Arcana:

(Williams, Senon). Williams, Senon. Los Angeles: Hat & Beard Press, 2021. First Edition 1/50 Deluxe. 12mo (4.5 x 5.25 in.). Printed Flexible Boards. Artist Monograph. As New/No Jacket - As Issued.

Book Signing at Arcana with Senon Williams Saturday, January 29th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM

Details here!

152pp, illustrated in color and b&w. Designed by Lorraine Wild, Green Dragon Office. “The old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is turned on its side in “Words Don't Mean Much” -  Senon Williams’ new book of aphoristic phrasing. Far fewer words are needed to create an illuminating image in the mind’s eye, conjuring immediate multi-sensory experiences. This book of poems is derived from the text in Williams’ ink on paper drawings. The drawings are textual extractions and gather momentum within the book, exhibiting great attention to materials and craftsmanship. Every detail, from select paper to classic typeface, has been considered. An object, not unlike a sculpture, can be viewed from all sides, handled - and leafed through in the case of this book - front to back, back to front, or randomly opened. “Words Don't Mean Much” is a small pocket book, easy to conceal. A book to keep all to yourself or share intimately.”

Los Angeles native Senon Williams is a lifelong artist and musician. A founding member of the always-engaging Dengue Fever, Williams’ visual work finds space in the natural, exposing outstanding and devastating stages of human evolution. “To provoke thought, a question works better than answers. I enjoy to start a story I resolve in different ways depending on my mood."

A brand new, most handsome example of deluxe edition of this charming new work limited to fifty copies additionally SIGNED by Senon Williams in ink accompanied by A SIGNED ORIGINAL 4 x 5" WORK ON PAPER.

PLEASE NOTE: Deluxe Copies of "Words Don'tMean Much" will be signed Saturday, January 29th and shipped starting on Tuesday, February 1st.

Inventory Number: E000SWWDMM-LTD

(Williams, Senon). Williams, Senon. Los Angeles: Hat & Beard Press, 2021. First Edition. 12mo (4.5 x 5.25 in.). Printed Flexible Boards. Artist Monograph. As New/No Jacket - As Issued.

Book Signing at Arcana with Senon Williams Saturday, January 29th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM

Details here!

152pp, illustrated in color and b&w. Designed by Lorraine Wild, Green Dragon Office. “The old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is turned on its side in “Words Don't Mean Much” -  Senon Williams’ new book of aphoristic phrasing. Far fewer words are needed to create an illuminating image in the mind’s eye, conjuring immediate multi-sensory experiences. This book of poems is derived from the text in Williams’ ink on paper drawings. The drawings are textual extractions and gather momentum within the book, exhibiting great attention to materials and craftsmanship. Every detail, from select paper to classic typeface, has been considered. An object, not unlike a sculpture, can be viewed from all sides, handled - and leafed through in the case of this book - front to back, back to front, or randomly opened. “Words Don't Mean Much” is a small pocket book, easy to conceal. A book to keep all to yourself or share intimately.”

Los Angeles native Senon Williams is a lifelong artist and musician. A founding member of the always-engaging Dengue Fever, Williams’ visual work finds space in the natural, exposing outstanding and devastating stages of human evolution. “To provoke thought, a question works better than answers. I enjoy to start a story I resolve in different ways depending on my mood."

A brand new, most handsome example of this charming new work additionally SIGNED by Senon Williams in ink.

PLEASE NOTE: Copies of "Words Don't Mean Much" will be signed Saturday, January 29th and shipped starting on Tuesday, February 1st.

Inventory Number: E000SWWDMM

(Williams, Senon). Williams, Senon. Venice, CA: Hamilton Press, 2017. First Edition 1/50 Deluxe. Small 4to. Illustrated Boards. Artist Monograph. As New/No Jacket as Issued. 978-0-692-87700-5

Book Signing at Arcana with Senon Williams Saturday, January 29th, 4:00 - 6:00 PM

Details here!

PLEASE NOTE: Deluxe Copies of "Hunted & Gathered" will be shipped starting on Tuesday, February 1st.

Inventory Number: E000SWH&G-LTD

(WILSON, FRED). Berger, Maurice, Fred Wilson & Jennifer Gonzalez. Baltimore, MD: Center for Art and Visual Culture, University of Maryland Baltimore County Fine Arts Gallery, 2001. First Edition. 4to. Pictorial Self-Wrappers. Artist Monograph. Fine.. 176pp, profusely illustrated in color and b&w. With an exhibition checklist, biography, and bibliography. This is the beautifully designed and illustrated catalogue published in conjunction with the 2001 traveling Museum retrospective of works by the noted African-American contemporary artist Fred Wilson. For nearly two decades, the artist has worked with Cultural Institutions and their collections to create installations & exhibitions that critique and/or bring to light the relationship between race and American Museum practices. A pristine copy BOLDLY SIGNED AND DATED by Fred Wilson in black felt-tip pen on the title page. PLEASE NOTE: Additional shipping costs are required for this item beyond our standard rates due to its weight - we will inform you of the applicable amount at time of purchase. 1-890761-04-4 Inventory Number: 017894

(WOODRUFF, HALE). Woodruff, Hale. NP. ND (Circa 1935).: Self-Published. First Edition. 4to. Printed Paper. Color Linoleum Block Print. Near Fine.. One 8 x 10 ¼" sheet of cream wove paper printed in colors recto only, neatly folded vertically to make 8 x 5 1/8" mounted with archival photo corners in a heavy white 14 x 11" beveled mat, 1 color illustration. This is the vibrant linoleum block print in colors entitled "The Travelers" self-published in the 1930s by the noted muralist, painter, and printmaker Hale Woodruff. Sent to a friend as a holiday card, it features three doves flying above three riders on asses underneath a brilliant star, in what was likely a stylized depiction of the three wise men. The recipient was Ms. Marjorie Green, a modest art collector and employee of Los Angeles' Golden State Mutual Insurance Company, the city's largest black-owned insurer for most of the twentieth century. Golden State Mutual collected work by many of the major "negro artists" of the period, and in 1949 commissioned a mural from Woodruff in collaboration with Charles "Spinky" Alston entitled "The Negro in California History". A native of Cairo, Illinois, Hale Aspacio Woodruff began his career as a political cartoonist, first for a high school newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee, and later for an African American newspaper in Indianapolis. In 1926 he won an award from the Harmon Foundation that enabled him to study art in Paris from 1927 to 1931, where he met Henry Ossawa Tanner, leading figures of the French avant-garde, and began collecting African art. Returning to the U.S., Woodruff secured work as an art teacher to support himself, and subsequently became the art director at Atlanta University - a Historically black college - where he taught classes at the university's Laboratory High School, as well as for students at Morehouse and Spelman, a related college for black women. He founded the annual competition, "Atlanta University Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture, and Prints by Negro Artists". In 1936 Woodruff traveled to Mexico to study as an apprentice under the renowned muralist Diego Rivera, learning his fresco technique and becoming interested in portrayal of figures. Keenly aware of the racism and poverty African Americans in the South faced during the Great Depression, the artist turned to painting and printmaking for social advocacy. Woodruff returned to Atlanta later that same year to his teaching position, and began traveling to Talladega College in Alabama to teach and work on a commission for what became his "Amistad Mutiny" murals. In 1946, Woodruff joined the faculty at New York University in Manhattan, where he helped establish the Spiral Group (with fellow artists Romare Bearden, Charles Alston, and Norman Lewis) and taught for more than twenty years before retiring in 1968. Woodruff died in New York City on September 6, 1980. A bright, unfaded, most handsome example of this exceedingly uncommon artwork - identified by the African-American Art department at Swann Auction Galleries as the earliest example located of a graphic work in color by Hale Woodruff - TITLED AND SIGNED "The Travelers" / "H. Woodruff" in pencil along the lower margin, as issued. Inventory Number: 026310

Bradley, Peter, Jefferee James, Steve Cannon, Clement Greenberg & Simone Swan. Houston, TX: The Menil Foundation , 1971. First Edition. Oblong 4to. Illustrated Wrappers. Exhibition Catalog. Near Fine.. 74pp, profusely illustrated in color and b&w. With an exhibition checklist and artists' biographies. “In late spring 1971, businessman and philanthropist John de Menil approached New York-based artist and curator Peter Bradley to organize an exhibition in Houston of art by Black artists after a series of high-profile controversies surrounding shows of Black art in both Houston and New York. “The De Luxe Show” was the resulting exhibition held from August to September 1971 at the De Luxe Theater in Houston's Fifth Ward. Organized by Bradley and de Menil with the mission of bringing contemporary art into a low-income, predominantly Black community, The De Luxe Show was one of the first racially integrated art exhibitions in the United States and featured some of the most acclaimed artists of the era as well as several emerging artists who would go on to become widely recognized.” The full roster consisted of Peter Bradley, Darby Bannard, Anthony Caro, Dan Christensen, Ed Clark, Frank Davis, Sam Gilliam, Robert Gordon, Richard Hunt, Virginia Jaramillo, Daniel LaRue Johnson, Al Loving, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Larry Poons, Michael Steiner, William T. Williams, and James Wolfe." A most handsome example of the now uncommon document of this historic exhibition. Inventory Number: 027645

Driskell, David C.. Los Angeles & New York: Los Angeles County Museum of Art & Random House, 1976. First Edition. 4to. Illustrated Wrappers. Exhibition Catalog. Very Good.. 222pp, profusely illustrated in b&w with a full-color cover illustration. This is the catalogue published in conjunction with an important 1966 traveling California Museum exhibition curated by Howard University's pioneering African-American art historian, artist, and educator James A. Porter enttitled "The Negro in American Art". The show featurrd work by such noted artists as Edward Bannister, Romare Bearden, Edward Bereal, Aaron Douglas, David Driskell, Robert Duncanson, Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam Jr., Marvin Harden, Richard Hunt, Sargent Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Horace Pippin, Noah Purifoy, Betye Saar, Raymond Saunders, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Robert Thompson, Ruth Waddy, Charles White, and many others. A handsome example of this significant document showing some light overall wear and soiling. Inventory Number: 027488

Home, Harriette Wilder. NP (Chesapeake, VA?): Harriette Wilder Home, 1908. First Edition. Oblong 12mo. Loose Photograph. Silver Gelatin Photograph. Fine.. One individual 3 ¼ x 5 ½" gelatin silver photograph. This is an original photograph by Harriette Wilder Home taken during a five day cruise on the passenger ship SS Powhatan along the Virginia Coast in mid-July, 1908. It depicts four African-American laborers - one in overalls, one in a chef's smock, and two in slacks and long sleeved shirts - posing on deck in front of the ship's nameplate for the photographer. "The Powhatan was originally was launched as the SS Yorktown February 10th, 1894, by Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works for the Old Dominion Steamship Company. The Navy purchased the Yorktown on April 21st, 1898, to be commissioned as the second USS Resolute, an auxiliary cruiser and transport that saw naval service during the Spanish-American War in 1898-1899. The Department of War acquired the ship on January 22nd, 1900, for service as the Army Transport (USAT) Rawlings. The Rawlings was then decommissioned and sold to the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company of Baltimore, Maryland on July 27, 1901, and renamed Powhatan." A most handsome example of this unique vernacular photograph showing just a bit of silvering along the left margin. Inventory Number: 026998