Library Associates Newsletter Winter 2003

Ninety friends of the Libraries attended a talk, slide show, exhibition, and book signing by artist Mark Leithauser at the first Library Associates event for 2002-03, on October 7 in Copley Formal Lounge.

Mr. Leithauser is Chief of Design at the National Gallery of Art. His recent projects include the new sculpture wing in the west building, and the exhibits Art Nouveau (2000) and this year's Egypt: The Quest for Immortality. He recently gave to the Art Collection a trial proof of his first etching, The Journey is the Teacher (1973), in honor of the collecting and connoisseurship of Curator of Prints Emeritus Joseph A. Haller, S.J. That and the six other Leithauser prints in the University's holdings were on view at the event.

Mark Leithauser, The Journey is the Teacher, etching, 1973; trial proof, with pencil additions; Gift of the Artist, 2002.

University Librarian Artemis Kirk expressed Georgetown's gratitude for the "wonderful collecting eye" of Father Haller; and lauded Mr. Leithauser's legacy, "the acclaim of the National Gallery's grateful public." Mr. Leithauser, who attributed "a major part of my inspiration" to working at the National Gallery, discussed his illustration drawings for the recent novel in verse by his brother Brad, Darlington's Fall. He gave the audience a retrospective of his career, from his early, exquisitely detailed prints to his later tromp l'oeil and enigmatic oil paintings. Noting the presence of science and nature in much of his work, Mr. Leithauser commented, "I grew up in Michigan, and can't get trees out of my system."