Unknown (Glover, Albert)

Broadside/Poster: Black Mountain North Symposium

Rochester, NY: Black Mountain North Symposium, 2010. First Edition. “Objectivism is the getting rid of the lyrical interference of the individual as ego, of the “subject” and his soul, that peculiar presumption by which western man has interposed himself between what he is as a creature of nature (with certain instructions to carry out) and those other creations of nature which we may, with no derogation, call objects. For a man is himself an object, whatever he may take to be his advantages, the more likely to recognize himself as such the greater his advantages, particularly at that moment that he achieves an humilitas sufficient to make him of use. It comes to this: the use of a man, by himself and thus by others, lies in how he conceives his relation to nature, that force to which he owes his somewhat small existence. If he sprawl, he shall find little to sing but himself, and shall sing, nature has such paradoxical ways, by way of artificial forms outside of himself. But if he stays inside himself, if he is contained within his nature as he is participant in the larger force, he will be able to listen, and his hearing through himself will give him secrets objects share. And by an inverse law his shapes will make their own way. It is in this sense that the projective act, which is the artist’s act in the larger field of objects, leads to dimensions larger than the man. For a man’s problems, the moment he takes speech up in all its fullness, is to give his work his seriousness, a seriousness sufficient to cause the thing he makes to try to take its place alongside the things of nature. This is not easy.”--Charles Olson, Collected Prose. Black Mountain College was a legendary private liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice (1888-1968), Theodore Dreier (1903-1997), and several others. The college was ideologically organized around John Dewey's (1859-1952) educational philosophy, which emphasized holistic learning and the study of art as central to a liberal arts education. Black Mountain went on to cultivate and produce the likes of Josef (1888-1976) & Annie Albers (1899-1994), Robert Creeley (1926-2005), Elaine de Kooning (1918-1989), Franz Kline (1910-1962), Walter Gropius (1883-1969), and Charles Olson (1910-1970) among many others. All that is to say that Black Mountain College was an incredibly experimental institution that produced a ton of influential artists, writers, and thinkers that went on to define much of the 20th century. Offered today is a poster for the 2010 Black Mountain North Symposium. The Black Mountain North symposium, in connection with Writers & Books, Rochester’s literary center, and the Visual Studies Workshop, featured a series of art exhibitions, poetry readings, theatrical performances and lectures including prominent national scholars and alumni from the Asheville, N.C., college, that operated from 1933 to 1957. The legendary Beat poet Ed Sanders (b. 1939) was the keynote speaker of the symposium, and over the course of the three day event figures like painter and poet Basil King (b. 1935), author Martha King (b. 1937), and writer and poet Martha Rittenhouse Treichler (1929-2023), as well as historian Mary Emma Harris (b. 1943), among many others delivering their presentations. From the collection of Albert Glover (b. 1942), the acclaimed American poet, author, bibliographer, editor & publisher whom we're honored to be acquainted with, & who is the foremost living authority on Charles Olson [1910-1970], the canonical American poet among the most Gigantic (literally & literarily) men-of-letters of the twentieth century—our favorite Maximus Obscurantist. Glover studied with & was anointed by the Maximus Master himself, & has outstandingly served as his bibliographer & editor (see for example our item No. 8126). Single sheet poster (approx. 13” x 20”). First & only printing. In very fine condition with only minor wear to fine edges, and slight smudging to front and back. Very Fine. [Item #8368]

Price: $60.00