This exhibition features more than 30 "painted books" by Anne Walker, a retrospective of her books created between 1973 and 2005 and recently presented by her to the Mortimer Rare Book Room at Smith College. In her books she pairs her abstract and colorful paintings with the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Henry David Thoreau, as well as contemporary writers including Kenneth Koch, Ron Padgett, Michel Butor, Edward Kessler, and Peter Davison.

Opening Reception

Tuesday, November 8, 4-6 p.m.
Book Arts Gallery
3rd floor, Neilson Library

Gallery Hours (approximate)

Monday - Friday , 8 am-11 pm
Saturday - Sunday, 10 am-11 pm

See detailed hours.

About the Artist

Anne Walker was born on September 20, 1933, in Boston, Mass. She graduated from Smith College, where she studied woodcuts with Seong Moy. She spent her junior year in Paris, working at l'Académie de l Grande Chaumière in Montparnasse, and later, in 1955, took up etching with Johnny Friedlaender. Walker has lived in Paris since 1956, with frequent trips to the United States. To date, she has made more than 330 prints, as well as a number of fine-press books illustrated with etchings. Around 1986 she also began to paint using gouache combined with pastel, a technique which has predominated in her work since then. She has created many painted books, either one-of-a-kind or in very limited series, to accompany texts by poets whom she admires. Walker's work has been exhibited worldwide since 1956 and is in public and private collections in Europe and the United States. For more information, and to view an online gallery of her work, please visit her website.

Search by subject <Walker, Anne> to locate books in the Five College Catalog.

Contact

For more information, contact the Mortimer Rare Book Room, Neilson Library.
(413) 585-2906
bblument@smith.edu