Selections from the RSM Collection, Gift of Robert Orton

Max and Melissa Elliott Reading Room

Selections from the RSM Collection, Gift of Robert Orton

April 1–May 8, 2021

Much of the history of contemporary art is stored in the acid-free boxes in the Athenaeum’s Fredman Family Vault. Of the over 2,200 artists’ books in found in the vault, 200 belong to the RSM collection. In 1995–1996, Athenaeum member Robert "Bob" Orton donated these artists’ books from his personal collection to the now widely recognized Athenaeum’s Erika and Fred Torri Artists’ Books Collection. A selection of these genre-breaking books is currently on display in the recently named Melissa and Max Elliott Reading Room (formerly the North Reading Room). Come see works by pivotal artists, such as Ed Ruscha, Sol LeWitt, and Joseph Beuys (subject of a May series by Victoria Martino) through May 8.

Many of the books in the first of our artist's books catalogues raisonnés, Ed Ruscha, came from the RSM Collection. These include Nine Swimming Pools and a Broken Glass, Some Los Angeles Apartments, and Hard Light, pictured above.

Joseph Beuysʼ “Appeal for an Alternative,” which appeared in the newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau in 1978, was prescient in its ecological and social concerns. Aus Berlin: Neues vom Kojoten, c1979, illustrated Beuysʼ use of alternative materials and his connection to the Fluxus group.

The wealth of material in the RSM collection can be seen by appointment.