Publications
The Block Museum's publications support our exhibitions, expand scholarship, and engage in critical reflection on art, material culture, and museum practice.
Who Says, Who Shows, What Counts: Thinking about History with The Block’s Collection
Who Says, Who Shows, What Counts invites readers to think critically about how artists, artworks, and museums engage with narratives of the past. Highlighting more than fifty contemporary artworks recently acquired by the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, the book considers our constantly changing understanding of the past through the lens of artistic practice.
If You Remember, I'll Remember
This richly illustrated publication serves as a record of the 2017 exhibition, If You Remember, I'll Remember, its related programs, and its in-depth engagement projects - from sewing circles focused on the theme of equity to conversations with internment camp survivors - developed through discussion and collaboration with artists and campus and community partners.
Portrait of a Child Historical and Scientific Studies of a Roman Egyptian Mummy (2019)
Portrait of a Child is an illustrated guide to the fascinating story of the mummy known to archaeologists as “Hawara Portrait Mummy No. 4.” The centerpiece of a 2018 exhibit at Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art titled “Paint the Eyes Softer: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt,” the mummy was the focus on intense, multidisciplinary research.
Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa (2019)
Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time draws on the latest archaeological discoveries and art historical research to construct a compelling look at medieval trans-Saharan exchange and its legacy.
Up Is Down: Mid-Century Experiments in Advertising and Film at the Goldsholl Studio (2018)
Up is Down: Mid-Century Experiments in Advertising and Film at the Goldsholl Studio is the first book to examine the innovative work of Goldsholl Design Associates and its impact on design and film.
William Blake and the Age of Aquarius (2017)
Named one of the Best Art Books of 2017 by The New York Times art critic Holland Cotter, this book is a stunningly illustrated look at how Blake's radical vision influenced artists of the Beat generation and 1960s counterculture.
Geof Oppenheimer: Big Boss and the Ecstasy of Pressures (2015)
This first substantive catalogue on Geof Oppenheimer's work. Oppenheimer employs a variety of media, including video and photography, to consider how value—economic, political and social—is produced.
A Feast of Astonishments: Charlotte Moorman and the Avant-Garde, 1960s-1980s (2016)
Charlotte Moorman was a bold, barrier-breaking musician and performance artist. This is catalog from The Block's exhibition on Moorman, which included original sculptures, photographs, props and costumes, music scores and archival materials.
Collecting Paradise: Buddhist Art of Kashmir and Its Legacies
Collecting Paradise features Buddhist objects, including manuscripts, paintings, and sculptures in ivory, metal and wood, dating from the 7th to 17th centuries. The catalogue features essays by a leading scholar in the field.