Bea Nettles: Innovator and Rule Breaker

Bea Nettles’ 1975 Tarot deck, Mountain Dream Tarot was recently acquired for the Rare Book Collection and is currently on display in the Grosvenor Room. B&ECPL holds other important works by Nettles, most notably Breaking the Rules: A Photo Media Cookbook. Breaking the Rules has provided incredible insight into Nettles’ process when creating the Mountain Dream Tarot nearly 20 years earlier.

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In the early 1970s, artist Bea Nettles created the first ever photographic Tarot deck in the style of the iconic 1909 Coleman-Smith/Arthur E. Waite deck. Though Nettles’ created the concept while she attended the Penland School in North Carolina, the deck itself was produced in Rochester, New York, after Nettles moved there to teach at R.I.T. Only 800 of this first edition were printed in 1975. 

Though this is the first Tarot deck added to the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library’s Rare Book collection, tarot decks intersect with the existing Rare Book collection in very synergistic ways.  The Rare Book Room (RBR) collection already includes many notable artists’ books, occult texts, and book arts objects; this addition fits right in. The Rare Book Collection at B&ECPL in good company in acquiring this deck—Mountain Dream Tarot is in the collection of 23 other cultural institutions in North America, including the Toronto Metropolitan University, the George Eastman Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Princeton University Library—to name a few.

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The roots of Tarot go back to the game of Tarocchi in Italy in the 1420s, but it was only in 1909 that the modern Tarot deck we know today was created by two members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: artist Pamela Coleman-Smith and mystical scholar Arthur E. Waite. While the first 22 cards, the Major Arcana, have established imagery and meanings, Coleman-Smith was the first to illustrate the pip cards, the four suits of Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles, with scenes and symbolic imagery. The illustrations Coleman-Smith created have become iconic as the Minor Arcana and are still the basis for many decks today–including Mountain Dream Tarot.

The Fool as depicted by Bea Nettles (left) and by Pamela Coleman-Smith (right) in the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck.

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To really appreciate Nettles’ work, one must understand that her photographic art works were created in a pre-digital, pre-“Photoshop” era—all of the image manipulations visible in her photographic work were created through physical techniques involving chemicals, light, and iterative production. The experimental photography techniques Nettles first explored in Mountain Dream Tarot were later explained in Breaking the Rules: A Photo Media Cookbook, another book by Nettles in the B&ECPL collection.

Breaking the Rules is exactly what it claims to be—a “cookbook”, but not for anything edible! This cookbook is a compilation of Nettles’ personal recipes for how she created the formulas that allowed her to edit her photographic images the way she wanted. These recipe formulas involve complicated and precise chemicals, dark rooms, and targeted light. Over thirty years later, digital image manipulation such as Photoshop has long been the norm, but because of Nettles’ “photo media cookbook,” photographers who still work with darkroom technology can learn her analog techniques. 

This page shows the format of Nettles’ Breaking the Rules: Photo Media Cookbook–just like a cookbook for food, it has the ingredients needed and the process to follow.

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In the two images pictured below, one can see how Nettles keeps coming back to the symbolic imagery of the Tarot in her explorations with photographic manipulation. Mountain Dream Tarot is pictured on the top; below is a later image created by Nettles’ as part of her project, Knights of Assisi: A Journey Through the Tarot. In Breaking the Rules, Nettles included the image on the right to describe the process of “Hand Coloring” photographs.

Breaking the Rules: A Photo Media Cookbook is non-circulating, but available for patrons at Central Library.

If you’d like to see more images of Mountain Dream Tarot, the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY, has digitized the whole deck. Though the 1975 deck in the rare Book Collection will not be available for Tarot readings, a commemorative edition was published by Nettles in 2019, and is available for purchase on her website here.

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An Appreciation of Library Donors: Manuscript Edition

If it were not for philanthropic donors the library’s Rare Book Room would be lacking some very special materials.  Thanks to wealthy patrons such as Charles Clifton (President of Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co.) and Mrs. Frederick Pratt, the collection would not have our copies of the four folio editions of William Shakespeare’s comedies, histories & tragedies (1623-1685), or Audubon’s Birds of America (1827-1838), just to name a few.

We are also grateful for our more typical donors who collected unique items as a hobby, or by accident, or just by their everyday actions, such as writing letters to more famous people.  One such donor is local man Tim Denesha, who wrote to famous writers, actors and musicians and passed these little treasures on to the library.

Denesha, who very likely attended Bishop Fallon High School in Buffalo, gifted letters from as early as 1960 to as recently as 2017.  Among the famous who received his correspondence are local celebrities like Joann Falletta (the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s longtime Musical Director), as well as another BPO alumnus, German-American composer and musician, Lukas Foss. A brief response to Denesha’s request for a favorite book left nationally renowned literary critic, Leslie Fiedler, himself a longtime Buffalo resident and teacher at the University of Buffalo, unable to find a copy in print.

Joann Falletta’s card to Tim Denesha

Lukas Foss letter sharing a mutual love for Mahler

Other manuscript letters from Tim include the English composer and musician Benjamin Britten; Welsh actor Emlyn Williams; the American writer and illustrator of over 250 children’s books, Tomie dePaola; and Ray Bradbury, the American screenwriter and sci-fi author. Bradbury corresponded twice with a young Denesha, actually reading some fragments of his stories, and though it was against his policy to read stories sent in the mail, he was impressed enough to encourage him to keep writing and learn his craft.

Emlyn Williams letter from Jamaica

Tomie dePaola thanks for kind words, etc.

Britten’s note from Suffolk, England.

Emlyn Williams signed program from the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy

So a hearty “Thank You” to Tim and all of our patrons who have entrusted us with your generous donations of manuscripts that we are fortunate enough to preserve for generations to come.

“Some Letters of Emil Paur”

Emil Paur in The Century Magazine, article on the Boston Symphony Orchestra, February 1905

Among the manuscript collections in the Rare Book Room are a series of letters by famous composers to Austrian conductor Emil Paur (1855-1932). A talented musician initially trained in music basics by his father, Paur was playing the piano and violin in public by the tender age of eight. He would later achieve an excellent reputation as a conductor, first in cities in Germany, then moving on to conductorial posts for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

The collection of letters addressed to Paur would first come to light in 1951 through the efforts of Grosvenor music librarian Ellen Kenny who, after the library received photostatic copies from his son, published an article on the collection in the magazine Notes, a journal produced by the Music Library Association.  While conducting the works of some of his contemporaries Paur corresponded with the composers, and occasionally these letters offer some insight into the personalities of these musical talents. Included with the 16 items are letters or cards from Richard Strauss, Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann, Jules Massenet, Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler.

Clara Schumann, 1888

Gustav Mahler, 1903

Jules Massenet, 1897

Richard Strauss, 1888

There is also a signed music score from Brahms.

Brahms score with letters, 1886-1888

Eventually, Miss Kenny would purchase the handwritten letters from Kurt Paur, and become Head of the Music Department for the B&ECPL, and after her death, her sister donated them to the Rare Book Room in 1977. Bravo, Miss Kenny for your many contributions to our library’s unique music collections.

Ellen Kenny and staff member Howard Lamm in the Music Department, March 1963

Graphic Works by Richard Kersting in the Rare Book Room

Buffalo artist and printmaker Richard F. Kersting (http://www.kerstingart.com/index.htm) was once a librarian in the Language, Literature and Fine Arts Department of the Central Library in the 1970’s and early 1980’s.  Specializing in realism, surrealism and symbolism in miniature formats, Mr. Kersting is a member of the Fine Arts League of Buffalo and the Buffalo Society of Artists, and is currently represented by the Meibohm Fine Arts Gallery (http://www.meibohmfinearts.com/artists.aspx?ID=41).

In 1989, he generously donated a collection of graphic works to the Rare Book Room, consisting of over 40 etchings and 1 drawing of particular interest to those of us who have witnessed the ever-changing appearance of the downtown Central library.  The drawing, dated 1964, depicts a portion of the newly constructed library building and shows the modern furniture which has since been updated to a more contemporary design.

 

Kersting – Untitled [Central Library] 1964

 

Mr. Kersting’s works are held by numerous individual collectors, as well as the Burchfield Penney Art Center (https://www.burchfieldpenney.org/artists/artist:richard-kersting/), and the Rare Book Room is proud to have his works represented among such other local artists as J. J. Lankes and William Schwanekamp.

 

Five more of Mr. Kersting’s engravings were recently discovered here in the library and among them was a linocut portrait of him created by former Library Director Paul M. Rooney (1975-1983) for an exhibit of Kersting’s works here in the library.

Young man with press

The Anthony J. Sisti Papers, circa 1925-1982

Anthony Sisti (1901-1983)

 

Tony Sisti was a boxer turned painter, art collector and teacher who spent most of his life in Buffalo.  Born in Greenwich Village in 1901, Sisti relocated to Buffalo in 1911 where he attended art classes at the Albright Art School.  He began boxing at the local gym at 17, and after winning a New York State bantamweight title, became a professional boxer with 76 victories in 101 fights.  He traveled to Italy and studied painting under Felice Carena, receiving his Doctor of Arts degree in 1929. He continued both his boxing career and his art studies, later teaching at the Art Institute of Buffalo before opening his own gallery at 469 Franklin. Active from the 1920’s until his death in 1983, Sisti was best known for his oil paintings and murals but also painted formal portraits of notables such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt and New York Governor Alfred E. Smith, among others. His works have been exhibited in major museums around the country, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo, which has many of his paintings in its permanent collection.

 

Sisti in the classroom

 

Donated in 2012 by art curator and writer David F. Martin of Seattle (originally from Niagara Falls, NY), this particular collection of Sisti papers consists primarily of personal and professional photographs, news clippings, correspondence and programs from numerous artist shows at the Sisti Gallery in Buffalo.

 

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Travel Scrapbooks of former Grosvenor Librarian

A recent donation of five travel scrapbooks that once belonged to a former Grosvenor Library staff member have been added to the many unique collections in the Grosvenor Rare Book Room.

Jane Van Arnam, later Wiseman, was the daughter of Seymour and Harriet Van Arnam who resided at 76 Highland Ave. in Buffalo. Seymour was an executive at the Pitts Company, a leading manufacturer of machinery prior to World War II, and Harriet was active in church, clubs, and charity work. Jane graduated from the Buffalo Seminary in 1920 and soon after joined her sister Anna as an assistant in the Catalog Department of the Grosvenor Reference Library, later moving to the Periodical Department and working as a librarian until 1954. Her meticulous skills as a reference librarian are evident from the 5-volume travel scrapbooks she maintained from 1925 until the late 1940’s.

Within the carefully organized volumes are photographs, post cards, letters, menus, passenger lists and pamphlets from the many trips she took throughout Europe, Canada, the U. S., South America and other exotic places.  The scrapbooks as a whole provide a glimpse into the life of a working Buffalo blueblood, as well as the world of popular travel in the early-to-mid-20th century.  Jane died in 1989 at the age of 86.

 

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Pan American Exposition Booklet with Visitor Notes

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The Pan American Exposition Booklet pictured above was recently acquired by the Rare Book Room. Dr. R[ay] V[aughn] Pierce sponsored the publication of this “Free Guide to the Exposition, Buffalo and Vicinity, with Map.”  Not only did this booklet impart valuable information about the 1901 Expo and the Buffalo environs, but it also dispensed medical advice while it promoted “Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery” and “Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription” too! Pierce’s patented elixirs claimed to cure everything from pimples and problems nursing to hemorrhoids and heart failure.

This particular booklet is remarkable for its excellent condition and unique for the owner/visitor’s pencil annotations. The reader is transported back in time to October 7, 1901 when this person notes arriving at the Pan Am “at 15 to 2 p.m.”  S/he makes full lists all of the buildings, the Midway and  other sights s/he toured and was apparently a neighbor from the North based upon the last note in the booklet stating s/he “went on train & home … arrived in Toronto,” . There is even a note “saw spot where McKinley was killed.” There is a also a page on which s/he has tallied up his/her trips expenditures which add up to “880”. In 1901 this must have  meant $8.80  although today such a trip to a world’s fair would probably cost upwards of $880.00!