Our last day packed in lots of walking, art, walking, food, walking . . . Nick had gotten tickets for us to see the 'Picasso and the Avant Garde in Paris' exhibit at the PMA. But first, Casey, Celise and I started the day at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia--one of many venues hosting the Philagrafika 2010 art experience. (Philagrafika 2010, five years in the making, is an "international festival celebrating print in contemporary art" featuring more than 300 artists exhibiting in more than 80 city-wide venues. Most exhibits run through April 11, 2010.)I'd been longing to see some of this wonderful work for many months. My interest in the book arts, historical buildings and a tight time budget, helped narrow the choices down to the Athenaeum which was exhibiting the work of six book artists.
The Athenaeum and the Philadelphia Center for the Book put out a call for book artists to respond to one of ten selected works from the Athenaeum's legacy research collection of architecture and design. The artists whose proposals were chosen each received $500 to complete their book.
My favorite was a book sculpture by John Magnan titled Diorama. He created each 'page' of the 'book' from two curved tree rings. His piece was a response to The Young Carpenter's Assistant by Owen Biddle (1805). The Athenaeum itself is a lovely American Italianate Revival style building--one of the first in the United States--and a National Historic Landmark--the first subscription library of the United States, located at South 6th Street near Walnut in Old City and well worth a visit.
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