UCLA Arts Library Art and Art History Blog

From the Collection of UCLA Design | Media Arts Professor Erkki Huhtamo

The magic lantern played an important role in visual education and entertainment for centuries. Introduced soon after the mid-seventeenth century, it became a staple of the curiosity cabinets of savants and was brought to the “common people” by itinerant showmen. In the nineteenth century the magic lantern show developed into a specialized profession and big business, and countless magic lanterns and slides were produced both for professional and domestic use.

Featuring magic lanterns, lantern slides, and other related objects from the extensive private collection of UCLA Design | Media Arts Professor Erkki Huhtamo, this exhibit demonstrates how the magic lantern show, typical of the Victorian era, opened ways for modern society and culture as well.

In connection with the exhibit, the Department of Design | Media Arts will present a Halloween Magic Lantern Show in the EDA auditorium in the Broad Art Center on Thursday, October 29, at 6 p.m. It will be presented by the American Magic Lantern Theater of Connecticut, the only professional group giving authentic magic lantern shows in the United States. Admission is free, and no reservations are required; seating is on a first-come basis.

UCLA now has access to excellent quality architectural images from Archivision, through ARTstor [go to http://library.artstor.org/library/  (listed under ‘Institutional Collections’)].

Here is the collection’s description, from:
http://archivision.com/educational/overview.html

THE BASE COLLECTION (16,000 images)
The Library’s Base Collection is a core architecture collection representing major Greek, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, 18th & 19th Century and Modern sites. The focus here is the Italian Renaissance and Baroque and Modern architecture, especially the work of Louis Kahn and Le Corbusier. The collection also includes gardens & parks, city skylines, cityscapes and public art as well as other design related topics, such as C.R. Mackintosh furniture drawings, etc.

ADDITION MODULE ONE (6,000 images)
The first Addition Module completes our holdings on Renaissance and Baroque Rome not included in the Base Collection. It also contains all of our Ancient Egyptian material (close to 2000 images – this was our major photographic campaign of 2004). The collection also holds all of our Islamic material in Egypt, as well as overview sets on Cairo, Aswan and Luxor. Many contemporary sites are also included, especially those in Vancouver, Seattle, Boston and Montréal.

ADDITION MODULE TWO (6,000 images)
Module Two contains all of our Andrea Palladio material (over 700 images, of which 299 are Scamozzi etchings illustrating plans, sections and elevations of Palladio’s work); all of the Hector Guimard collection (229 images); Fascist architecture in Italy; most of our holdings from London England; and the balance of our Ancient Greek and Bramante material not contained in the first two modules. The Module also includes all of our Islamic architecture in Turkey plus contemporary architecture in Florida, New York, Montreal, and Washington DC. The Module is rounded out with 300 exquisite new (May 2007) photographs of the exterior and interiors of Mackintosh’s Hill House.

For more information, please contact Janine Henri, Architecture, Design and Digital Servives Librarian.

Please join us for an exhibit honoring the life and accomplishments of Albert Boime, Professor, Department of Art History. The exhibit was organized by Robert Gore, Visual Arts Librarian and David Kunzle, Professor, Department of Art History.

Come and see an exhibit featuring art objects and artists’ books from The Norton Family Christmas Project

Where: East Faculty Exhibit Case, Young Research Library
When: December 4, 2008 – January 5, 2009

Retired computer entrepreneur Peter Norton is a contemporary art collector as well as an active participant in various civic and philanthropic activities. In 1988 the Norton Family began commissioning artists to do original, multiple-edition works that are mailed as holiday greetings to friends, colleagues, and selected institutions.

The Arts Library has been fortunate to receive these wonderful holiday greetings on a yearly basis since 1989. The objects and artists’ books that comprise the Norton Family Christmas Project collection are incredibly varied. Some of the artists have chosen to work in a more traditional book format, while others have experimented with sculptural forms using a wide variety of materials including wood, glass, plastic, and cloth.

Reinvented forms of things found in daily life are a recurring theme: a doll house, salt and pepper shakers, a music box, a teacup. A sense of whimsy runs through many of the pieces: salt and pepper shakers become snow globes, a music box exhorts us to be Silent. Many works also have a sociopolitical focus, addressing issues as varied as slavery, AIDS, and gender identity.

Taken together, the Norton Family Christmas Project objects and artists’ books provide a wonderful snapshot of the last twenty years of activity in the art world at large, presenting the work of both emerging and more established artists. The 2008 edition of the Norton Family Christmas Project will arrive while this exhibit is in progress; who knows what it will be?

Photo: Takashi Murakami, Norton Family Christmas Project 2000 © Takashi Murakami.

Beginning May 27,  researchers may have noted a new search box available on the Library’s webpage and in the UC Melvyl Catalog for “Next Generation Melvyl.” This is a pilot, combining the capability to search catalogs for UCLA, UC Libraries, and libraries worldwide (via WorldCat) simulteneously. It also includes some journal article indexing. There is a news item about this trial in the Spring 2008 Library News for the Faculty. Our current UCLA Catalog and the existing Melvyl Catalog will both still be up and running during the trial.

The interface for Next Generation Melvyl has different features that have not been available before in our library catalog, such as the ability to log in and write reviews, find books in Amazon.com, bookmark items using del.icio.us and other tools, and find UC books digitized by Google. It’s also important to note what is NOT included in the current pilot, most specifically “affiliated” collections like the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Ethnomusicology Archive, and the ability to search course reserve titles or sign in to personal account info. I recommend reading the “Help” documentation for Next Generation Melvyl, which explains how to search and frequently asked questions.

Finally, we want to encourage all library users to fill out the survey form on Next Generation Melvyl after giving it a try. Your feedback on this trial is very important.