In June 2019 the University of Iowa announced that the University Libraries had been chosen as the new home of the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, the most comprehensive such collection in the world. To celebrate the opening of this important collection to the public and to introduce Iowans and the University community to the vast and impressive range of resources held in the Sackner Archive, from artists’ books to reference works to large-scale works of visual poetry, an inaugural exhibition featuring a few highlights from the collection held in the Main Library Gallery from August 24 – December 18, 2020.

Besides demonstrating the remarkable artistry and diversity of some of the most significant poet-artists of the past hundred years, the exhibition will bring to light some of the many ways the new collection can support teaching and research at the University.

Contact Sackner Archive Sackner Exhibit Guide (PDF)

 

View the Sackner Archive virtual exhibit

 

See the complete Sackner Archive LibGuide for additional information and resources related to the exhibition.

View the full length documentary about Marvin and Ruth Sackner by Sara Sackner.

Photo of Dr. Marvin Sackner

Dr. Marvin Sackner

It is with profound sorrow that we note the passing of Dr. Marvin Sackner on Tuesday, September 29 at age 88, just a few weeks after the opening of this exhibition. For those of us at Iowa, Dr. Sackner will be forever remembered for selecting the University Libraries as the permanent home of his world-renowned collection of concrete and visual poetry; but as his obituary shows, his memory will be treasured for his countless contributions in many areas—by his numerous patients, by members of the medical profession, by artists, art historians, and literary scholars around the world, and most of all by his beloved family.

This exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Ruth and Marvin Sackner.

 

Read the University of Iowa Libraries tribute to Dr. Sackner.

Sackner Archive Curator Highlights

Two pages from this altered novel features colorful art surrounding select words from pages in this treated Victorian novel.

A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel

Phillips took copies of “A Human Monument,” a second-rate Victorian novel by W. H. Mallock, covering the pages with drawings and collages and leaving portions of the text visible to create an entirely new narrative.
Two photos show components of the outside of this slender book-sized box. The box itself is black and white with aquamarine binding on the spine. Two art pieces are shown in detail and are handmade to include African symbols.

Afrikanische Legenden

Ilse Garnier’s “Afrikanische Legenden” (“African Legends”) work incorporates an African symbolic writing system sewn by women into ceremonial carpets and vestments.
There are two photos on this page. The first is of a set of leather shoe-type objects which cradle several small, varied artist books made of paper and fabric. The second is a view from behind the leather shoes. Leather lacing holds the shoes together.

Book Walk Series in the Backwoods

This unique piece, one of three in the physical exhibit, tells a tale of a community through multiple component parts encased in a pair of leather shoes.
In the photo on this page, a blue engraved plexiglass desk nameplate says

Man Aging Direct Or

Artist Richard Tipping explores the authority embodied in signs, subverting it and replacing it with playful anarchy. “Man Aging Direct Or” is a small, unassuming desk nameplate. The work divides “Managing Director,” a title of authority and control, into chunks of text forming new words and meaning.
There are three photos on this page. The first features all 7 black, white, and gray matchbooks, and the other two are closeups. Closeup images feature the matchbook text in each image description.

Matchbooks

Seven small matchbooks, a common form for advertising in the past, have Kruger works printed on their covers. Your Manias Become Science (set against an image of an atomic explosion), You Are An Experiment in Terror, Your Silence Is My Comfort and four others enact a double valence of identity and effect through the use of pronouns, a common feature of Kruger’s art. The “Your” and “my” of “Your comfort is my silence” are both viewer and other, interchangeable, allowing the viewer to apply the text to themselves or somebody else. Small and subtle, the matchbooks are an elegant example of Kruger’s sensibility and artistic agenda.
There is one photo on this page, and it is of a black hat with a black patch. Yellow embroidered text and border feature on the patch, which says Protect Me From What I Want.

Protect Me From What I Want

Among the Jenny Holzer artworks in the Sackner Archive is a trucker hat, one of her multiples, bearing the embroidered text, “Protect Me From What I Want.” The message, like others of Holzer’s, speaks of identity, power, and desire. The hat is High and Low culture simultaneously, shifting seamlessly from one to the other, unstable and dangerous.
This page includes three images. The first is the spine of a white book with red lettering. The title is The art of typewriting. The second is the cover, which is also white with red lettering. The third is open to a random page with samples of typed art.

The art of typewriting

Ruth and Marvin’s work The art of typewriting delves into a small but incredibly robust portion of their collection. It is a full-color work featuring some of the many typewriter pieces in their Archive.
Three images show detail of this piece. Black letters in a variety of languages make up the Tower of Babel. Toward the top, letters are flying off as the tower begins to fall apart. The piece is on white paper.

The Fall of the Tower of Babel

John Furnival’s “The Fall of the Tower of Babel” is one of the early classics of concrete poetry and exists in many versions. It depicts the Biblical story of the splintering of the World’s languages as a vision of nuclear apocalypse.
This page includes three images. One is the catalog cover, which is orange with black and white vertical text as design. The catalog title is prominent. The second image is the catalog spine and features the title. The third image is the open catalog.

The Ruth & Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, 1984 (Catalog)

Not long after Ruth and Marvin Sackner purchased the first items for their Archive, they began creating detailed records of the materials within it. Nothing demonstrates their determination to do so quite like the bulk of this 1984 catalog—roughly 3 inches thick!

 

Curator Highlight with Timothy Shipe: Merz, Schwitters, Art

Curator Highlight with Peter Balestrieri: Hanne Darboven’s Mathematical Art

Curator Highlight with Margaret Gamm: Building a ‘Home Sweet Museum’

Samples from the Sackner Collection

The Wink, The Kiss, The Slap by Susan Grant

She’s Not Ugly But by Francis Hamilton

Recall of the Soul by Zena Zipporah

Man from Red by Dmitry Babenko

Financial support for this exhibition was generously provided by the Friends of the University of Iowa Libraries. Special thanks to Ruth and Marvin Sackner, Sara Sackner, and Amanda Keeley for their long years of work with and love for this Archive, as well as their help with this exhibit. Thank you to the staff and students in Special Collections and Conservation & Preservation, who continue putting in an incredible amount of work to make the Archive available to the public.

Exhibition Curation
Timothy Shipe, Peter Balestrieri, Margaret Gamm

Preparation & Installation
Giselle Simón, Bill Voss

Design
Kalmia Strong

Exhibition Coordination
Sara J. Pinkham

Exhibition Technology
Chris Clark, Will Brown

Publicity & Website
Jennifer Masada, Sara J. Pinkham, Ken Clinkenbeard

Additional Assistance
Rich Dana, Beth Stone, Diane Dias De Fazio