Paul Klapper Library Art Center Records

The Paul Klapper Library opened in 1955 and officially began to exhibit artists' work in the Art Center in 1961. The library exhibited works and held events related to arts and academic topics beginning as early as 1951. Prior to the opening of the Art Center at the Klapper Library, at least one exhibit occurred when the Library was situated in Jefferson Hall. Development of the Queens College Art Collection and interest in displaying the work of visiting artists, Queens College students, and faculty precedented the opening of a dedicated Art Center.

The Queens College Art Collection was established with the purpose of connecting students directly with art — it physically and visually functioned as a teaching collection, and encouraged the use of library research materials given it's original location in the Paul Klapper Library. Morris A. Gelfand, chief librarian when the Art Center opened, wrote that the space "made possible for the first time coordinated study of all out art materials: books, periodicals, pamphlets, reproductions, as well as original works of art" (Open letter from Morris A. Gelfand to Faculty, 1961). Art Collection materials have primarily been in the care of the Godwin Ternbach Museum since it opened in 1981, which is now located in Klapper Hall (formerly the Paul Klapper Library). Curation of all Art Center programming followed the same values assigned to the Art Collection, it served to benefit the academic and arts communities across the city as a learning and cultural resource.

Administrative structure of the Art Center varied over the years. In the early period, the Art and Art History departments were heavily involved in curation and organization of exhibits given the prominence of the Art Collection. This included the involvement of Art and Art History department faculty Edith Porada, Frances Godwin, Carl E. Stover, Joseph Ternbach and many others in collaboration with library staff, primarily art librarians such as Irene Avens, Deborah L. Barlow, Stanley Lewis, Neal Richmond, Matthew Simon and Suzanna Simor. As time went on curatorial and organizational responsibilities fell to the art librarians, though not exclusively, as cross-departmental collaboration continued.

The Art Center space consisted of four display locations around the library, with a main gallery and hallway on the second floor at the entrance of the Art Library and subsequent display areas on the main floor, the Mattis Room (which may be synonymous with the Art Seminar Room mentioned by Chief Libarian Morris A. Gelfand), and the mezzanine (Avens, 1987; Cavaliere, 1977). These galleries offered accessible space for artists to show their work and for students and faculty to learn and contemplate. In response to an exhibit in the 1980s, a student poetically reflected, "I lament alone and afraid of tomorrow, yet/I was placid here" (Avens, 1987, p. 122).

The exhibits presented at the Paul Klapper Library, and Art Center specifically, were reflective of the talent, trends and activities on campus at Queens College. Professors worked with library staff to exhibit the coursework of art students, various departments (including and beyond the Art Department) curated exhibits that featured art from the college, and individual professors, students and alumni shared their work in this space. However, the exhibits were by no means limited to this locational scope. Faculty and staff utilized their connections to loan materials from other institutions, collaborate with organizations from outside of QC, or to bring in artists from different CUNY intitutions and other organizations across the city, state or country. Notably, emerging artists and women were well represented in the records alongside famed artists such as Alexander Calder, Lois Dodd, Eleanor Magid, Henri Matisse, Alice Neel, and others.

Works consulted:

Avens, I and Sorensen, L. (Ed.). Academic TOL: On running a small art gallery in an academic library. Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, 6(3), 121-123. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27947785

Cavaliere, B. (1977). Queens College library program: Why women show here frequently. Womanart, 1(4), 34-35. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5de17ef39ab6b86728f016f7/t/5e13d170ffde7609bfd7c1ab/1578425146086/womanart-Spring-Summer-1977.pdf

Open letter from Morris A. Gelfand to Faculty, 1961. Paul Klapper Library Art Center Records. Box 2/Folder 36. Queens College (New York) Special Collections and Archives.