Sponsored by The Book Club of California The untold, multifaceted story of one of the most adventurous and prolific landscape painters of the American West. California Impressionist Tilden Daken (1876–1935), famous in his day, painted in every California state park and national park in the West—from the redwood forests to the High Sierra—and beneath the […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California Across North American and European imaginaries, the Amazon River Basin has figured as both a region rich in “natural resources” ready for the taking, and, consequently, a geography of lands and peoples in need of saving. Both Amazonian exploration and salvation have been characterized by a hyper-masculine discourse […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California A cross between a book exhibition and a conceptual art installation, this exhibition consists of a collection of books that do not really exist. Curated by Reid Byers, the exhibition includes approximately 100 books and associated arealia from his collection—all simulacra created with a team of printers, bookbinders, […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California Wildness beats in the heart of California’s urban areas. In Los Angeles, residents are rallying to build one of the largest wildlife crossings in the world because of the plight of one lonely mountain lion named P-22. Porpoises cavort in San Francisco Bay again because of a grassroots […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California You might not know the name Tyrus Wong, but you probably know some of the images he created, including scenes from the beloved Disney classic Bambi. Yet when he came to this country as a child, Tyrus was an illegal immigrant locked up in an offshore detention center. How […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California. Information graphics transform data into compelling visual narratives, illuminating insights that might otherwise remain hidden. From the earliest printed charts and maps to today’s innovative designs, these visuals bridge art and science, helping us engage with complex phenomena. Often featured within books—whether rare historical volumes or contemporary publications—information […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California. Nora May French and Carrie Sterling arrive at Carmel-by-the-Sea at the turn of the twentieth century with dramatically different ambitions. Nora, a stunning, brilliant, impulsive writer in her early twenties, seeks artistic recognition and Bohemian refuge among the most celebrated counterculturalists of the era. Carrie, long-suffering wife of […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California. Edward Gorey’s creations as a book artist are distinctive: sparse, oblique story lines paired with intricate, oblique drawings. Yet even his most ardent fans may not know that the author-illustrator of The Beastly Baby, The Doubtful Guest, and The Curious Sofa also directed these and dozens of unpublished texts on stages from […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California. Author and historian Robert Cherny is the author of seven monographs, co-author of two monographs and of college-level textbooks in US history and California history, co-editor of two anthologies, and author of some forty articles in journals or anthologies. Nearly all of his published work deals in some […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California. Curator Reid Byers will give a talk, “Collecting the Imaginary (in which all will be revealed),” in conjunction with his Book Club exhibition, “Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished, and Fictive Books Found Only in Other Books.” The talk will deal with the curious issues surrounding the acquisition of immaterial […]
Sponsored by the Book Club of California Postcards have a magical pull. They allow us to see the past through charming relics that allow us to travel back in time. Daniel D. Arreola’s Postcards from the Baja California Border offers a window into the historical and geographical past of storied Mexican border communities. Once-popular tourist destinations from […]
Sponsored by The Book Club of California. California’s 1849 gold rush triggered creation of the “instant city” of San Francisco as a base to exploit the rich natural resources of the American West. City of Wood examines how capitalists and workers logged the state’s vast redwood forests to create the financial capital and construction materials needed to […]