The viewing of the artist book collection we have here at Lafayette was a lot more impressive than what I first thought it was going to be. When we first walked into the room, it looked like there were hundreds of colorful children’s books lying on the tables. At closer look however, it was apparently that the books were not mere printings of colorful pictures, but were hand-done pieces made by authors that took time and patience to make it such a beautiful work of art. The Hemingway piece stood out to me beautifully. The watercolor was so exquisite and the portrayal of the story was so vivid that it seemed as if the story was coming to life before our very eyes. As a huge Hemingway fan, it was exciting to see such a beautiful piece displayed for him.
I don’t know if you wrote this deliberately, but it’s interesting. You say that the ones who created the hand-done pieces were authors. Do we consider artists to be authors too? Are the artists who work and change the author’s work as “good” as the author?
The Hemingway piece was by far my favorite of the bunch. It was beautifully crafted. And the fact that everything was done by hand (even the paper seemed to be done like so) allowed for a special connection to the piece.
I also thought that at first glance all of the pieces we viewed in the library Tuesday seemed more like colorful children’s books. However, after actually having the opportunity to analyze these “children’s books” it became clear that they were much too delicate and intricate to be children’s books.
I think it is interesting that color and 3D images are primarily attributed to children’s books? I wish more textbooks were presented in those ways. While it might cause the book to be a little bulkier or weigh a little more, I think the benefit of a cheery book would far outweigh the cost in many circumstances.
I am a huge fan of art and these pieces are incredibly impressive because I had never seen anything like them. The detail attention to detail and the colors used really made the story stand out. I wish that there were books more for people our age that we could see or even use to read a book.