Arcana:

(Williams, Senon). Williams, Senon, Richelle Munkhoff & Beth Ann Whittaker. Los Angeles: Hat & Beard Press, I00251213, 2025. First Edition. 8 1/4 x 10 1/2", Oblong 4to. Illustrated Boards. Artist Monograph. As New/No Jacket - As Issued. 978-1955125680

146pp, profusely illustrated in color. Designed by Russell Etchen. Senon Williams is a lifelong musician, visual artist and poet, born and currently based in Los Angeles. Descended from survivors of enslavement and the Holocaust, Williams is an artist whose practice is a response to scarcity and loss with a deep commitment to preservation. He is drawn to the physical scraps of life - and the layering of those scraps into a larger tapestry - believing that these objects have souls. Assembling found pieces, large and small, sometimes literally from yards or the street, Williams collects unwanted things, used things, to create anew. A blending of these objects’ inner character with his own vision into an assemblage, not only of the physical but also of the spirit. Williams’ work is grounded in a love of language play, sounds, textures, and associations of word and object. Working in various media in his visual art practice - sculpture, painting, serigraphy, and printmaking - he counters what we think we know. Something familiar gives us pause and words we know well induce questions. Always blending the visual with poetry, we are addressed with layers of contrasts. 

This book forms a graveyard or a scrapyard of items one might typically discard. In our time of extreme wastefulness, assembling the detritus from his artmaking into a scrapbook gives each of these items a collective home and value. Gathered from his day-to-day studio practice, they are thoughts jotted down, remnants of materials used, random receipts, which suggest a sense of care, like acts of preservation, mending and repurposing. Each piece is held, suspended from its final dissolution, forming a new place in which to exist. Interspersed within are vignettes looking at the histories of scrapbooking and ephemeral collection over time by Richelle Munkhoff and Beth Ann Whittaker of Plain Sight Archive. There is a long legacy and history of this artistic action and this publication represents now another documentation of time and place. A brand new, most handsome example of this charming new work additionally SIGNED "Senon Williams" in black ink on the title page.

Inventory Number: E00251213

Bell, Edna & Mari Evans. Santa Barbara, CA: UCEN Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1975. First Edition. 8vo. Printed Wrappers. Exhibition Catalog. Fine.. viii + 42pp, 38 b&w illustrations. Designed by Shirley Kennedy. With artist biographies and an exhibition checklist. This is the catalogue published in conjunction with a 1975 exhibition of work by twenty-five black women artists presented on the occasion of the University of California, Santa Barbara's fourth annual Black Culture Festival. Included here are Cherlyn Delores Bell, Melonee T. Blocker, Gloria R. Bohanon, Elizabeth Catlett, Barbara Dumetz, Mkele Egozi, Brenda Lipscombe Fakeye, Duneen Farrell, Nanette Hayles, Varnette Honeywood, Suzanne Jackson, Rosalind Jeffries, Lizzetta Lefalle, Samella S. Lewis, Diane McClinton, E.J. Montgomery, Jessie Lane Moore, Betty Mosley, Monica D. Pecot, Angela Perkins, Georgette Seabrooke Powell, Leslie Ann Robinson, Donna D. Simmons, Gloria Brown Simmons, Carole Jean Wayner, and Cynthia J. White. A bright, most handsome example of this exceedingly uncommon - only six copies are currently cited in OCLC WorldCat - document. LC 75-24823 Inventory Number: 027611

Bradley, Peter, Jefferee James, Steve Cannon, Clement Greenberg & Simone Swan. Houston, TX: The Menil Foundation, 1971. First Edition. Oblong 4to. Illustrated Wrappers. Exhibition Catalog. Near Fine.. 74pp, profusely illustrated in color and b&w. With an exhibition checklist and artists' biographies. “In late spring 1971, businessman and philanthropist John de Menil approached New York-based artist and curator Peter Bradley to organize an exhibition in Houston of art by Black artists after a series of high-profile controversies surrounding shows of Black art in both Houston and New York. “The De Luxe Show” was the resulting exhibition held from August to September 1971 at the De Luxe Theater in Houston's Fifth Ward. Organized by Bradley and de Menil with the mission of bringing contemporary art into a low-income, predominantly Black community, The De Luxe Show was one of the first racially integrated art exhibitions in the United States and featured some of the most acclaimed artists of the era as well as several emerging artists who would go on to become widely recognized.” The full roster consisted of Peter Bradley, Darby Bannard, Anthony Caro, Dan Christensen, Ed Clark, Frank Davis, Sam Gilliam, Robert Gordon, Richard Hunt, Virginia Jaramillo, Daniel LaRue Johnson, Al Loving, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Larry Poons, Michael Steiner, William T. Williams, and James Wolfe." A most handsome example of the now uncommon document of this historic exhibition. Inventory Number: 027683

Driskell, David C.. Los Angeles & New York: Los Angeles County Museum of Art & Random House, 1976. First Edition. 4to. Illustrated Wrappers. Exhibition Catalog. Very Good.. 222pp, profusely illustrated in b&w with a full-color cover illustration. This is the catalogue published in conjunction with an important 1966 traveling California Museum exhibition curated by Howard University's pioneering African-American art historian, artist, and educator James A. Porter enttitled "The Negro in American Art". The show featurrd work by such noted artists as Edward Bannister, Romare Bearden, Edward Bereal, Aaron Douglas, David Driskell, Robert Duncanson, Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam Jr., Marvin Harden, Richard Hunt, Sargent Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Horace Pippin, Noah Purifoy, Betye Saar, Raymond Saunders, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Robert Thompson, Ruth Waddy, Charles White, and many others. A handsome example of this significant document showing some light overall wear and soiling. Inventory Number: 027488

Gaines, Charles & Catherine Lord. Irvine, CA: Fine Arts Gallery, University of California, Irvine, 1993. First Edition 1/1000. 4to. Embossed and Printed Wrappers. Exhibition Catalog. Fine.. 92pp, profusely illustrated in b&w. Designed by Susan Silton. Photographs by Catherine Opie. With artists' biographies. In 1993, Charles Gaines and Catherine Lord mounted a category-breaking exhibition at the University of California, Irvine, entitled "The Theater of Refusal: Black Art and Mainstream Criticism. that featured Black artists from different generations working across Fluxus, Conceptualism, assemblage, photography and installation. Challenging the racializing of Black artists’ work, the show confronted the discourse around race difference in the United States by including excerpts of writings discussing the participating artists: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Renée Green, David Hammons, Ben Patterson, Adrian Piper, Sandra Rowe, Gary Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, Pat Ward Williams, and Fred Wilson. The catalogue contains essays by Gaines, Lord, and Maurice Berger along with a typographic transcription of a roundtable of between the exhibition's artists and writers. A most handsome example of the uncommon 1993 first edition of this important document limited to one thousand unnumbered copies. 1-884355-00-5 Inventory Number: 027643

Gold, Jeff, Sonny Rollins, Quincy Jones, Robin Givhan, Jason Moran & Dan Morgenstern. New York: Harper Design, 2020. Second Edition. Oblong Small 4to. Boards in Illustrated Jacket. Music Monograph. As New/As New. pp, profusely illustrated in b&w and color. "Sittin’ In: Jazz Clubs of the 1940s and 1950s" is a visual history of jazz clubs during these crucial decades when some of the greatest names in in the genre - Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, and many others - were headlining acts across the country. In many of the clubs, black and white musicians played together and more significantly, people of all races gathered together to enjoy an evening’s entertainment. House photographers roamed the floor and for a dollar, took picture of patrons that were developed on site and could be taken home in a keepsake folder with the club’s name and logo. "Sittin’ In" tells the story of the most popular club in these cities through striking images, first-hand anecdotes, true tales about the musicians who performed their unforgettable shows, notes on important music recorded live there, and more. All of this is supplemented by colorful club memorabilia, including posters, handbills, menus, branded matchbooks, and more. Inside you’ll also find exclusive, in-depth interviews conducted specifically for this book with the legendary Quincy Jones; legendary tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins; Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion critic Robin Givhan; artist, musician, and creative director of the Kennedy Center, Jason Moran; and Jazz critic Dan Morgenstern. Gold surveys America’s jazz scene and its intersection with racism during segregation, focusing on three crucial regions: the East Coast (New York, Atlantic City, Boston, Washington, D.C.); the Midwest (Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City); and the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco). Its collection of ephemeral snapshots tells the story of an era that helped transform American life, beginning the move from traditional Dixieland jazz to bebop, from conservatism to the push for personal freedom.." A brand new, most handsome example of this stellar contribution to the study of Post-War Jazz and race-relations additionally BOLDLY INSCRIBED "Dig it! / Jeff Gold" in black ink on the author's specially created bookplate affixed to the front pastedown. 0-06-291470-7 Inventory Number: 026796

Home, Harriette Wilder. NP (Chesapeake, VA?): Harriette Wilder Home, 1908. First Edition. Oblong 12mo. Loose Photograph. Silver Gelatin Photograph. Fine.. One individual 3 ¼ x 5 ½" gelatin silver photograph. This is an original photograph by Harriette Wilder Home taken during a five day cruise on the passenger ship SS Powhatan along the Virginia Coast in mid-July, 1908. It depicts four African-American laborers - one in overalls, one in a chef's smock, and two in slacks and long sleeved shirts - posing on deck in front of the ship's nameplate for the photographer. "The Powhatan was originally was launched as the SS Yorktown February 10th, 1894, by Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works for the Old Dominion Steamship Company. The Navy purchased the Yorktown on April 21st, 1898, to be commissioned as the second USS Resolute, an auxiliary cruiser and transport that saw naval service during the Spanish-American War in 1898-1899. The Department of War acquired the ship on January 22nd, 1900, for service as the Army Transport (USAT) Rawlings. The Rawlings was then decommissioned and sold to the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company of Baltimore, Maryland on July 27, 1901, and renamed Powhatan." A most handsome example of this unique vernacular photograph showing just a bit of silvering along the left margin. Inventory Number: 026998