Design

Czech born Ladislav Sutnar (1897-1976) is a well known graphic designer, but who knew that he also produced fine book bindings? Issued by the Cooperative Work collective headed by Sutnar in Prague in the 1930’s, this special full leather binding was designed by Sutnar himself. At extra cost, Cooperative Work would supply special bindings; this book with the same Sutnar design was available bound in green cloth-covered boards stamped in black and silver.

This book is Part 1 of an important four volume publication on the history of Nepal. The set was formerly in the private library of Dr. Mary Shepherd Slusser. This volume and one other in the set are in need of conservation treatment.

So who authors an important scholarly work on early Chinese jades; maps the main prison camps in Germany and Austria during WWI; writes biographies about Anna Van Schurman, Agnes Strickland, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens; writes first-hand accounts of talks of rebel leaders during Ireland’s revolutionary period; and is appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire? That would be the scholar par excellence of Renaissance art John Pope-Hennessy’s mother. 

The mola is a famous Panamanian handicraft created with intricate reverse-applique handwork made by the Guna, and represent important symbols of their culture. The layers of brightly-colored fabric form animals or geometric shapes, and are used to decorate the blouses of Guna women. The most outstanding designs take hours of complex sewing to complete and can be a source of status, and a display of artistic expression and ethnic identity.

Marie Cuttoli (1879-1973) was a collector and patron of modern French art. Additionally, she was responsible for reviving the art of tapestry weaving and carpet making in the modern era and the practice of commissioning tapestries to reproduce paintings, as had been a custom during the Renaissance. She commissioned designs from modern—especially Cubist—painters Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, Joan Miró, and Pablo Picasso.