Now on view: Alcott and Feininger Exhibitions
Apr 4th, 2012 by houghtonmodern
Two exhibitions, organized by the Modern department, are now on view at Houghton:
Louisa May Alcott: Family Life and Publishing Ventures
Curated by Joel Myerson and Daniel Sheely
April 2 – May 26, 2012
In May 1868, when beginning Little Women, Louisa May Alcott wrote, “Never liked girls or knew many, except my sisters, but our queer plays and experiences may prove interesting, though I doubt.” Surrounded by her parents and three sisters, Louisa May lived in a remarkable family, evidence of which lies in the voluminous letters and journals they left behind. Now on view in the Amy Lowell Room on the second floor of Houghton, this exhibition displays material relating to the Alcott family and the publication of Little Women.
Lyonel Feininger’s Early Photographs
March 12 – June 2, 2012
Already a highly-respected Expressionist painter, Bauhaus master Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956) acquired a Voigtländer Bergheil camera in 1928, and found the new medium inspired and enhanced his paintings. Coinciding with the exhibition “Lyonel Feininger: Photographs, 1928-1939,” on display at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, this exhibition offers a selection of Feininger’s early photographs, an album depicting the Feininger family’s favorite hobbies, and two of Feininger’s letters to his wife Julia. The exhibition is on display on the ground floor of Houghton Library.
Both exhibitions are free and open to the public during Houghton’s regular hours.
Images: (Top) Louisa May Alcott. Carte-de-visite, undated. Photographer unknown. Portrait file, bequest of Evert Jansen Wendell, 1918. (Bottom) Lyonel Feininger. (Untitled) Men’s shop with full-length dummies. Gelatin silver print, 1932. MS Ger 146.4 (479). Gift of T. Lux Feininger, 1987.