'Containers of Ideas': The Collection of Printmaking Artifacts of Philip Hofer

摘要

IN 1939, SHORTLY AFTER HIS ARRIVAL AT HARVARD AS FOUNDING CURATOR of the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts in the Treasure Room ofWidener Library, Philip Hofer started planning an exhibition on early modern printmaking techniques, for, as he wrote to a correspondent, such an exhibition was greatly needed and few had been mounted in the country at the time. Hofer intended the show to be on permanent display and to comprise not only prints but also a number of printmaking surfaces, including woodblocks and copper plates from his collection.