Artist and illustration historian Jaleen Grove will speak about the work of illustrator Robert Weaver at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, at Olin Library, in the Ginkgo Reading Room, Level 1. Grove’s lecture coincides with the last week of an exhibition of Weaver’s work in Olin Library and will provide a survey of Weaver’s career, with particular attention to his defense of illustration as an art form. The event is free and open to the public, with a reception following.
Titled “Blind Spots: Robert Weaver and Juxtapositions of Art and Illustration,” the talk will consider Weaver’s place in what Grove terms “the controversial middle between gallery and illustration worlds.” Just as commercial art was being held up by critics as illegitimate, Weaver introduced a painterly quality and immediacy to magazine illustration and “berated both illustrators and modern artists for their respective blind spots.”
“Throughout his life he eschewed singularity of vision for juxtaposition, revealing unseen third meanings,” Grove says. “Then, just as Weaver became more interested in the relationship between diachronic and synchronic time and fractured vision, his eyesight began to deteriorate, leaving him seriously visually impaired. Still, he continued making art and speaking out, overcoming his own blind spots.”
Through the end of September, visitors to Olin Library can view Weaver’s work on display anytime the library is open, in the Ginkgo Reading Room and Grand Staircase Lobby. The exhibition showcases the Robert Weaver collection held by Washington University’s Modern Graphic History Library.
I'm sorry I can't be there for this talk. I have heard some of Ms. Grove's theories on Weaver before, and seen a range of the examples she cites. I know it will be a talk worth attending; I hope it is recorded and put up on the internet.
Posted by: David Apatoff | September 29, 2011 at 05:51 PM