Room 613 of John M. Flaxman Library, Sharp Building
Forty-eight books from the bequest of artist Robert Blanchon to the Flaxman Library have been moved from the Flaxman's shelves to the front of the library. Some rest on a stand just inside the library entrance, others sit within the glass cases opposite the Flaxman's elevator bank. Also in the glass cases is a copy of my 2011 book work altering Blanchon's Visual AIDS monograph, published in 2006. That book work is in the permanent collection of the Joan Flash library. As a condition of its purchase, the work was left open to future alterations and additions by me.
The twenty-seven books inside the Flaxman's entrance are marked with a c. 1999 "Bequest of Robert Blanchon" bookplate. The twenty-one books in the glass cases have lost their plates through rebinding or replacement. I have made a series of letterpress "Bequest of Robert Blanchon" bookplates modeled on the Flaxman's most recent design templates. The books in the glass cases will be marked with these new bookplates at the end of this exhibition. The magnesium letterpress plate used in my replication of Blanchon's bookplates will be added to the Joan Flash's copy of my altered Blanchon monograph, to be used as needed to replace "Bequest of Robert Blanchon" bookplates in the future.
-- John Neff, 1/27/20
Image credit: Robert Blanchon by John Neff, “...bookwork was created from the 2006 Blanchon catalogue published by Visual AIDS.” Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection.
