CONTEMPORARY DESIGNER BOOKBINDINGS FROM
The COLLECTION of NEALE AND MARGARET ALBERT
YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART
January 16 – March 29, 2020
George Kirkpatrick, designer and binder of The Neale M. Albert Collection of Miniature Designer Bindings; A Catalog of an Exhibition Held at the Grolier Club, September 13–November 4, 2006, by Neale M. Albert (New York: Grolier Club, 2006), bound in 2008, leather binding with leather onlays and gold tooling, Collection of Margaret and Neale Albert, Yale JD 1961, photo by Richard Caspole
The exhibition shows more than 70 original works
of contemporary design bookbinding art.
HIGHLIGHTS
This is an exhibition that explores the vast array of approaches to bookbinding techniques and materials. Featuring the work of the multifaceted designer and maker George Kirkpatrick, the exhibition also includes exemplars by more than thirty notable designer bookbinders working today, including Susan Allix, Hannah Brown, Michael Wilcox, and Robert Wu. All the works on display are a promised gift to the Center.
George Kirkpatrick
THE TEMPEST
George Kirkpatrick, designer and binder of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare (Canton, NY: Caliban Press, 2001), bound in 2013, leather binding, with leather onlays, and silver and stainless-steel wire, Collection of Margaret and Neale Albert, Yale JD 1961, photo by Tom Grill.
Hannah Brown
FLOWERS FROM SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN
Hannah Brown, designer and binder of Flowers from Shakespeare’s Garden: A Posy from the Plays, illustrated by Walter Crane (London: Cassell and Co. Ltd, 1906), bound in 2016, goatskin binding, with leather onlays, embroidered with silk and metallic threads, gold-plated brass, and carbon and gold tooling, Collection of Margaret and Neale Albert, Yale JD 1961, photo by Richard Caspole
DETAILS from Flowers from Shakespeare’s Garden
Hannah Brown
LINES
Hannah Brown, designer and binder of Lines, by William Wordsworth (Tintern, Monmouthshire, Wales: The Old Stile Press, 2002), bound in 2018, goatskin binding, with leather and suede onlays, embroidery, gold wire, and blind and carbon tooling, Collection of Margaret and Neale Albert, Yale JD 1961, photo by Hannah Brown, UK
DETAIL of Lines
Bayntun-Riviere
LOVE POEMS of JOHN DONNE
Bayntun-Riviere, designer and binder of Love Poems of John Donne (London: The Nonesuch Press, 1923), bound in 2009, leather binding with leather inlays, gold tooling, top-edge gilding, Collection of Margaret and Neale Albert, Yale JD 1961, photo by Richard Caspole
DETAIL of Love Poems of John Donne
Derek Hood
SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDY of TWELFTH NIGHT
Derek Hood, designer and binder of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Twelfth Night, or, What You Will by William Shakespeare, with illustrations by W. Heath Robinson (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1908), bound in 2015, goatskin binding, with leather onlays, tooling in palladium, gold, and white gold, © D. Hood, Collection of Margaret and Neale Albert, Yale JD 1961, photo by Richard Caspole
DETAIL of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Twelfth Night
Michael Wilcox
“THE POET of THEM ALL”
Michael Wilcox, designer and binder of “The Poet of Them All”: William Shakespeare and Miniature Designer Bindings from the Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert, edited by Elisabeth Fairman (New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, 2016), bound in 2019, balancing spine, with tongue-in-slot board attachment, covered in scarf-joined goatskin, with leather onlays, gold tooling, vintage endpapers of Cockerell marbling (1953), top-edge gilding, Collection of Margaret and Neale Albert, Yale JD 1961, photo by Richard Caspole.
DETAILS of “The Poet of Them All”
Michael Wilcox
Michael Wilcox, designer and binder of “The Poet of Them All”: William Shakespeare and Miniature Designer Bindings from the Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert, edited by Elisabeth Fairman (New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, 2016), bound in 2019 (detail), balancing spine, with tongue-in-slot board attachment, covered in scarf-joined goatskin, with leather onlays, gold tooling, vintage endpapers of Cockerell marbling (1953), top-edge gilding, Collection of Margaret and Neale Albert, Yale JD 1961, photo by Richard Caspole.
Susan Allix
SILVER
Susan Allix, designer and binder of Silver (London: Susan Allix, 2005), hand-printed miniature book, leather binding and chemise with leather onlays, sterling silver, and wire, © Susan Allix, Collection of Margaret and Neale Albert, Yale JD 1961, photo by Richard Caspole
The CURATOR
Curated by Molly Dotson, Assistant Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Center, this exhibition demonstrates how book covers not only protect and support the text within but are also a site of exchange—a surface upon which content and form meet. Designer binders transform familiar materials such as leather, paper, cloth, wood, and metal into structures with lines, shapes, textures, and typography. Some create new bindings for historical works, whereas others design wholly new artists’ books. Dotson explains that “designer binders may engage with the book’s dichotomy between interior and exterior, and their works often reinforce the visual, tactile, and temporal experiences of reading.”
George Kirkpatrick.
An important focus of the Albert collection, and this exhibition, is the work of George Kirkpatrick.
Born in 1938 in Northern Ireland, Kirkpatrick trained as a bookbinder, textile designer, and teacher at Ulster College of Art and Design and at Leicester College of Art.
He later earned an MA in graphic design from the Royal College of Art.
A deep and abiding admiration grew between artist and patron after Kirkpatrick completed his first commission for Albert in 2004—a binding for the miniature Atlas of the British Empire, which is on display in this exhibition. Measuring one and three-quarter inches
Image: George Kirkpatrick, designer and binder of Atlas of the British Empire Reproduced from the Original Made for Her Majesty Queen Mary’s Doll’s House (London: Edward Stanford Ltd., 1928), bound in 2004, goatskin binding with leather onlays, in globe, tooled with leather onlays and silver enclosure, and rosewood box with turned interior, lined with calfskin and tooled with constellations, Collection of Margaret and Neale Albert, Yale JD 1961, photo by Richard Caspole
Neale and Margaret Albert
Neale and Margaret Albert are a longtime supporter of this vibrant aspect of the book arts, Neale Albert (Yale JD 1961) was elected in 2014 as an honorary fellow of Designer Bookbinders, the principal society in Great Britain devoted to artistic bookbinding.
The Alberts commissioned much of their collection directly from binders, allowing these artists free rein to produce extraordinarily beautiful and original works.
YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART
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