Research Catalog

Title

Secretary / Maureen Cummins.

Author

Cummins, Maureen

Publication

[Bearsville, New York] : [Maureen Cummins], 2018.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Hersey, Lisa
• McMillen, Kathleen

Description

30 unnumbered pages : portraits; 37 cm

Summary

"In Secretary, Cummins deconstructs the life and death-by-suicide of her mother, Dolores Bodkin, an aspiring artist who was forcibly committed in 1963 after attempting to leave her violent and abusive husband. Using language that is factual and at times chilling, the artist plays upon the original meaning of the word secretary--"secret-keeper"--To allude to the secrecy and shame that existed in her household, as well as the cultural silencing of women around the experience of sexualized violence. Cummins uses several layers of information to tell this story: her own memories; excerpts from a diary her mother kept for two years before her suicide; a list of roles that Bodkin embodied, all crossed on her final page; and most dramatic of all--photographs taken by her father that span the period 1956 to 1975"--Prospectus

Alternative Title

Private

Subject

• Cummins, Maureen
• Cummins, Dolores
• Artists' books > New York (State) > Specimens
• Women in art
• Women > Suicidal behavior
• Suicide in art
• Spouses in art
• Spousal abuse > United States
• Family secrets
• Women > Portraits
• Mothers and daughters > New York (State)
• Wives > Portraits
• Mothers and daughters
• Artists' books
• Spousal abuse
• Wives
• Women
• New York (State)
• United States

Genre/Form

• Specimens.
• Portraits.
• Flap bindings (Binding) – 2018.
• Artists' books – New York (State) – 2018.

Note

• Cover title.
• "Secretary was written, printed, and produced by Maureen Cummins in the winter and spring of 2018, with typographic assistance from Kathleen McMillen."--Colophon
• Last page blank.
• Printed on double leaves.
• Issue in a slipcase.
• Limited edition of 35 copies, signed and numbered by the artist.

Binding (note)

• " ... bound in the style of a stenographer's notepad by Lisa Hersey in Easthampton, Massachusetts. With special thanks to Swarthmore College and the University of Washington for their support."--Colophon

Call Number

Spencer Coll. Amer. 2018 22-532

OCLC

1043916915

Author

Cummins, Maureen, author, book artist.

Title

Secretary / Maureen Cummins.

Publisher

[Bearsville, New York] : [Maureen Cummins], 2018.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Creator/Contributor Characteristics

Women

Artists

Binding

" ... bound in the style of a stenographer's notepad by Lisa Hersey in Easthampton, Massachusetts. With special thanks to Swarthmore College and the University of Washington for their support."--Colophon

Local Note

Spencer Coll. copy is no. 30.

Place of Publication

United States New York

Added Author

Hersey, Lisa, binder.

McMillen, Kathleen, contributor.

Research Call Number

Spencer Coll. Amer. 2018 22-532