Many Heads Without Wit Are Better Than None!
MEDIUM:
Archival paper board & mat, collage, bookbinding cloths,
headbands, thread, marbled papers, fabric backing board.
ARTWORK:
16″ x 19¾” x ¼” (mat window opening)
FRAME:
Natural oak finished wood.
27¼” x 29″ x 1″
RESERVED FOR DONATION OR AUCTION
TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE 1.DRAFT
Many heads without wit are better than none!
Artist Statement: A gallery of fifteen heads or persons who collectively were concerned with: 2. “… All the doings of mankind, their wishes, fears, anger, pleasures, joys and varied pursuits … “ They pursued in different ways answers to these ageless questions through a variety of artistic, literary and scientific mediums. In time each might cautiously influence the other. While two heads or books might improve learning to many heads or books lacking wit might become a big headache (i.e. Isaac Newton).
The left-right persons: T.S. Eliot, W. Shakespeare, Neanderthal Man, F. Nietzsche, A Earhart, J. Kennedy, V. Woolf, I Newton, A. Einstein, Mona Lisa, K. Marx, G. Mahler, J. Joyce, W. Mozart, J. Kerouac.
Selected Exhibitions: New England Chapter Guild of Book Workers, Rhode Island School of Design, R.I. 1989. Other GBW exhibitions: Grolier Club 1981, Folger Shakespeare Library, 1986, Yale University Library, 1975.
Quote Sources: 1. “Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction.” Lewis Staple Clive. (1898-1963), Quotable Quotes: www.google.goodreads.com/quotes, 9.8.2020. Note: Origin of phrase: Hey, John. (1497-1580), {sic} “Some heads haue taken two headis better then one: but ten heads without wit, I wene as good none.” .
2. Varied pursuits source: Decimus Junius Juvenalis, c.50-c.130 AD. Satires, K.1.85 / Bartlett Familiar Quotations, Little Brown & Company, Boston, 1980, no. 122:1. Note: The word Wit: “The natural ability to perceive or know, understanding, intelligent good sense,” American Heritage Dictionary & Publishing Company, N.Y. N.Y. 1969-1970.
Origins: The antecedents for this book artwork begins with my introduction and training in fine printing, bookmaking and publishing when a student (1963-1967) at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bookmaking materials saved from that period are incorporated within the artwork, i.e. book board casing cloth, spine mull cloth, headbands, etc.
Robert Hauser