NPL and UMDNJ cosponsor Hispanic Heritage Month exhibition
Press Release October 6, 2002

In partnership with The Newark Public Library, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey is holding an exhibition in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Entitled UMDNJ and The Newark Public Library Celebrate Latino Graphic Art, the exhibition is on display through October 31, 2002, in the Gallery at the Medical Science Building, B-Level Grand Foyer, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark. It is free and open to the public from 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.

The more than fifty works of art are from the library’s Special Collections Division. The prints and limited-edition signed posters are by leading graphic artists in Puerto Rico, many of whom were active from the 1960s to the present. These noted artists include Rafael Tufino, Lorenzo Homar, Antonio Martorell, Jose Alicea and Nelson Sambolin. Some depict workers in the industry that produces the well-known coffee from the Island; others celebrate popular folksongs of nostalgic and legendary vintage. Puerto Rican theater and dance events are colorfully recorded, as is a visual salute to baseball-legend Roberto Clemente, a recognition of the efforts of Pedro Albizu Campos, and the unique fire station in Ponce—with its unforgettable red and black façade.

Additional works in the show include:

• A pop-up book published in Spanish in 1985, showing a three-dimensional sailing ship of the 19th century. Entitled Los Barcos de Vela: Un Libro Tridimensional, it became a bestseller.
• Color photographs from two oversized books show historic Puerto Rican settings from 1899.
• The housefly and small lizards are depicted in highly original color woodblock prints by Antonio Martorell.
• The artistic accomplishments of recent decades are illustrated by a small silk-screen print from 2001, showing the new Museum of Puerto Rican Art in San Juan; a brilliantly colored view from a balcony by Esteban Antommarchi; and a color lithograph, “Fiesta,” done in 1951 by Emilio Amero.

For more information, patrons may call William J. Dane, supervisor of the library’s print collection and curator of this show, at (973) 733-7745.