Displacement: The Three Gorges Dam and Contemporary Chinese Art

Wu Hung, with Jason McGrath and Stephanie Smith © 2008

Paper, 160 pages, 100 color plates, 8" x 10.5", $30
ISBN: 978-0-935573-46-6

Available Fall 2008

Displacement continues a series of Smart Museum catalogues produced in conjunction with Wu Hung’s groundbreaking exhibitions of contemporary Chinese art. Through extensive illustrations, interviews, and a substantial essay by Wu Hung, the publication documents the work and concerns of the artists Chen Quilin, Yun-Fei Ji, Liu Xiaodong, and Zhuang Hui. Other essays extend consideration to representations of the Three Gorges Dam in film and in contemporary art in the West. Moving beyond any single medium or trend, Displacement offers nuanced, thought-provoking perspectives on an issue of great social, environmental, and global concern.

This exhibition and accompanying catalogue were made possible in part by the generous support of Fred Eychaner and Tommy Yang Guo, Dan Bo, the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, and the Women's Board of the University of Chicago.

The "Writing" of Modern Life: The Etching Revival in France, Britain, and the U.S., 1850–1940

Elizabeth Helsinger, with essays by Martha Tedeschi, Peyton Skipwith, Anna Arnar, and Allison Morehead © 2008

Paper, 104 pages, 75 halftone illustrations, 8.5" x 11", $20
ISBN: 978-0-935573-45-9

Available Fall 2008

Generously illustrated with works by both well-known and little-known printmakers, The "Writing" of Modern Life examines the intertwined arts of etching and writing, from the polemical beginnings of the Etching Revival in the 1850s to its twentieth-century afterlife. During this period, etching was reinvented as an original art form that—like writing—was uniquely fitted to expressions of an artist’s individual personality and the experience of modernity. The essays touch on the relation between the literary and visual arts and offer a new interdisciplinary perspective on the Etching Revival.

The “Writing” of Modern Life is one in a series of projects at the Smart Museum of Art that has been generously endowed by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The exhibition catalogue was made possible by the Feitler Family Fund.

Adaptation: Video Installations by Ben-Ner, Herrera, Sullivan, and Sussman & The Rufus Corporation

Stephanie Smith, with critical responses by Nell Andrew, Darby English, Flaminia Gennari, Tom Gunning, Mark Hansen, Matthew Jackson, Eric Slauter, and Rebecca Zorach.

http://adaptation.uchicago.edu

Adaptation is accompanied by a unique online publication that documents the exhibition through an array of interactive content. This free online catalogue not only offers core information about the exhibition but also presents a series of features that take advantage of the dynamic medium of the web, including: video clips of the works, a public discussion forum, a behind-the-scenes image archive, and a series of critical responses by scholars with connections to the University of Chicago.

This exhibition is supported by the Office of the Provost and the Arts Council, University of Chicago, the Feitler Family Fund, Larry and Marilyn Fields, Susan and Lewis Manilow, Dirk Denison, and the members and friends of the Smart Museum.

Looking and Listening in Nineteenth-Century France

Martha Ward and Anne Leonard, with contributions by Josephine Landback, Julia Langbein, Allison Morehead, Elayne Oliphant, Eleanor Rivera, and Michael Tymkiw © 2007

Paper, 104 pages, 8 color plates and 67 black and white illustrations, 8.5" x 11" trim, $24
ISBN: 978-0-935573-44-2

Audiences in different eras look at art and listen to music in dramatically different ways. During the nineteenth century, the habits and fashions associated with looking and listening changed rapidly. Examining themes of attention and the place of looking and listening in the art of nineteenth-century France, this catalogue features two principal essays by the exhibition curators, Martha Ward, Associate Professor and Chair of the Art History Department at the University of Chicago, and Anne Leonard, Smart Museum Curator and Mellon Program Coordinator. It also includes contributions by Josephine Landback, Julia Langbein, Allison Morehead, Elayne Oliphant, Eleanor Rivera, and Michael Tymkiw—all University of Chicago students who participated in the Looking and Listening course.

The catalogue is accompanied by a CD compilation of related music, including two bonus tracks of early recordings.

Looking and Listening in Nineteenth-Century France is part of a series of projects generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The exhibition and related programs have been made possible in part by the Smart Family Foundation, the Rhoades Foundation, the France Chicago Center and the Office of the Provost, University of Chicago, and are presented in partnership with the Consulate General of France in Chicago. The exhibition catalogue has been supported by a grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

One/Many: Western American Survey Photographs by Bell and O'Sullivan

Joel Snyder, with a contribution by Josh Ellenbogen ©2006

Paper, 120 pages, 70 four-color illustrations, 10" x 8", $28
ISBN: 978-0-935573-43-5

Some of the most celebrated images of nineteenth-century American photography emerged from government-sponsored geological surveys whose purpose was to study and document western territories. Timothy H. O'Sullivan and William Bell, two survey photographers who joined expeditions in the 1860s and 1870s, opened the eyes of nineteenth-century Americans to the western frontier.

Highlighting a recent Smart Museum of Art acquisition, One/Many brings together an exquisite group of photographs by Bell and O'Sullivan. Particularly noteworthy are their photographic panoramas, assemblages of individual images joined together to form a continuous, horizontal landscape view. These panoramas have not been exhibited in well over a century and have never before been published. For the first time, One/Many investigates their role and purpose both within and outside of the surveys, taking into account the larger context of nineteenth-century modes of viewing. The volume also allows the little-known Bell's work to be better understood next to that of his more famous colleague.

Published in landscape format, with handsome full-page reproductions of the vintage photographs at nearly full scale (including gatefold panoramas), this catalogue features scholarly essays by Joel Snyder and Josh Ellenbogen and a section on nineteenth-century photographic techniques.

The exhibition, catalogue, and related programs are generously supported in part by the Smart Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Rhoades Foundation, the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, and the Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago. Lead corporate sponsorship is generously provided by LaSalle Bank.

Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art

Stephanie Smith and Victor Margolin, with a Foreword by Anthony Hirschel and Judith Olch Richards, and artist interviews by Stephanie Smith ©2005.

Paper, 160 pages, illustrated in color throughout, $25
ISBN: 978-0-935573-42-8

Click here for an online (PDF) version. Please be aware that the images in this PDF are web-quality. In the name of being green, we hope you will enjoy viewing it online.

Balancing environmental, ethical, economic, and aesthetic concerns, sustainable design has the potential to transform everyday life and has already dramatically reshaped the practice of architecture. Beyond Green introduces a new generation of international artists who work at the intersection of sustainable design and contemporary art.

The book explores the ways that this design strategy is being used – and sometimes intentionally misused – by an emerging group of artists who combine fresh aesthetic sensibilities with constructively critical approaches to the production, dissemination, and display of their art. Lavishly illustrated, the book also includes texts by and interviews with individual artists, along with substantial essays by exhibition curator Stephanie Smith and design historian Victor Margolin. What results is a bracing volume that will be of interest to practitioners and aficionados of design and art alike, as well as to environmentalists.

This exhibition and accompanying catalogue are made possible in part by the Smart Family Foundation; the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; and iCI Exhibition Partners Kenneth S. Kuchin and F. Bruce Anderson, and Gerrit and Sydie Lansing. Additional support is provided by the Arts Planning Council, the Environmental Studies Program, and the Green Campus Initiative, University of Chicago. Related programs in Chicago are made possible with additional support from the Chicago Architecture Foundation.