The Beauty in Breathing: Selections from The Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry

August 30, 2023 - January 4, 2024

The Beauty in Breathing: Selections from The Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetryis an exhibition presented by the University of Iowa Libraries' Special Collections & Archives in collaboration with Project Art. Marvin and Ruth Sackner were the world's foremost collectors of visual poetry - artwork that combines visual elements and text. Dr. Sackner was also an internationally respected pulmonologist and inventor of many medical devices. In 1992, the Sackners created a unique exhibition of work by an international selection of artists entitled The Beauty in Breathing, as a special event at the annual meeting of The American Lung Association & American Thoracic Society.

Visual poetry is, among many things, the depiction of the sounds made by the air moving from our lungs across our vocal cords. It's not surprising then, that breath is one of the common themes found in the Sackner's vast collection of artists' books, images, and 3D objects.

Presented in this exhibition is a small selection of the 167 works included in The Beauty in Breathing show, but the other works, along with copies of the exhibit catalog, original photographs from the event, and the Sackners' curatorial records are all part of Dr. Sackner's donation to the University of Iowa's Special Collections and Archives.

Image credit: Sandra Jackman, Once Upon a Time (Born Again), 1983.