Footnotes and Headlines.
Inscribed to Buckminster Fuller
[Religion]. Corita, Sister. Footnotes and Headlines. A play pray book. (New York): Herder and Herder, (1967).
8vo.; color illustrations throughout; orange cloth, stamped in black; orange, blue, and white dust-jacket; black-and-white photograph of Sister Corita on rear flap; rear flap torn and repaired with tape; slightly faded.
First edition, with a foreword by peace activist and Catholic priest Daniel Berrigan. A presentation copy, inscribed on the front endpaper: For Buckminster & Anne—you are more beautiful than millions of bubbles—we thank you all for being—love, Corita.
A deconstruction of the traditional prayer book, Footnotes and Headlines contains playful graphic treatments, parables, word games, and prayers. According to the dust-jacket, Sister Corita’s exercises enforce a “new kind of praying…praying through the words and phrases in headlines and ads and footnotes that surround us, and that reveal to us how man carries on the work that God started.” In his foreword, Berrigan encourages readers to use the book actively and “throw the rules away. Then celebrate the beautiful, unpredictable fall of the letters like manna.” Sister Corita became acquainted with Buckminster Fuller during her tenure as chairman of the art department at Immaculate Heart College. Fuller described his time visiting with Sister Corita as “among the most fundamentally inspiring experiences of my life.”
Sister Corita (1918-1986), was born Frances Kent in Fort Dodge, IA. In 1936, she joined the Order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and adopted the name Sister Mary Corita. She began making silkscreen prints and serigraphs in the 1950s and eventually was appointed head of the art department at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. Her vibrant prints often juxtaposed text and images from the Bible with 60s pop culture artifacts such as song lyrics and ad slogans. During the Vietnam war, her art became more overtly political and the anti-war sentiments expressed in her work met with some criticism. Her innovative approach to artistic activism got the attention of design luminaries such as Charles and Ray Eames, Ben Shahn, and Harvey Cox, all of whom she counted among her close friends. In 1968, she gave up teaching and moved to Boston to focus exclusively on her art. She was commissioned to design posters, murals, billboards, and book jackets for clients such as Amnesty International and Westinghouse. On September 18, 1986, she lost her battle with cancer and died in her own home.
http://www.corita.org/coritabiography.html
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