The exhibition catalogue for Art and the Empire City: New York, 1825-1861 has been chosen as one of the prestigious Books to Remember for 2000—the first time the catalogue for an art exhibition has been so honored. Each year, 25 books receive the award by the New York Public Library.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press, the catalogue was edited by the exhibition's co-curators, Catherine Hoover Voorsanger, Associate Curator, Department of American Decorative Arts, and John K. Howat, former Lawrence A. Fleischman Chairman, Departments of American Art, and contains 13 essays on the complex story of American art in the second quarter of the 19th century.
The catalogue was made possible through the support of the William Cullen Bryant Fellows.
Ms. Voorsanger and Mr. Howat attended the award ceremony, which was held on April 20 in the Library's Celeste Bartos Forum. Representing the Library were Marsha Spyros, Coordinator, Office of Adult Services, and Miriam Tuliao, Chair, Books to Remember. Also in attendance were the authors of the other award-winning books, editors, and representatives of the publishing and library worlds.
Now in its 45th year, Books to Remember is an annual list of 25 exceptional fiction, non-fiction, and poetry titles chosen for their distinct and lasting contribution to literature and/or knowledge for the general adult reader. Selection criteria include literary excellence, information value and importance, sincerity and honesty of presentation, skill in presentation, and importance in historical context.
The lavishly illustrated 652-page catalogue is available in both softcover ($49.50) and clothbound ($65) editions through Yale University Press. (In the Museum's bookshops only, the softcover edition can be purchased at the special price of $19.95.) The book accompanied the landmark exhibition Art and the Empire City: New York, 1831-1865, which was on view at the Metropolitan Museum—its only venue—from September 19, 2000 through January 7, 2001. Through some 300 works of art in all media, the exhibition chronicled the ascendancy of New York to the position of the nation's primary art center and capital of culture.
The exhibition was made possible by Fleet.
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June 1, 2001
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