OTHER VOICES
Art - Cover to Cover
by Don Albright
February 2008
Across the
street from The Art Group Gallery, in the same building with the town
offices, the police department and the museum, is the Mount Jackson
Library. It is a part of the County library system with headquarters in
Edinburg. In addition to its collection of fiction, non-fiction,
children's books and computers, the Library has a sizable and growing
collection of materials on art. While the headquarters library
has an important collection of works on genealogy, New Market had been
designated as the library with the Civil War collection, Mount Jackson
is identified as the library with a collection focused on art.
The magazines Art in America and
American Style 
are both regularly available with back issues on display, as well.
If you want to know what's happening on a day-to-day basis in the visual arts, these magazines will do the job.
A remarkable volume devoted to the history and work of
Frida 
Kahlo
has just been added to the collection. It depicts her work from
1926, when she was 19 years old, up to her final efforts in the early
1950s. All of the familiar pieces are there and many rarely seen
works, too. There is an extensive photographic section, depicting her
life and her long association with Diego Rivera up to her death in
1954. There is
one photograph of Rivera as an infant in 1887, though the caption makes
clear it is unclear whether the picture really is of Diego or of his
twin brother.
Another new volume is called 
America's Art
and it presents 225 of the best works held by the Smithsonian Museum of
American Art, issued to coincide with the recent reopening of that
remarkable building. The collection represented is stunning in its
depth and completeness and is an absolute joy to read.
One might argue with the title of another new addition,
“1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die”
but you would have to agree that it is an outstanding collection. It
starts with copious examples of Greek and Ethiopian art and works its
way through the centuries right up until 2006. While it tends to slight
Asian, African and Latin American contributions, it is nevertheless an
impressive volume. For a serious student or someone only casually
interested in art, this volume with detailed information on each work
is a pleasure to study or just to wander through.