The Librarian
The Librarian, 1960, George Herms. Wooden box, papers, books, loving cup, and painted stool. 57 x 63 x 21 in. Norton Simon Museum, Gift of Molly Barnes. © George Herms
On View at the Getty Center: Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950-1970
A fascination with the accumulation of objects and ideas is evident in one of George Herms’s most important assemblage works from the early 1960s: the anthropomorphic sculpture The Librarian, made from old books found in a dump in the Northern Californian town of Larkspur. This work represents for Herms one of his distinct approaches to assemblage sculpture, in which a multitude of things and materials are thrown together to create what Herms called a “tossed salad” assemblage. Like other of Herms’s sculptures, The Librarian relates to someone who has had a particular influence on the artist’s life: in this case, a small-town librarian in Larkspur, where Herms lived for a year at the start of the 1960s.
Exhibition audio: Learn more about George Herms’s approach to assemblage.
Exhibition audio: Herms describe a real librarian’s reaction.
Works of Art
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L.A. Odyssey, 1969, Diane di Prima (poet), cover design by George Herms. Poets Press, San Francisco, 1969. Offset lithograph. 8 5/8 x 5 9/16 x 1/16 in. Book © Diane di Prima. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of George Herms, 2009.M.20.27. Cover image © George Herms
Explore the Archive
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Video: George Herms speaks about his work, March 2011
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Announcement for George Herms exhibition Nativity '63 at Rolf Nelson gallery in Los Angeles, 1963. © George Herms. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Michael Asher, 2009.M.30.9
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Announcement for George Herms exhibition at Aura Gallery in Pasadena, California, 1963. Designed by Wallace Berman. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of George Herms, 2009.M.20.3. Courtesy of the Estate of Wallace Berman and Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles
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Announcement for "Roofle," a Tap City Circus raffle in Los Angeles, October 30, 1966. Designed by George Herms. Letterpress, woodblock, and rubber stamping. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Hal Glicksman, 2009.M.5.6
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Announcement for “Raffle,” a Tap City Circus raffle in Los Angeles, June 6, 1965. Designed by George Herms. Letterpress, woodblock, rubber stamping, and tinted gelatin silver print. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38.4
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George Herms at “Earful,” a Tap City Circus raffle in Los Angeles, 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of George Herms, 2009.M.20.24. Photo by and © Jerry Maybrook
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Announcement for “Earful,” a Tap City Circus raffle in Los Angeles, February 20, 1972. Designed by George Herms. Letterpress, woodblock, and rubber stamping. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of George Herms, 2009.M.20.25. © J. Paul Getty Trust
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George Herms in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, 1960. Photo by Edmund Teske. Courtesy of and © 1960 Edmund Teske Archives, Laurence Bump and Nils Vidstrand
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George Herms in 1960. Photo by Edmund Teske. Courtesy of and © 1960 Edmund Teske Archives, Laurence Bump and Nils Vidstrand
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George Herms in his studio on Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles, ca. 1977. Photo by Frank J. Thomas. Courtesy of the Frank J. Thomas Archives
