The Art of Paper: Claire Van Vliet and the Janus Press
Circle of Wisdom
A new exhibition celebrates the 70th anniversary of Claire Van Vliet’s Janus Press by showcasing the artist’s dramatic pulp paintings and prints alongside about two dozen artists’ books from the Boston Athenaeum’s Janus Press collection.
The Art of Paper: Claire Van Vliet and the Janus Press, which is running at the Boston Athenaeum until December 30, highlights Van Vliet’s innovative approach to papermaking and the extraordinarily inventive handmade books of her private press, the Janus Press. On September 25, Van Vliet will join Ruth Fine, former curator for the National Gallery of Art, at the Boston Athenaeum for an event celebrating the exhibition, discussing their 60-year personal and professional relationship, and the history of the Janus Press.
The exhibition focuses on Van Vliet’s pioneering and highly collaborative uses of handmade paper as an integral component of both her wall art and her artist’s books. Featured collaborators include New England-based papermakers Katie MacGregor and Bernie Vinzani, and poets including Keri Hulme, Rita Dove, and Denise Levertov.
Items on view include examples of Van Vliet’s woven and interlocking book structures such as her quilt books, and her sculptural bookworks featuring pulp painted imagery. The books are displayed in conversation with Van Vliet’s dramatic landscape prints and vibrant pulp paintings, made by “painting” with pigmented paper pulps.
“The Athenaeum’s Art of Paper exhibition showcases Claire Van Vliet’s extraordinary ability to reimagine how handmade paper can be used in the service of an expansive artistic vision,” said John Buchtel, the Boston Athenaeum’s Head of Special Collections and curator of the exhibition. “Visitors will experience the force of Van Vliet’s imaginative creative problem solving and her lifelong dedication to making artwork and books by hand.”
Additional thematic threads throughout the exhibition illuminate Van Vliet’s exploration of social issues and deep connection to the natural world.
Canadian-born, Vermont-based artist Claire Van Vliet (1933) is a 1989 MacArthur Foundation Fellow known for her creative use of pulp painting and printmaking techniques to depict landscapes, rock formations, and skyscapes from around the world. In 1954, Van Vliet founded the Janus Press, publishing original works by contemporary poets and printmakers. For much of its 70 years, the Janus Press has specialized in books that incorporate innovative structures formed from handmade paper, often including pulp painting.
The Boston Athenaeum’s Ruth Fine Collection of Claire Van Vliet and the Janus Press is part of the Sadie Lewis Webb Collection of the Art and History of the Book, given to the Athenaeum by an anonymous donor in memory of Emily Webb Collier and Ann M. Anderson in 2019.
