Appendix 6 Baroque Book Design. A Tale of Friendship and Collaboration Museum Plantin-Moretus 28.09.2018 - 06.01.2019 How did the book evolve in the Baroque period? Why did a publisher like Balthasar Moretus work together with prominent artists? Which vision did contemporary innovators propagate in the book trade? The exhibition in the Museum Plantin-Moretus ‘Baroque Book Design. A Tale of Friendship and Collaboration’ shows publishers' love of the trade. How publishers motivated artists, printers and designers to create a top product in the past and continue to do so in the present. The Baroque book: a fortunate co-creation between Balthasar Moretus and Peter Paul Rubens Many new kinds of books appeared in the 16th century. And that is to a great extent due to publishers like the Plantin-Moretus family. They looked for ways to capture and arrange new knowledge and ideas on paper. They thought about how texts could be typeset better, how image and text relate to each other, the role of a title page, etc. Books as we know them today originated here. Balthasar Moretus took the next step in the development of book architecture: he engaged prominent artists to design books. He commissioned Peter Paul Rubens to provide illustrations for his new prayer books. Erasmus Quellinus, Karel de Mallery, Peeter de Jode and Abraham Van Diepenbeeck also supplied Balthasar Moretus with designs for title pages and illustrations. Contemporary publishers as directors Today's publishers still play the role of director in the modernisation of book architecture. In this exhibition, the Museum Plantin-Moretus reveals the similarities between the working method of Balthasar Moretus and a contemporary publishing project. How a prominent, contemporary publisher looks at books and continues to reinvent books in collaboration with artists. A tale of friendship and collaboration The exhibition shows publishers' love of the trade. How publishers motivated artists, printers and designers to create a top product in the past and continue to do so in the present. The museum conveys this passion to visitors via a series of lectures, workshops, collection visits and atelier visits. During Art Day for Kids and the annual Science Day we invite designers and printers to work together with the public. Curators Curators: Dr Dirk Imhof, Dr Goran Proot and Dr Geoffrey Brusatto Dirk Imhof is Custodian of Libraries and Archives at the Museum Plantin-Moretus. He has a degree in classical philology and was awarded a Ph.D. in History from the University of Antwerp in 2008 for his doctoral research on the list of the Antwerp printer Jan I Moretus. Together with Karen Bowen he wrote a monograph about illustrated works by Plantin: Christopher Plantin and Engraved Book Illustrations in Sixteenth Century Europe (Cambridge, 2008). His bibliography on editions by Jan I Moretus entitled Jan Moretus and the Continuation of the Plantin Press (1589-1610) appeared in 2014. Dr Goran Proot (b. 1972) studied Language and Literature, Philosophy and Information and Library Sciences. He has worked as a custodian of historic collections in Antwerp, Washington, D.C. and Paris. He studies the bibliography, the development of layout and typography, and the economic aspects of handpress books during the Ancien Régime. He is chairman of the non-profit organisation Flemish Working Group Book History and a member of the Board of the non-profit organisation Association of Antwerp Bibliophiles. Geoffrey Brusatto (b. 1979) became a freelancer in 2004 and started working on different graphic projects. He opened Brusatto, his own graphic studio, in Hasselt in 2007. He serves a clientele that mainly comes from the cultural sector and he teaches graphic design at the MAD faculty of the University of Hasselt. His passion for books (and their design) peaked in a Ph.D. research project about the formal aspect of books and their place in the present (digital) society. Practical information Baroque Book Design Museum Plantin-Moretus Vrijdagmarkt 22, 2000 Antwerp www.museumplantinmoretus.be Open 28/9/2018 – 6/1/2019 Open: Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 – 17:00 Closed: Monday, except Easter Monday and Whit Monday, 1/11, 25/12, 1/1 Tickets € 8 / € 6 / free with Baroque Festival Card Tickets via www.antwerpbaroque2018.be More information and pictures: www.antwerpbaroque2018.be https://stadantwerpen.prezly.com/ https://stadantwerpen.prezly.com/media# More information about this press release: Anneleen Decraene, Communication Museum Plantin-Moretus, Tel. +32 488 57 65 62, [email protected] Nadia De Vree, Press Coordination Museums and Heritage Antwerp, Tel. +32 475 36 71 96, [email protected] More information about Antwerp Baroque 2018. Rubens inspires: The cultural city festival Antwerp Baroque 2018. Rubens inspires pays homage to Peter Paul Rubens and his Baroque, cultural heritage. During the festival, the spotlight will be on Peter Paul Rubens, one of the most influential artists ever and the most famous inhabitant of Antwerp. He personifies the Baroque period and is an important source of inspiration for contemporary artists and the atypical lifestyle of the city and its inhabitants. The cultural city festival Antwerp Baroque 2018. Rubens inspires tells a story about the Baroque, in the past and the present, and creates a dialogue between historic Baroque and the work of contemporary artists. But the city and the world, in all their diversity, were and are the décor. Antwerp Baroque 2018. Rubens inspires is a key event in VisitFlanders' Flemish Masters programme. It promises to be explicitly extroverted and to combine artistic originality with authentic hospitality. From June 2018 to January 2019 in Antwerp. More information on www.antwerpbaroque2018.be .