2022 – 30/04/2023) displayed works from their the museum’s collection in conjunction with works from the national collections of Ukraine; this was a response to the Museums for Ukraine initiative, providing a cultural protest to both the invasion and Russia’s denial of a separate Ukraine culture. In the accompanying publication Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza addresses this subject, stating that the war is ‘not only about controlling territory, but also about owning the narrative’. In the introduction, the curator and art historian Konstantin Akinsha traces the history of modern Ukraine from the culturally tolerant early years of the Bolsheviks, through the terror of the Stalinist years, the relative calm of Khrushchev and the re-emergence of Ukraine as a nation state. In parallel with this political history runs a cultural history with the idealism of Ukrainian modernism experiencing both genocidal suppression and Russian appropriation as the Western art markets made modernism useful to the USSR, then the post-Soviet attempt to rediscover and exhibit the ‘Ukrainian Avant-Garde’. The lives of various artists, as they experienced fates ranging from execution, imprisonment, exile to suppression,were restricted as they saw their works confined to the ‘Spetsfond’ a sealed archive for works produced by ‘formalists’, ‘nationalists’ and other ‘criminals’. In the Eye of the Storm is broadly divided into parts, with the first three – on Kyiv, Karkhiv, and Odesa – following the various regions and associated schools with distinctive but connected experiences as they attempted to preserve the expression of their selves in the face of an overwhelming hegemonic power. The fourth part, ‘Aftermath’, follows the lives of the surviving artists. An essay, ‘From Oblivion to Glory’, discusses the Spetsfond and its function as an inadvertent resource for the subsequent study of Ukrainian art; with works held by the State Ukrainian Museum then divided among five categories, determining (for example) whether they could be exhibited, used for scientific work or transferred. The final paragraph of the book notes:

‘Almost all works from the spetsfond were allocated to the fifth group, the so-called zero category, with the majority being taken out of their frames and rolled up. As luck would have it, this eventually saved them from destruction. Because the zero category did not belong to the Museum’s primary collection it never featured in official reports and was not subject to further checks. All works from this group, therefore, remained intact in the Museum’s vaults to be discovered by future generations of curators and art historians.’

 

Vladimir Kruglov. Zinaida Serebryakova (2004) Book cover.

Zinaida Serebryakova. On the Terrace in Kharkov. 1919. Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Novosibirsk

With this in mind I wanted to display the work of artists not restricted by artistic schools or questions of identity, but to focus on their response to Ukraine as a nation. Zinaida Serebryakova, was born in Kharkiv in 1884, her family prominent in the artistic establishment of the Russian Empire. She spent much of her life in exile, often in near poverty after the death of her husband and her reluctance to conform to depicting the preferred subjects of the Soviet establishment, preferring instead to paint landscapes, scenes of rural life and domestic portraits, often of her children. Unable to afford the materials for her preferred technique of oil painting she then worked with cheaper materials such as pencil and charcoal, learning to sketch rapidly. In 1924 she was given a commission for a mural in Paris, leaving her four children under the care of her mother. On completion of this work she was unable to return to the Soviet Union and was separated from her family, although she retained her Soviet citizenship until the Nazi occupation forced her to abandon it in order to gain a Nansen passport. In 1947 she was granted French citizenship and was able to bring two of her children to Paris but was unable to meet the rest of her family until the so-called Khrushchev Thaw. In 1960 she was reunited with her daughter, now an artist at the Moscow Art Theatre. Her daughter was able to help arrange a series of major exhibitions in Moscow, Leningrad and Kyiv, which took place in 1966. The success of these established Serebryakova’s reputation in her homeland after half a life in exile. She died in 1968.

I chose to show, as openings in the book display, several paintings from Serebryakova’s earlier work. On the Terrace in Kharkov (1919) shows a peaceful family scene, with the strong use of blue and yellow, emphasizing the theme of Ukraine. The below landscapes of Ukrainian countryside, with sunflowers, rolling plains, and Crimean hills offering a counterpoint to the images of devastation we have seen since the invasion.

 

 

Contrasting with Serebryakova’s peaceful landscapes, the paintings of David Burliuk have the unstable energy typical of Futurism. Born in Riabushky, part of the Kharkov Governorate, Burliuk’s family was a mixture of Ukrainian Cossacks with a Belarussian mother. His portrait of fellow futurist Vasily Kamensky draws on the Byzantine tradition of icon painting normally used to depict the divine serenity of saints, an effect undermined by the clash of colours and almost vibrating shapes. The painting Dnieper Rapids is barely recognisable as a landscape, the land and sky merging into broken reds. Burliuk’s early life was a flurry of travel through Russia and Europe and a string of movements and manifestos. After the end of the Bolsheviks’ initial tolerance for dissent by prominent figures on the left he was forced to flee via Japan, eventually settling on Long Island, New York.  Despite persistent campaigning he was refused permission to revisit the USSR until the Khrushchev years.

The revival of interest in Soviet avant-garde movements following the Khrushchev Thaw notwithstanding, the art markets of the West had only an outside view of the influences prevalent in their creation. In his above-mentioned essay, Konstantin Akinsha quotes Oleh Ilnytzkyz, an early proponent of Ukranian Futurism: “The goal is not to place a new ‘Ukrainian’ straitjacket on cultural activities in the empire, but to find a way to do justice to the variety of sources and the myriad of cultural influences that flowed from so many directions. The recognition of Burliuk, [Aleksandra] Ekster and [Kazimir] Malevich as Ukrainians does not diminish their relevance for either the imperial (transnational) avant-garde or for strictly Russian culture, where their impact is undeniable.”

 

 

In a similar attempt to recognise cultural specificity, the National Gallery recently renamed its Degas pastel drawing formally known as Russian Dancers to Ukrainian Dancers.

A brief section titled ‘Note on Transliteration’ (p. 8) in the publication In the eye of the storm: modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s (2022) – often used as a resource for this display – discusses one of the issues encountered when discussing Ukraine and its culture. While recognizing the complex identities of artists from this period and area, the project shows that the individuals discussed belong to the narrative of Ukrainian art history. The editors have therefore favoured the transliteration of Ukrainian versions of artists names, except for emigrés with previously well-established reputations in the West. While using various sources to research this book display I found the question of whether to use the Russian or Ukrainian versions of names and places increasingly problematic. Although current resources tend to use Ukrainian names, many/most printed materials, especially those published before the break-up of the USSR, use Russian versions. Many artists themselves may have used Russian versions, including in place names and titles of their works. Unwilling to impose a choice I largely stayed with the version used in the source material I was discussing. The modern history of Ukraine and its relationship with Russia has itself led to several linguistic variations. In contrast with Imperial Russia’ imposition of ‘Russification’ on its provinces, Lenin supported korenizatsiia (nativization), a policy encouraging indigenous cultures and languages as a means of increasing support for the Bolsheviks beyond Russia itself. This policy was abruptly brought to an end by Stalin, whose purges destroyed symbols of Ukrainian culture such as the Kobzars (travelling singers) and had so effective an impact on Ukrainian artists that they became known as the “The Executed Renaissance”.

Alexander Osmekin, Profile and Flowers (1946)

Although later policies were less harsh, the Soviet regime still used imprisonment and censorship as tools to suppress potential dissent. Under these conditions conformity to approved approaches such as ‘Socialist Realism’ became a necessity for many artists, with even coded references such as colour or national symbols risking censure.

 

Mykhailo Boychuk. Portrait of a Woman. 1909. Lviv National Art Gallery

Like Burliuk, several other artists’ work was influenced by Byzantine icon painting and nativist art. An example is the poignant,  folk art-inspired Portrait of a Woman by Mykhailo Boychuk who, in 1936, along with two of his students and four months later his wife, was executed by the NKVD.  Boychuk’s work, described by his killers as ‘bourgeois nationalism’ and largely destroyed, was an influence on the later artist and regime opponent Alla Horska, who was herself killed by the KGB in 1970. Much of the work of both of these artists, often in the form of murals, mosaics and other large public works drawing upon Byzantine sources, was destroyed by the Soviet authorities, with some of the work only surviving in preliminary sketches or photographs. Others were preserved by fellow artists and archivists, such as Yaroslava Muzyka, who kept most of the paintings Boychuk left in Lviv after he was forced to abandon them.

 

Alla Horska. Sketch for a mosaique. 1960(?)

In my attempt to select publications and show artists’ works for the display, and also learn of the fates – exile, appropriation, suppression or attempts to erase from history – of the works and their creators it became impossible not to admire the resilience of people currently struggling to preserve themselves as a nation, however varied. One of the claims put out by the Kremlin, was that Russia and Ukraine are one people separated by a Western coup, thus justifying a ‘special military operation’ to reunite them. Author Andrey Kurkov’s Ukraine diaries, detailing his experiences in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv, as he and others struggled to resist the 2014 attempt to permanently bind Ukraine to Russian vassalage, was also an inspiration for the display. The PEN Ukraine book Treasures of Ukraine, for which Kurkov wrote the foreword, was similarly invaluable in providing a cultural history and a guide to more contemporary work.

The following gallery and list of publications on display can show only a small section of the Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library’s collection of material celebrating Ukraine.

Gallery

 

 

Publications on display

Aĭvazovskiĭ, Ivan Konstantinovich. 2011. Aiwasowski : Maler des Meeres / herausgeg Ostfildern : Hatje Cantz

Akinsha, Konstantin. Denysova, Katia. Kashuba-Volvach, Olena. 2022. In the eye of the storm : modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s. London : Thames and Hudson

Balashova, Olha [editor-in-chief]. 2021. The art of Ukrainian sixties. Kyiv : Osnovy Publishing

Delaunay, Sonia, 2014, Sonia Delaunay. London

Grushevskiĭ, Mikhai. 1913. Illi͡ustrirovannai͡a istorīi͡a ukrainskago naroda. vyp. 1.  S.-Peterburg : Tip. T-va “Ekateringofsk. Pechatnoe Di͡elo

Grushevskiĭ, Mikhail. 1997 Illi͡ustrirovannai͡a istorii͡a Ukrainy. Kiev : MPP “Levada

Hnatenko, Stefania. 1989. Treasures of early Ukrainian art : religious art of the 16th- 18th centuries New York : Ukrainian Museum

Kadan, Nikita, 2022. Project

Artforum international. v.60: no.8(2022: Apr.)

Kruglov, Vladimir, 2004. Zinaida Evgenʹevna Serebri͡akova = Zinaida Serebryakova

St. Petersburg

Kurkov, Andrey. 2014. Ukrainian diaries: dispatches from Kiev. London : Harvill Secker

Marko, Olya [Editor] 1991.  Spirit of Ukraine : 500 years of painting : selections from the State Museum of Ukrainian Art, Kiev : an exhibition organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery in honour of the centenary of Ukrainian settlement in Canada. Winnipeg : Winnipeg Art Gallery

Monti, Matteo de. 2011. Colour moves : art and fashion by Sonia Delaunay London : Thames & Hudson

Morozov, A. I. (Aleksandr Ilʹich), 2007 Sot͡srealizm i realism Moskva : Galart

Mudrak, Myroslava M. “The Painted Surface in the Ukrainian Avant-garde: from Facture to Construction.”

Pantheon 45 (1987): 138–43. [München] : [Bruckmann]

Pensler, Alan. 2001. Abraham Manievich, Manchester : Yivo Institute for Jewish Research : Hudson Hills Press

Petrova, Yevgenia. [editor-in chief], 2001.  Abstraction in Russia, XX century

St. Petersburg,

Russian futurism : and David Burliuk, “The father of Russian Futurism”

Petrova, Yevgenia [editor-in-chief] 2008.  XX century in the Russian Museum: painting, sculpture 1900-2000 Sankt-Peterburg : Palace Editions, 2008.

Pucherová, Dobrota [editor-in-chief]. 2015. Postcolonial Europe? : essays on post-communist literatures and cultures  Part V: Between the East and the West: the colonial present — Ukrainian culture after communism: between post-colonial liberation and neo-colonial subjugation. Riabchuk, Mykola. Leiden : Brill Rodopi

Shulʹkevich, M. M. 1982. Kiev : arkhitekturno-istoricheskiĭ ocherk. Kiev : “Budivelʹnyk”

Teboul, David. 2011. I’ve been here once before. Boris Mikhailov interviewed by David Teboul. München : Hirmer

Surudz͡hiĭ, N.M. 2016. Pysanky nashykh babusʹ : zibranni͡a pysanok I͡Urii͡a Ferenchuka = Our grandmothers pysankas : pisankas collection of Yuiy Ferenchuk / avtor proektu ta upori͡adnyk. Chernivt͡si : Misto

Ukrains’kiĭ modernizm 1910-1930 = Ukrainian modernism. 2006, Kyiv : National Art Museum of Ukraine

Versari, Maria Elena (Curator), 2022 Archipenko and the Italian avant garde London : Estorick Foundation

 

Like @ SAC! LGBT+ History Month 2023

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LGBT+ History Month 2023
‘Behind the Lens’ Book Display
by Ashley Parry

 

It’s February already! In the UK, this means that it’s LGBTQ+ History Month, which offers an occasion to acknowledge and celebrate the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people of all identities throughout the ages. At the Sackler Library, we are marking this month with a display to highlight LGBTQ+ related items in our collections. This year’s theme, Behind the Lens, marks LGBTQ+ people’s contribution to cinema and film not in front of the camera but behind it.

 

Sackler LGBTQ+ History Month Display

Behind the Lens book display, Sackler Library. Image Credit: Ashley Parry

Some of the publications included in the display: Berenice Abbott; Sunil Gupta’s Queer; Photography’s Orientalism; Robert Mapplethorpe; Outlaw Representation; Blatant Image, in Art After Stonewall. Image Credit: Ashley Parry

 

 

Through my research, I was drawn to the work of the trans artist, Wu Tsang, who uses dance and film to explore the theme of perspective in her work.Then, while Andy Warhol looms large over the history of queer art, this month has enabled me to highlight his films specifically. In fact, both Wu Tsang and Andy Warhol illustrate one of the key themes of this display – that LGBTQ+ artist-filmmakers not only question the boundaries between sexualities and genders, but also the boundaries between different forms of artistic expression.

Another artist whose work illustrates this is Derek Jarman (1942-1994), represented in the display by Derek Jarman: Brutal Beauty and also included in Caravaggio in Film and Literature: Popular Culture’s Appropriation of a Baroque Genius. Jarman is best known for his films but has also been very influential in his installation work, and he applied his knowledge of art and art history to his films in their composition and subject matter.

 

Book covers for Wu Tsang, Andy Warhol, Derel Jarman, and Laura Rorato

 

The anthologies on show in the display also illustrate the permeability of genre boundaries, where the work of artists who use film installation is represented alongside that of poets, photographers and fine artists.

 

 

For example, Sex Ecologies includes a diverse range of contributions, from photography by filmmaker Pedro Neves Marques to Léuli Eshrāghi’s discussions of Sāmoan sexual and gender diversity. The volume AIDS Riot contains interviews with filmmaker and “TV-guerrilla” Gregg Bordowitz, who “conceived of [‘video’] as the privileged instrument in the de-marginalization of PWAs [People With AIDS]”, alongside discussions of other installation, graphic design, and photographic work from artist collectives in the New York of the 1980s and 1990s. Similarly, in the book Outlaw Representation, Richard Meyer discusses the work of artist and filmmaker, David Wojnarowicz alongside other controversial figures such as photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The potential for crossover between photography and film gave me the opportunity to include Mapplethorpe’s photographs with those of with those of other queer artists such as Berenice Abbot, and Sunil Gupta. In fact, it is Abbott’s image that has been used for the poster of this display.

 

(A note about the poster for this book display: The image of Berenice Abbott (1898-1991), with camera almost the same height as photographer, is a good fit with this year’s ‘Behind the Lens’ theme. Also aligning itself with the theme, the Courier typeface is typically used for screenplays. As for the text’s colours, I chose Valentino Vecchietti’s tones in his 2021 intersex-inclusive redesign for the Progress Pride Flag at the top of the poster, and the colours of Gilbert Baker’s original 1978 rainbow flag design at the bottom of the poster. Using these colour ranges incorporates as many queer identities as possible without privileging any in particular, while also paying tribute to the past 45 years of queer art history.)

 

The book Sexuality & Space creates a bridge between the film and photography related books in this display and other fascinating titles on queer theory and architectural criticism, such as Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity, and Queer Space: Architecture and Same-sex Desire. Another related publication, available as an ebook, that is well worth a look is Preservation and Place: Historic Preservation by and of LGBTQ Communities in the United States .

 

The display’s architecture section, including Sexuality & Space; Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity; Bachelors of a Different Sort; and Queer Space: Architecture and Same-Sex Desire. Image Credit: Ashley Parry.

 

Photo of cover of 'Sappho Is Burning' by Page duBois.

 

Although this year’s theme meant that most materials skewed towards the modern, it would be a disservice to the Sackler’s collections and the true diversity of historical experience to concentrate only on this era. For example, no overview of LGBTQ+ history would be complete without the Classical Greek poet Sappho, whose evocations of same-sex desire in her poetry led to the adjective ‘sapphic’ and whose home of Lesbos gives us the word ‘lesbian’. She is included in this display not only through a collection of her poems, but also through Page duBois’s post-modern analysis of her work in Sappho is Burning.

Representing our archaeology collections on the LGBTQ+ front, both L’homosexualité dans le Proche-Orient Ancien et la Bible and Sex and Gender in Ancient Egypt demonstrate the presence of individuals we might now consider queer in the Ancient Near East. The Queer Archaeologies special issue of the periodical World Archaeologies includes various perspectives on how the field can diversify its approach. One of the aspects of reading about LGBTQ+ interpretations of ancient history that I found enlightening is the way they challenge heteronormative cultural customs – questioning whether conclusions about ancient lives are backed up by evidence or based on imported modern assumptions.

 

 

Covers of LGBTQ+ Ancient History books.

 

One of the pioneers of treating the history of ancient art as a discipline was Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768). This influential gay philologist is represented by several books in the display, such as Winckelmann – das göttliche Geschlecht and Gay and Lesbian Studies in Art History. Both of these texts examine the ways that Winckelmann’s sexuality informed his approach to the study of ancient art, and contributed to his innovative modes of writing about the subject.

Photo of James Ivory filming 'Maurice'.
James Ivory filming E. M. Forster’s Maurice in the Egyptian sculpture gallery at the British Museum in 1986. Maurice: © Merchant Ivory Productions; photograph by Natasha Grenfell.

Winckelmann’s work was brought to my attention by Richard Parkinson, author of A Little Gay History, who also kindly donated one of the images accompanying this display.It depicts a still from the set of the film adaptation of E. M. Forster’s Maurice, directed and produced by partners James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. Forster’s inspiration for the novel is also mentioned in the introduction to John Potvin’s Bachelors of a Different Sort as part of his evocations of queer masculine domestic life. The image serves to tie together some of the threads of the display, combining as it does the Egyptian artefacts in the British Museum with a behind-the-scenes look at the work of queer filmmakers.

There’s so much more fascinating material on LGBTQ+ related topics to discover throughout the Sackler Library’s collections, but only so much that could be fit into this display. However, I have included many more titles in the bibliography of this blog post – though, of course, I still have not included everything that the library has to offer!

 

Ashley Parry, Library Assistant
Sackler Library, Bodleian Libraries

 

Display List

Ackerman, S., 2005. When heroes love : the ambiguity of eros in the stories of Gilgamesh and David, New York.

 

Alvarado, L., Evans Frantz, D., Gómez-Barris, M., Ondine Chavovoya, C., et al., 2017, Axis mundo: queer networks in Chicano L.A., Munich.

 

Anthonissen, A., 2019. Queer!?: Beeldende kunst in Europa 1969-2019 = Visual arts in Europe 1969-2019, Zwolle.

 

Behdad, A. & Gartlan, L., 2013. Photography’s Orientalism: new essays on colonial representation, Los Angeles.

 

Betsky, A., 1997. Queer space: architecture and same-sex desire, New York.

 

Boehringer, S., 2021. Female homosexuality in ancient Greece and Rome, trans. Preger, A., London.

 

Cann, T., Kinigopoulo, A., Sawyer, D., & Weinburg, J., 2019, Art after Stonewall : 1969-1989, Columbus, OH.

 

Colomina, B., 1992. Sexuality & space, New York.

 

Cortjaens, W., Goerlitz, G., & Tobin, R. D., 2017. Winckelmann – Das göttliche Geschlecht Auswahlkatalog zur Ausstellung im Schwulen Museum Berlin, 16. Juni bis 9. Oktober 2017, Petersburg.

 

Davidson, J. N., 2007. The Greeks and Greek love: a radical reappraisal of homosexuality in ancient Greece, London.

 

Davis, W., 1994. Gay and lesbian studies in art history, New York.

 

Dowson, T. A., World Archaeology, Oct. 2000, Vol. 32 (2), ‘Queer Archaeologies’.

 

DuBois, P., 1995. Sappho is burning, Chicago.

 

Engel, C., Fenouillat, N., Guitton, A., Di Loreto, B., Loyau, F., Mestrov, I., & Olszewska, A., 2003. AIDS riot: collectifs d’artistes face au Sida = Artist collectives against AIDS, New York, 1987-1994: 12e session de l’École du Magasin, Grenoble.

 

Gilhuly, K., 2020. Erotic geographies in ancient Greek literature and culture, London.

 

Graves-Brown, C., 2008. Sex and gender in ancient Egypt: ‘don your wig for a joyful hour’, Swansea.

 

Gupta, S., 2011. Queer, Munich.

 

Hessler, S., 2021. Sex ecologies. Cambridge, MA.

 

Julien, I., 2008. Derek Jarman: brutal beauty. London.

 

Kuo, J. C., 2013. Contemporary Chinese Art and Film: Theory Applied and Resisted, Washington, D. C.

 

Mapplethorpe, R., Danto, A. C., Holborn, M., Levas, D., & Smith, P., 2020. Robert Mapplethorpe, London.

 

Meyer, R., 2003. Outlaw representation: censorship & homosexuality in twentieth-century American art, Boston.

 

Morelli, A., 2009. Roman Britain and classical deities: gender and sexuality in Roman art, Oxford.

 

Murphy, J. J., 2012. The black hole of the camera: the films of Andy Warhol, Berkely, CA.

 

Nardelli, J., 2007. Homosexuality and liminality in the Gilgameš and Samuel, Amsterdam.

 

Parkinson, R. B., 2013. A little gay history: desire and diversity across the world, London.

 

Potvin, J., 2014. Bachelors of a different sort : queer aesthetics, material culture and the modern interior in Britain, Manchester.

 

Rault, J., 2011. Eileen Gray and the design of sapphic modernity: staying in, Farnham.

 

Römer, T. & Bonjour, L., 2016. L’homosexualité dans le Proche-Orient ancien et la Bible,

 

Rorato, L., 2014. Caravaggio in film and literature: popular culture’s appropriation of a baroque genius, London.

 

Like @ SAC! Tutankhamun at the Sackler Library: Excavating the Archive

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‘Yes, wonderful things’(?)
A Book Display at the Sackler Library

By Susanne Woodhouse

 

Fig. 1: The Tutankhamun book display at the Sackler Library. Image credit: S. Woodhouse

 

In 1922, as Egypt moved towards becoming an independent nation, the tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered at Luxor. The excavation of the tomb by Howard Carter and his team developed into a media event and was photographed by Harry Burton (1879–1940), from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The prints and negatives became part of an archive created by the excavators, along with letters, plans, drawings and diaries. When Carter died in 1939, he bequeathed most of his estate to his niece, Phyllis Walker (1897–1977), including the archaeological records. Following the advice of Egyptologists Alan H. Gardiner (1879–1963) and Percy E. Newberry (1869–1949), who had both been on the team, Walker presented the documentation, with associated copyright, to the Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, in 1945. The physical archive remains in Oxford and can be freely explored online, allowing scholars from across the world to continually reassess the burial and its discovery (Rosenow, Parkinson 2022: 8).

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in November 1922, Griffith Institute staff, working with Bodleian Libraries staff, created the exhibition Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive which can be seen at the Weston Library until 5 February 2023. (Fig. 2A). The accompanying publication (Fig. 2B) provides an overview of the archive, featuring 50 key items.

 

 

In conjunction with both anniversary and Weston Library exhibition, the current Tutankhamun book display at the Sackler Library (Oxford’s central repository for research publications on Egyptology) showcases a selection of works from its collections (Fig. 1). The items are organised into four thematic groups, with relevant new publications added throughout the duration of the display. Special features of this Sackler book display also include the facsimiles of two drawings by Carter; of Carter’s 1922 excavation diary in which he noted the discovery of the first step of an unknown tomb on 4 November; and of a photo album sold to tourists during the clearance of the tomb (Fig. 3).

 

 

Fig. 3: Items from the Howard Carter Archive (facsimiles). Image credit: S. Woodhouse

 

The publication group “The Excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb and its finds” sets the scene with the authoritative work The tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen: discovered by the late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter, published in three volumes between 1923 and 1933 by Howard Carter and Arthur Mace (1874-1928). The first volume, opened at page 96 (Fig. 4), features in the centre of the display: here, the reader will find the magic words ‘Yes, wonderful things’, supposedly uttered by Carter when glimpsing, through a small breach in the doorway into the Antechamber of the tomb, and making out, in the flickering light of a candle, golden beds in various animal shapes, exquisite furniture, alabaster vessels and food containers. The b/w photo (Plate XV, opposite page 96) captures Carter’s view. However, according to his Excavation Journal (26 November 1922), held in the Griffith Institute Archive, Carter replied ‘Yes, it is wonderful’, casting doubt on the precise wording of his comment (James 2006: 253); the Weston Library exhibition catalogue leans more towards the version given in the Excavation Journal, written close to the events (Parkinson 2022: 40-41) and not intended for the general public.

 

Fig. 4: ‘Yes, wonderful things’ (Carter, H., Mace, A. C. (1923): 96. Image credit: S. Woodhouse

 

When concerns regarding media access and the constant stream of visitors to the small tomb came to a head between Carter and the Egyptian Antiquities Service in February 1924, Carter and his team departed from the site mid-season, leaving behind the heavy coffin lid hanging from the scaffolding above the coffin. In a statement underpinned by documents for private circulation Carter sets forth his line of action. With only a few dozen copies printed, this historic document was reprinted and introduced by N. Reeves in 1998 (Fig. 5).

These events also feature in a then little-known publication, ‘Schlagzeile Tutenchamun’ in which the author retraces the general media coverage of the discovery of the tomb received in the world press, including in Germany (Fig. 6).

 

 

Once recorded by Carter and his team, the finds were crated and shipped to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo at the end of each excavation season, for immediate display. Curious travellers calling on Carter for a tour of the tomb were referred to the Tutankhamun collection at the Egyptian Museum. In 1926 the first catalogue of the permanently displayed objects was published (Fig. 7), serving interested visitors as a gallery guide. Future supplements of the catalogue were to include newly added objects.

 

Fig. 8: Drawing of the four sides of all four nested shrines which enclosed the coffin (Piankoff 1951-1952: pl. 22). Image credit: S. Woodhouse

 

The popular account ‘The tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen’ was Carter’s only monograph on this subject. Although he continued adding to the excavation files, the planned multi-volume work dedicated to the finds never materialised. Owning the publication rights, Carter was in a position to ask colleagues for help with this colossal task but it doesn’t seem he ever did. After his death in 1939 the rights, together with his papers, were transferred to his niece who subsequently deeded them to the Griffith Institute in 1945. Finally, in 1951 the first scholarly monograph, dedicated to one object group from the tomb, was published by Alexandre Piankoff, a specialist in religious texts.

 

In the introduction to ‘Les chapelles de Tout-Ankh-Amon’ (Fig. 8) the author recalls how during WWII the Director General of the Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte suggested he prepare a study of the texts on these four shrines, and how afterwards Oxford-based Alan Gardiner granted Piankoff the publication rights. An expanded English version was published in 1955 (Fig. 9).

 

Fig. 9: The second golden shrine (Piankoff 1955). Image credit: S. Woodhouse

 

In her extensive study of the iconic photographs produced by Harry Burton, Christina Riggs calls them ‘the most famous and compelling archaeological images ever made’ (Fig. 10). She describes the technical aspects of producing glass negatives and the difficult working conditions under which Burton took well over 3,000 shots.

 

Fig. 10: Harry Burton’s photo of Tutankhamun’ coffin being examined (Riggs 2019: fig. 7.1). Image credit: S. Woodhouse

 

Sumptuous colour images of the objects were published in 2007 in the form of a coffee-table book, the product of a  successful cooperation between the photographer Sandro Vannini and the Egyptologist Zahi Hawass (Fig. 11).

Once Carter’s papers and the publication rights were transferred to the Griffith Institute, Alan Gardiner worked tirelessly on having the tomb content published; this is the topic of the second thematic group on display: “Tutankhamun and Oxford”. The Griffith Institute did not have the financial means required for the multi-volume scholarly publication of the tomb finds (Fox 1951: Preface; Eaton-Krauss 2020: 17) and the outbreak of the Egyptian Revolution in 1952 put an end to Gardiner’s efforts to find the necessary funding in Egypt (James 2006: 445; Eaton-Krauss 2020: 217-218).

 

 

In 1951 Oxford University Press published ‘Tutankhamun’s treasure’, written by the Griffith Institute’s Assistant Secretary Penelope Fox and highlighting various objects from the tomb (Fig. 12). Although this book was not the ultimate publication Alan Gardiner had in mind, it was the first monograph dedicated to the tomb’s finds produced in Oxford.

Eleven years later the Griffith Institute finally published its first object-focused study. ‘Tutankhamun’s painted  box’ is the result of a collaboration between the preeminent copyist and illustrator Nina de Garis Davies (1881-1965), who painted facsimiles of all five decorated surfaces of the box, and Alan Gardiner, who wrote the introduction (Fig. 13).

 

Fig. 13: Panel of a box from the tomb of Tutankhamun, copied by Nina de Garis Davies (Davies, Gardiner 1962). Image credit: Griffith Institute

 

Finally, in 1963 the Griffith Institute’s Tutʿankhamūn’s Tomb Series (Fig. 14) was launched and a total of nine monographs were published until 1990 when the series was discontinued (Eaton-Krauss 2020: 218-219). Since this date the Griffith Institute has published further definitive monographs on specific object groups from the tomb, though these are no longer part of a series.

 

Fig. 14: Tutʿankhamūn’s Tomb Series (v. 9 was on loan at the time the image was taken). Image credit: S. Woodhouse

 

Fig. 15: Catalogue for the Tutankhamun exhibition at the British Museum in 1972 (Edwards 1972b). Image credit: S. Woodhouse

Titled “Tutankhamun and the British Museum” the third publication group on display centres on one of the most iconic exhibitions ever shown in the UK. With 1,602,000 visitors, it was the most successful exhibition at the British Museum to date. In 1972, after years of preparations and negotiations, the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb was celebrated with a special exhibition at the British Museum; 50 objects from the tomb were on show, including the golden mask. The cover of the accompanying exhibition catalogue shows an intimate scene between the King and his Queen from a gilded shrine, framed in shades of orange and brown typical for the time (Fig. 15). In a contemporary BBC 4 documentary Magnus Magnusson introduced viewers to the exhibition. The proceeds from this  — £600,000 (today’s value £7,6m) — helped pay for the rescue of the temples at Philae (Edwards 1972a: 10; Zaki 2017: 86).

 

In 1992, the 70th anniversary of the tomb’s discovery, the British Museum showcased Howard Carter’s 30 years of work in Egypt prior to 1922. The exhibition was an academic and popular success (Fig. 16).

 

Having known families of colleagues as well as close contacts of Carter and having been granted unique access to their papers, T.G.H. James (1923-2009), Deputy Keeper of the Egyptian Department at the British Museum at the time of the 1972 blockbuster, wrote an authoritative biography on Carter (James 2006: Fig. 17). This publication was followed by a lavishly illustrated book in which he discusses objects from the tomb (James 2007).

Aspects addressed in the fourth thematic group on display, “Reception of Tutankhamun”, are Egyptomania (Fig. 18), literature, Egypt’s nationalist movement, and tourism in Egypt in the wake of the discovery of the tomb.

 

Fig. 18: A Cartier brooch inspired by Tutankhamun’s head, shown emerging from a lotus flower (Humbert, Pantazzi, Ziegler 1994: cat. No. 366). Image credit: S. Woodhouse

 

Susanne Woodhouse
Subject Librarian for Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Bodleian Libraries

With the assistance of Jenna Ilett
Graduate Library Trainee
Bodleian Libraries

__________________________________________________________________

 References

Eaton-Krauss, M. (2020) ‘Publications in monographic form of the ‘treasure’ of Tutankhamun, 1952-2020′, Göttinger Miszellen, 262, pp. 217-225.

Eaton-Krauss, M. (2014) ‘Impact of the discovery of KV62 (The Tomb of Tutankhamun)’, KMT, 25.1, pp. 29-37.

Rosenow, D. and Parkinson, R.B. (2022) ‘Tutankhamun: The Oxford Archive’, Scribe. The American Research Center in Egypt, 58, 8–11.

Zaki, A. A. (2017) ‘Tutankhamun Exhibition at the British Museum in 1972: a historical perspective’, Journal of Tourism Theory and Research, 3(2), 2017, 80-88. DOI: 10.24288/jttr.312180

Displayed books

Baines, J. and el-Khouli, A. (1993) Stone vessels, pottery and sealings from the tomb of Tutʿankhamūn. Oxford: Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum.

Beinlich, H., Saleh, M. and Murray, H. (1989) Corpus der hieroglyphischen Inschriften aus dem Grab des Tutanchamun : mit Konkordanz der Nummernsysteme des “Journal d’Entrée” des Ägyptischen Museums Kairo, der Handlist to Howard Carter’s catalogue of objects in Tutʿankhamūn’s Tomb und der Ausstell. Oxford: Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum.

Broschat, K. and Schutz, M. (2021) Iron from Tutankhamun’s tomb. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.

Carter, H. (1998) Tut·ankh·amen : the politics of discovery. London: Libri.

Carter, H. and Mace, A.C. (1923-1933) The tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen discovered by the late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter. 3 vols. London ; New York: Cassell.

Černý, J. (1965) Hieratic inscriptions from the tomb of Tutʿankhamūn. Oxford: Griffith Institute (Tutʿankhamūn’s Tomb Series ; 2).

Colla, E. (2007) Conflicted antiquities : Egyptology, Egyptomania, Egyptian modernity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Collins, P. and McNamara, L. (2014) Discovering Tutankhamun. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum.

Davies, N.M. and Gardiner, A.H. (1962) Tutankhamun’s painted box : reproduced in colour from the original in the Cairo Museum. Oxford: Griffith Institute.

Dobson, E. (2020) Writing the Sphinx : literature, culture and Egyptology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (Edinburgh critical studies in Victorian culture).

Eaton-Krauss, M. and Graefe, E. (1985) The small golden shrine from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Oxford : Atlantic Highlands, N.J: Griffith Institute ; Distributed in the U.S.A. by Humanities Press.

Eaton-Krauss, M. (1993) The sarcophagus in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Oxford: Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum.

Eaton-Krauss, M. and Segal, W. (2008) The thrones, chairs, stools, and footstools from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Oxford: Griffith Institute.

Edwards, I.E.S. (1972a) ‘The Tutankhamun exhibition’, British Museum Society Bulletin, 9, pp. 7-11.

Edwards, I.E.S. (1972b) Treasures of Tutankhamun. London: British Museum.

Fox, P. (1951) Tutankhamun’s treasure. London ; New York: Oxford University Press.

Gabolde, M. (2015) Toutankhamon. Paris: Pygmalion (Grands pharaons).

Germer, R. (1989) Die Pflanzenmaterialien aus dem Grab des Tutanchamun. Hildesheim: Gerstenberg (Hildesheimer ägyptologische Beiträge ; 28).

Haas Dantes, F. (2022) Transformation eines Königs : eine Analyse der Ausstattung von Tutanchamuns Mumie. S.l.: SCHWABE AG.

Hawass, Z.A. and Vannini, S. (2007) King Tutankhamun : the treasures of the tomb. London: Thames & Hudson.

Hepper, F.N. (2009) Pharaoh’s flowers : the botanical treasures of Tutankhamun. 2nd edn. Chicago ; London: KWS Pub.

Humbert, J.-M (2022) Art déco : Égyptomanie. Paris: Norma Éditions

Humbert, J.-M., Pantazzi, M. and Ziegler, C. (1994) Egyptomania : l’Égypte dans l’art occidental, 1730-1930. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux.

James, T.G.H. (2006) Howard Carter : the path to Tutankhamun. Rev, pbk. London: Taurus Parke Paperbacks.

James, T.G.H. (2007) Tutankhamun : the eternal splendor of the boy pharaoh. Rev. Vercelli: White Star.

Jones, D. (1990) Model boats from the tomb of Tuʿtankhamūn. Oxford: Griffith Institute (Tutʿankhamūn’s Tomb Series ; 9).

Leek, F.F. (1972) The human remains from the tomb of Tutʿankhamūn. Oxford: Griffith Institute (Tutʿankhamūn’s Tomb Series ; 5).

Littauer, M.A. and Crouwel, J.H. (1985) Chariots and related equipment from the tomb of Tut’ankhamūn. Oxford : Atlantic Highlands, N.J: Griffith Institute ; Distributed in the U.S.A. by Humanities Press (Tutʿankhamūn’s Tomb Series ; 8).

Málek, J. (2007) Tutankhamun : the secrets of the tomb and the life of the Pharaohs. London: Carlton.

Manniche, L. (1976) Musical instruments from the tomb of Tut’ankhamūn. Oxford: Griffith Institute (Tutʿankhamūn’s Tomb Series ; 6).

Manniche, L. (2019) The ornamental calcite vessels from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Leuven: Peeters (Griffith Institute publications).

Matḥaf al-Miṣrī (1926) A short description of the objects from the tomb of Tutankhamum now exhibited in the Cairo Museum. [Cairo: Egyptian Museum].

McLeod, W. (1970) Composite bows from the tomb of Tut’ankhamūn. Oxford: Griffith Institute (Tutʿankhamūn’s Tomb Series ; 3).

McLeod, W. (1982) Self bows and other archery tackle from the tomb of Tutʿankhamūn. Oxford: Griffith Institute (Tutʿankhamūn’s Tomb Series ; 4).

Murray, H. and Nuttall, M. (1963) A handlist to Howard Carter’s catalogue of objects in Tutʿankhamūn’s tomb. Oxford: Printed for the Griffith Institute at the University Press by V. Ridler (Tutʿankhamūn’s Tomb Series ; 1).

Otto, A. (2005) Schlagzeile Tutenchamun : die publizistische Begleitung der Entdeckung und der Ausräumung des Grabes von Tutenchamun. Marburg: Tectum.

Parkinson, R.B. (ed.) (2022) Tutankhamun : excavating the archive. Oxford: Bodleian Library.

Piankoff, A. (1951-1952) Les chapelles de Tout-Ankh-Amon. Le Caire: Impr. de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale (Mémoires publiés par les membres de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire ; t.72).

Piankoff, A. and Rambova, N. (1955) The shrines of Tut-Ankh-Amon. New York: Pantheon Books (Bollingen Series ; 40:2).

Quaegebeur, J. and Cherpion, N. (1999) La naine et le bouquetin : ou l’énigme de la barque en albâtre de Toutankhamon. Leuven: Peeters.

Reeves, N. (1990) The complete Tutankhamun : the king, the tomb, the royal treasure. London: Thames and Hudson.

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