Gowin, Emmet | A presentation copy of Concerning America

Gowin, Emmet

Concerning America and Alfred Stieglitz, and Myself. Richmond, Virginia: [self-published,] 1965

4to (295 x 268 mm). Complete with 14 gelatin silver prints mounted recto only on card; faint browning to text and mounts, occasional and minor soiling. Pictorial wrappers with printed drawings, inscribed by Gowin on front wrapper in ink; browning, wear, and soiling.

Presentation copy, inscribed: "For Bernard Martin and his wife — for La Aventura — the Seventh Seal. And all of the other fine films we helped to bring. May 1965 Emmet Gowin."

Emmet Gowin, a native of Danville, Virginia, was a student at Richmond Professional Institute in Richmond, Virginia, from 1961 to 1965. RPI, as it was known, had one of the leading college art departments in the South at that time. In 1968, RPI merged with the Medical College of Virginia, also in Richmond, to form Virginia Commonwealth University, or VCU. (In its entry for Gowin's volume, the Book of 101 Books erroneously refers to this as a "Virginia community college," which is far from the case). VCU continues to have an international reputation in art and design, offering courses in the fine arts, painting and drawing, printmaking, ceramics, glass, multi-media, fiber arts, and interior design, among other subjects.

Bernard Martin was an emeritus professor of painting at Virginia Commonwealth University where he was the first chair of the Department of Painting and Printmaking. Martin was a faculty member while Gowin was an undergraduate at VCU.

PROVENANCE:

Bernard Martin (presentation inscription)