Talk: Architect Donald MacDonald on the History of the Golden Gate Bridge

THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE: an Icon.

An illustrated talk by Donald MacDonald, the first architect to work on the elegant landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge, since the original consulting architects. MacDonald and Ira Nadel wrote the text for The Golden Gate Bridge: History and Design of an Icon, published by Chronicle Books. MacDonald who illustrated the book will sign copies at the event. The book will be available for sale at $16.95 (plus tax).

Where
Club Rooms, Suite 510, 312 Sutter Street, San Francisco
Monday, May 12, 2008
Reception: 5 to 6 p.m.
Lecture: 6 to 7 p.m.

Opening reception and talk by Alastair Johnston
Exhibition: Richard Austin, Type Designer from the collection of Alastair Johnston

Mon Jun 30, 2008
Reception : 5 to 6 p.m.
Talk: 6 to 7 p.m.

Where
Club Rooms, Suite 510, 312 Sutter Street, San Francisco

"Searching for Richard Austin" A Talk by Alastair Johnston.
In searching for facts about England's greatest type designer, Alastair Johnston discovered there were two of him, Richard Austin Senior cut type for John Bell, the revolutionary Porson Greek for Cambridge University, and the faces of the Edinburgh and Glasgow founders that became known as Scotch roman. Richard Austin Junior was a trade wood engraver who filled the void left by John Bewick's death at the Stephenson foundry and illustrated a wide range of books published from Edinburgh to New York.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Piranesi as Book Designer

An illustrated presentation by Marcia Reed, head of Collections Development at the Getty Research Institute Library. Ms. Reed will talk about Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720–1778) and will show examples of Piranesi's books and prints in the special collections of the Research Library at the Getty Research Institute, featured in the recent MAGNIFICENT PIRANESI exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa.

As an architect, printmaker, antiquarian, archaeologist, and author Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s lifelong project was to provide comprehensive documentation on ancient and modern Rome.  Piranesi is best known for the more than one thousand etchings, including suites such as the Carceri (Prisons) with exaggerated fantasies of ruins and antique compositions. Another side of Piranesi is revealed in the illustrated books he designed to promote the case for Roman architecture and monuments. These are conceptually integrated print productions with ornate title pages, elegant page spreads, and specially designed initial letters. While considerable scholarship has been focused on Piranesi’s prints and polemics, Ms. Reed describes his innovative and complex designs for books that, surprisingly, have received scant attention.