The Blanton Museum of Art
LOCATIONS
Harry Ransom Center
300 W. 21st, 512/471-8944
Come for the rarest of rarities on permanent exhibit – the Gutenberg Bible (one of six complete copies in the U.S., printed ca. 1450-55) and the first (known) photo ever, shot by French scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce – stay for whatever exhibitions have been drawn from this University of Texas humanities research library’s stunning collection. Its unparalleled holdings include the archives of literary lions (Gabriel García Marquez, David Foster Wallace, Norman Mailer), film legends (David O. Selznick, Robert De Niro, Nicholas Ray), stage giants (Arthur Miller, Samuel Beckett, Tennessee Williams, Tom Stoppard), and major figures from history and photography (Napoleon, Churchill, Woodward & Bernstein, the Magnum collective).
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Arts Calendar
Harry Ransom Center: Art In Words
Featuring collaborations between fine presses and artists, examples of typographic and concrete poetry, and experimentations in pop and surrealism, the exhibition puts prints by Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Ed Ruscha in conversation with works by Charles Henri Ford, Kristin Calhoun, David McGee, and others. Through Feb. 4. Free.
Harry Ransom Center: The Long Lives of Very Old Books
Explore the stories behind books published by Europeans between the mid-fifteenth and late-seventeenth centuries, tracing them from printing houses into the hands of generations of collectors and bookbinders and, ultimately, modern research libraries like the Ransom Center. Through Dec. 30. Free.
Words Into Worlds: Creating Place in the Theatre
See displays from landmark American and British theatre productions from the past century, bringing together the iconic work of writers Adrienne Kennedy, Arthur Miller, Robert Schenkkan, Tennessee Williams, and others – with award-winning designs from artists Boris Aronson, Beowulf Boritt, Jo Mielziner, and Norman Bel Geddes. Aug. 26-Feb. 4. Free.
Best of Austin Awards
- 2017: Critics Most Ubiquitous Brow (Frida Kahlo)
- 2005: Critics Best Destination for Literary Groupies (The Harry Ransom Center)
- 2004: Readers Best Recently Restored Building (TIE: Penn Field, Harry Ransom Center, Driscoll Villa Laguna Gloria)
- 2003: Critics Best Lightening Up of a Building
- 2000: Critics Best Interactive Art Exhibition
- 2000: Critics Cheapest Highbrow Date
