A true objet d'art in Grosse Pointe Farms will soon undergo a long-delayed makeover.
According to Eric D. Lawrence in the Free Press, the artwork is a 25-foot-long mural by noted graphic designer Herbert Matter that has seen better days. It's titled the "History of Writing," a 1955 photo montage that describes the development of communication using symbols and letters.
Located in the adult reading room of the Central Library of the Grosse Pointe Public Library system at Fisher and Kercheval, its condition is "darkened horizontal streaks left by furniture, water stains, separations in the wallpaper-like panels and some tears," Lawrence writes.
In January, Ypsilanti-based art and photo conservationist Valerie Baas will attempt to preserve the work, which has been called a masterpiece in its medium. Matter, who was born in Switzerland, was a noted photographer, claimed friends in the art world such as Jackson Pollock and Alexander Calder and created the legendary New Haven Railroad logo, according to a biography by Steven Heller and David Brown.
Marcel Breuer-designed building to rectify space and parking limitations.
The library itself, above, a modernist building from 1953 that is one of three branches in the Grosse Pointes, is also noted for its architecture, and is undergoing its own makeover.
