WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Clark Art Institute continues its new series of year-round public installations, Paginations, featuring works drawn from the Clark library's extensive holdings and curated by members of the library staff. 

 

The installations are featured in a newly designed space located in the Manton Research Center's reading room, just outside the entrance to the Clark's library and are on view for free during all open hours.

 

On view Sept. 26 through Nov. 16, Back Bay to the Berkshires: Celebrating 250 Years of Art in Massachusetts looks at some of the artists and artistic innovations associated with the Bay State through their relationships with book illustration, printing, and publishing. This display is held in conjunction with MA250, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' commemoration of the semiquincentennial of the American revolution, and highlights the revolutionary spirit upon which the state was founded.

 

The Clark's library is widely recognized as one of the most important art history collections in North America, holding nearly 300,000 volumes in over 130 languages. The library's encyclopedic collection includes a number of special collections, including rare books, artist's books, decorative arts, photomechanical reproductions, and the world's only collection of ephemeral materials from the Venice Biennale. 

 

From its opening in 1962, the library has grown and changed to accommodate teaching spaces, visual resources, new programs and initiatives, and a never-ending array of new technologies. The library—one of the few remaining open stack art history libraries in the nation—is open to the public Mondays through Fridays from 9 am to 5 pm.

 

The library is housed in the Manton Research Center building and serves a wide array of patrons, including scholars, students, and researchers. Appointments can be arranged to explore special collections materials and library staff members are always happy to assist visitors in finding specific items of interest.