March 20, 2007 -- For one week, from March 21 to 28, the University of Virginia Art Museum will exhibit a special artist's book — "Photographs and Poetry" — by Lexington, Va. artist Sally Mann. Printed in 2005, this limited edition book by 21ST Editions (100 copies) features 10 images, 10 x 7 _ inches, originally taken in 1979, accompanied by writings by the artist. In the book the artist brings together many of her most graceful and sensuous early figure and drapery studies. Mann also composed the introduction and poems. The book is hand-bound and printed in letterpress on handmade cotton rag paper.
 
The book will be shown with the platinum print by Mann, "Beyond All Discovery, Beyond All Law," from 1979 and reprinted in 2005 as part of the book project. Because the book is bound and will be shown in a vitrine, the museum has digitized the book and its contents, and this electronic version will also be shown in the gallery, allowing visitors to see every page of the publication. Both the book and photograph are the promised gift to the museum of Dr. and Mrs. Irwin Berman. Dr. Berman is a U.Va. alumnus and member of the Museum's Advisory Board.
 
"For the most part I have not remained on speaking terms with the person I was back in 1979 when these pictures were taken," writes Mann in the introduction. Noting that many of the pictures recall important moments, particularly, the "nimbus glow of golden-hazy early motherhood," Mann writes eloquently of the events that led to the photographs.
 
She concludes: "Twenty-five years — that's a long time, filled with life's abundance and complexity. Certainly, these were images made in a simpler time, a time of only one serenely napping child, a time as gauzy and fleeting as the mote-speckled sunshaft that fell across his new face."

The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m.

For more information contact the U.Va. Art Museum at (434) 924-3592 or visit www.virginia.edu/artmuseum.