Bowdoin's Book Week

Next week, Bates College graduate Nick Basbanes '65 revisits his old Maine stomping grounds to give a talk exploring the impact of paper on books and culture. Though not speaking at his alma mater, Basbanes will be 22 miles down the road, at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. Entitled, "On Materiality: A Cultural Consideration of Paper and the Book," the talk will use material gathered for Basbanes' 2013 book, On Paper: The Everything of Its 2000-Year History, one of three finalists for the 2014 Carnegie Medal for Excellence. Expect a spirited commentary on the book as a material object, with particular emphasis on the 2000-year run of paper.

This free talk is in advance of Bowdoin's fall 2017 exhibition, "Bound and Determined: The Remarkable Physical History of the Book."                                    

                                                                                                                                                 Find Basbanes at the podium on Wednesday, August 30, at 4:30 p.m. in the Visual Arts Center at Kresge Auditorium. The talk will be followed by a reception on the second floor gallery of the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library. Can't make it to Maine? The event will be live streamed at the following link: http://www.bowdoin.edu/live/

Stick around Brunswick through Thursday, August 31, when Bowdoin will host another paper-specific talk called, "Appreciating Paper: Art's Best Supporting Actor." Ruth Fine, former curator of special projects at the National Gallery of Art and Marjorie Shelley from the Metropolitan Museum of Art will explain how historic European artists chose their papers as well as the genesis of the importance of "works on paper." This free talk will be held in the Kresge Auditorium at 4:30 p.m.