Research Center
Visual Art Library, with more than 76,000 art-related books, catalogues and ephemera provides an inspiring environment for artists, scholars and students to view materials in the collection. Plans are in discussion to include a Learning Center for young students. To schedule a research appointment send a request via email to George Waterman at info@visualartlibrary.org. Be sure to include pertinent information such as the purpose of the research and the type of materials you are interested in reviewing.
Internships
High school or college interns who have a passion for art and culture are needed for various unpaid positions such as cataloguing collection materials. Course credit may be available if approved by your school. Please check with your school. To inquire email : info@visual art library.org
Click Here To Learn More About Our Internship Programs
For the many people who love, still love, continue to love, the physicality of printed books, and more, George Waterman and his miraculous, constantly expanding library provides an essential resource and service.
Lilly Wei,
Art Critic/Independent Curator
George Waterman’s passion for collecting visual art books is one of the many measures of this man. To speak of George as a great and “true” collector and lover of art books is to admit him in the pantheon of what Walter Benjamin in his essay “Unpacking My Library: A Talk About Book Collecting,” 1931, calls great physiognomists” (a physiognomist is someone who can discern inner qualities from outward appearances). Such collectors, as pysiognomists, see and experience the world differently.
Dominique Nahas,
Independent critic and curator
In an era when books are being ignored in favor of digital information pads, I believe it is important to rethink the difference between information and the question of knowledge.
Robert C. Morgan,
Critic and Artist
A library is a living thing. The Visual Art Library came into being gradually. In the early 1970s it germinated, appropriately, from works of art: George Waterman started bringing together books and catalogues about artists whose works he owned. Soon he added critical, historical and biographical volumes on a broader assortment of artists, bringing back from Venice, Basel, Kassel, and other art-related destinations, hundreds of pounds of books in his suitcases. In the ‘80s, all this became more systematic, as he sought out material on leading artists in many countries he visited. His SoHo living space started to fill up. The library now has an independent home in New London CT. This new library, reflecting the vitality of 20th century and contemporary art from around the world, is wonderfully timely.
Elizabeth C. Baker
Former editor, Art in America, New York City