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MFAH´s Ornament as Art Exhibition Catalogue Receives Prestigious George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award From the Art Libraries Society of North America
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Monday, May 12, 2008For Immediate Release
MFAH´s Ornament as Art Exhibition Catalogue Receives Prestigious George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award From the Art Libraries Society of North America; Wittenborn Award is a First for MFAH Publishing Department
Ornament as Art Exhibition on National Tour Through Fall 2009
Houston—Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection, a catalogue that was published by Arnoldsche Art Publishers in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, to accompany a museum exhibition of the same name, has received the prestigious 28th Annual George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award from the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA). The announcement was made this month at the annual ARLIS/NA conference in Denver, Colorado, where the organization recognized the book for its high standards of content, documentation, layout, and format in art publishing. It is the first time that a book published by the MFAH has won the award.
Granted annually since 1980, the award was established by ARLIS/NA in honor of art book dealer and publisher George Wittenborn (1905-1974), who was a dedicated backer of the organization.
Margaret Culbertson, the MFAH´s Hirsch library director, acted as chair of the 2007 George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award Committee. Also serving on the award committee were Beverly Mitchell, Southern Methodist University; Jet Prendeville, Rice University; Laura Schwartz, University of Texas at Austin; Chia-Chun Shih, Kimbell Art Museum; and Thomas E. Young, Philbrook Museum of Art.
"Winning the Wittenborn award is a triumph for the MFAH´s curator of modern and contemporary decorative arts and design, Cindi Strauss, who organized the exhibition and authored the book," said MFAH director Peter C. Marzio. "The award also honors the museum´s publishing department, which consistently creates outstanding books."
The exhibition, Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection, is currently on tour and can be seen at select museums across the nation through September 2009. Tracing the history of the artists and the aesthetic influences and technical innovation of the work, the exhibition showcases a broad array of national and international contemporary jewelry from the 1960s through today, placing contemporary jewelry within a larger framework of twentieth- and twenty-first-century art. Ornament as Art also contains drawings, watercolors, sketchbooks, and sculptural constructions by the artists.
The museum´s publishing department continues to grow with the museum. MFAH Publications will have published thirteen new titles within coming months, and ten additional books are planned for publication by December 2009. In a new relationship with Yale University Press, many of these books will receive international distribution. The Wittenborn award is the most impressive in a series of prizes which MFAH books has been awarded, including the esteemed 2007 first prize for scholarly journals awarded to Versions and Inversions: Perspectives on Avant-Garde Art in Latin America by the American Association of Museums (AAM) Museum Publications Design Competition.
Ornament as Art was designed by nalbach typografik in Stuttgart, Germany. For the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Heather Brand served as the book´s editorial manager.
The hardcover catalogue is fully illustrated and features all new photography; an introduction, essay, and discussion of selected works by MFAH curator Cindi Strauss; an essay by collector Helen Williams Drutt; and a Q-and-A format interview between Strauss and Drutt. Additionally, the 528-page catalogue includes a chronology of major events in contemporary jewelry, a fully illustrated checklist of the 800-piece Drutt collection, narrative artist biographies, and an extensive bibliography.
Ornament as Art is available for $90 in the MFAH Shop, 713-639-7360. A wide selection of art books, including books published by the museum, is also on sale.
Exhibition Tour Schedule
• Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum: March 14—July 6, 2008
• Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, North Carolina: August 16, 2008—
January 4, 2009
• Tacoma Museum of Art, Tacoma, Washington: June 27—September 13, 2009
General Information:
For information, the public may call 713-639-7300, or visit www.mfah.org. For information in Spanish, call 713-639-7379. TDD/TYY for the hearing impaired, call 713-639-7390. For membership information, call 713-639-7550 or e-mail membership@mfah.org.
Media Information:
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Lynn Feuerbach, Dana Mattice, Megan Whitenton,
713-639-7540; mfahpr@mfah.org
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