Doro Boehme: a tribute to a colleague

Many days have passed since I have written a blog for this website. Many distractions. Much sadness in the world and we are all seeking a bright light to focus on. I would like to focus on a person who was a bright light and the legacy of her work continues to shine in the world of artists’ books.

March 20, 2021 marked the one year passing of AnneDorothee (Doro) Boehme, a colleague who shared a deep interest in artists’ books. Doro was an artist, educator, librarian, professor and writer. She directed the Flaxman Library's Special Collections at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she also was a faculty member as well as at Columbia College. In Doro’s words: I am a visual artist, writer, educator, librarian and interested in any issues related to writing and publishing, including but not restricted to artists' publications and experimental art forms of the last 6 decades.

We both had shared the responsibility of building a collection of artists’ books and making the collection intellectually and physically accessible to users. Doro and I had opportunities to communicate about the collections we oversaw which included discussion about what was acquired and why. First through phone conversations and mail and then in person when we attended a conference held at the German Museum of Books and Writing of the German National Library in Leipzig in December 2014. American and German Libraries and Archives & the Contemporary Artist’s Book: A Transatlantic Colloquium was superbly organized by Evelin Morgenstern of the Initiative Fortbildung für wissenschaftliche Spezialbibliotheken und verwandte Einrichtung in Berlin. The international conference offered a welcome opportunity for colleagues to talk about their respective collections and discuss issues ranging from collection development to the use of artists’ books as teaching tools. Artists’ books and the role they play in the art world was a key part of our conversations during the conference and during our visits to museums and libraries in Leipzig.

Doro was a skilled writer and her many contributions added to the understanding of artists’ books. Her essays were published in several art journals including Art On Paper, the Artists’ Book Yearbook and the Journal of Artists Books (JAB) amongst others. Here is a list from Doro’s website.

Doro’s artistic contributions were numerous. A sense of these contributions can be found on her website. Here are just a few: Doro conceived of an exhibition entitled Consistency of Shadows held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003. Working with her artist/designer husband Kevin Harry, and other colleagues, they created an interactive gallery environment that was described by Doro in her introductory essay for the award winning catalog “how to re-collect a past event and how to re-connect to it with minimal interference”. The accompanying catalog, which could be considered an artists’ book in itself, is in the form of a clamshell of clear plastic housing unbound text components and a CD. Over 120 exhibition catalogs, dating from the 1960’s to the early 2000’s, are discussed in this exhibition honoring an exhibition of exhibition catalogs. The text also includes printed conversations with collector Alan Cravitz and texts by Anthony Elms, Barbara Moore, and Mary Jane Jacob. The CD includes images from the exhibition and excerpts from a conversation between Doro and Christian Boltanski. The result is an innovative look into the role of the exhibition catalog as a primary work unto itself.

A published interview with Doro and her Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection colleagues by Sarah Bodman and Tom Sowden reveals Doro’s visual efforts to document the production of artists’ books. An ABTREE of diagrams and words constructed by Doro and her colleagues documents key elements of types of artists’ books. A diagram on page nine can be printed out and folded into a reversible book. An excellent teaching tool that resulted from Doro’s deep interest in education.

In 2009, Doro created with fellow artist Eric Baskauskas a book entitled Various Blank Pages that pays homage to Ed Ruscha’s influential artists’ books. Baskauskas and Boehme scanned blank pages from some of Ed Ruscha's influential artists' books, and collected them in this loving tribute, faithfully imitating Ruscha’s classic format. "... Our work at the Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection at SAIC gives us the privilege of access to some of Ruscha’s most famous and rare book works such as Twentysix Gasoline Stations and Nine Swimming Pools, as well as insight to the glut of knock-offs and homages that the scene produces. We chose to merge these phenomena while looking at another: Ruscha’s love of empty space..." A description of Various Blank Pages was included in the publication entitled Various Small Books and the following quote from the book sums it up well: “As with all effective works of trompe l’oeil, Doro Boehme and Eric Baskauskas’ book is not exactly what it appears to be. Or rather, it is exactly what the title purports it to be, but with an added layer of significance…”

Doro’s educational mission is summed up well in the an article JAB 45 she co-wrote with April Sheridan, Special Collections Manager at SAIC, entitled "Call and Response: Teaching with Artists' Books at the Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago". I so agree with what they wrote:

"Our books are shelved, but not static they require human intervention. If we can paraphrase Ulises Carrion - the book is a space you move around - we go further in the belief that they they are the mind map of an artists' idea. Realized with a particular kind of interaction in mind at their best, they complete a partnership of form and content." They continued … "We especially place value on works that address current socio-political topics. We want to aid our students and members of the general public who come to use our holdings in becoming as informed as possible, not only as artists interested in the publication format, but also as human beings and good citizens who gain the necessary tools to work for the betterment of society."

These words resonate so well especially in these tumultuous times we live in now. Thank you Doro for your words and artistic contributions which live on.