Framing Fraktur
Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation
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Bob and Roberta Smith, Art Makes People Powerful (2013). Fabric with applique and embroidery. Courtesy of the artist and Pierogi Gallery.
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Bob and Roberta Smith, MoMA WILL BE FREE (2011) and CREATING THINGS (2011), installed as part of Framing Fraktur at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
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Untitled work by Bob and Roberta Smith, installed as part of Framing Fraktur at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
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Marian Bantjes, Lost Child, installed as part of Framing Fraktur at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
This exhibition of contemporary art by seven artists serves as the complement to another exhibition of the library's outstanding collection of Fraktur: Pennsylvania German folk artworks from the 18th and 19th centuries, which resemble illuminated manuscripts. Framing Fraktur includes a major new installation in the library's grand staircase by Romanian-born, Germany-based brothers Gert and Uwe Tobias, whose art similarly uses a powerful combination of text and image. Other works displayed throughout the library are by artists working internationally—in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Pakistan—placing the locally grown art form of Fraktur within an international context.
Additional unrestricted funds are added to each grant for general operating support.