The Toledo Museum of Art has published a new book about its Egyptian artifacts collection.

“Egypt in Toledo: The Ancient Egyptian Collection at the Toledo Museum of Art” is the museum’s fourth published book since it was founded in 1901.

“The idea had been to produce one of our books on our Egypt collection with more of a thematic presentation with just a few highlights,” Curatorial Projects and Publications Manager Paula Reich said. “It sort of morphed into something a little more substantial, a larger book that really highlighted more of the collection.”

Ancient Egyptian art has been a fixture at the Toledo Museum of Art since 1903 when a mummified cat, the first item donated that wasn’t a painting, was brought to the museum.

In 1906, founders Edward Drummond Libbey and Florence Scott Libbey shipped 11 crates of artifacts from Cairo to Toledo to help begin the museum’s collection. During the next two decades, the Libbeys collected more Egyptian artifacts to send back to the museum.

“Without the art of ancient Egypt the Toledo Museum of Art might not have grown so swiftly in the hearts of its community,” writes Museum Director Brian Kennedy in the book’s forward.

The book was originally proposed more than a decade ago by Curator of Ancient Art Kurt T. Luckner before his death in 1995. He suggested William H. Peck as the author. Peck is an archaeologist and former curator for the Detroit Institute of Arts. Sandra. E. Knudsen and Reich also contributed to the book’s construction.

“Egypt in Toledo” is a 112-page book which includes an essay by Peck on Egyptian art and culture and examinations of more than 80 objects spanning 5,000 years.

The book retails for $24.95 in the Museum Store and is also available online at www.TMAStore.org.

“It looks beautiful,” Reich said. “We wanted something that wasn’t so academic looking and was a little more dynamic and we used color and I think it turned out great.”

The first three books produced by the museum were “Inspired Giving: The Apollo Society’s Twenty-Fifth Anniversary,” “The Ragmud Collection: Books by Aminah Robinson at the Toledo Museum of Art” and “Adornment in Clay: Ceramic Netsuke” from the Richard R. Silverman Collection.

Tags: Brian Kennedy, Edward Drummond Libbey, Egypt in Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Books, Star, Toledo Museum of Art.
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