ART & DESIGN
Retirement wishes for Elisabeth Fairman seen in this photograph having a conversation with Eileen Hogan in her London studio. Photo: Sarah Fairman Davidowitz
Retirement Wishes pour in for Elisabeth Fairman, Chief Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Yale Center for British Art as she retires from the Center after almost forty years.
BY KAZAD
NEW HAVEN, CT—After almost forty years, Elisabeth Fairman, Chief Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Yale Center for British Art is ready to retire. Her last day is January 30, 2021.
Fairman’s colleagues are already celebrating her and wishing her a happy retirement. “We congratulate Elisabeth and wish her all the best in retirement,” said Director Courtney J. Martin.
Fairman joined Yale Center for British Art in 1982 as a Catalogue Librarian. A dedicated scholar and researcher, she worked devotedly for nine years to expand her curatorial duties. Her efforts paid off when she became Associate Curator for Rare Books in 1991. Subsequently, she rose to become the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts in 1998. Notably a great achievement by all standards, but Fairman is not one to relent on her laurels. Rather than waiting for manners to drop from heaven, She remained determined and focused on her goal. Not surprising, Fairman in 2008 attained the highest curatorial position at Yale Center for British Art, becoming the Senior Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.
One of Elisabeth Fairman’s responsibilities at the Center was adding books to the collection through purchase and gift. A strategic and charismatic professional, she worked tirelessly to fulfill that responsibility. In the space of four decades, Fairman has expanded the department’s holding to encompass approximately 35,000 volumes dating from the fifteenth century to the present. The additions to the department’s collection cut across a broad range of material relating to the visual arts and cultural life in the United Kingdom and the former British Empire.
Successful at Work
Elisabeth Fairman was very successful at her work. With confidence and sincere enthusiasm, she acquired important donations that will for years enhance scholarship at the Center. Some major donations she obtained for her department include the archives of artists Leonard Rosoman (1913–2012), Ron King (b. 1932) of Circle Press, and Ken Campbell (b. 1939).
Fairman also oversaw the donation of illustrated books and wood engravings from the collection of the poet David Burnett (b. 1937); contemporary works from the collection of Driek and Michael Zirinsky; and the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century children’s books and games from Ellen and the late Arthur Liman, Yale JD 1957. It was also during her tenure that the contemporary designer bookbindings from Margaret and Neale Albert, Yale JD 1961, made it into the Yale Center for British Art collection.
Fairman grew the Yale Center for British Art collection to the envy of the world. Her assiduous devotion to the building of the “collection is very highly thought of by the UK book art community, practitioners and scholars alike, especially her discernment and ability to understand the artifacts on a human scale and within a social context,” notes Eileen Hogan, Professor at the University of Arts London and a Trustee of the Royal Drawing School.
Exceptional Qualities
Elisabeth Fairman’s wide-ranging knowledge, insightfulness, and eye for detail are exceptional qualities that guided her success at Yale Center for British Art. Many of her colleagues and those that directly worked with her are quick to notice her exceptional qualities. One of them was the artist Eileen Hogan. Over the years Hogan has collaborated with Fairman on three projects the most recently in 2019. She vividly remembers those collaborations and speaks highly of their relationship. Her view of Fairman is astute:
“Through her wide-ranging knowledge and ability to embrace unusual and insightful connections, Elisabeth contextualized my work in unexpected ways and organized, with super-human attention to detail, a huge body of work into a coherent and logical framework,” said Hogan.
Fairman is an intellectual and educator committed to imparting knowledge. That is evident in her work at the Yale Center for British Art. She regularly writes and teaches from the collections, assisting students, faculty, scholars and researchers from all over the world. One of her key achievements is the supervision and implementation of a robust cataloging program that has allowed access to the department’s collections.
Many of those who benefited from her diligence in academics and scholarship are already contemplating what her absence would mean for their research.
“I cannot imagine going to the Study Room and not having Elisabeth there, ready to show me some new and wonderful materials about William Morris, textiles, Indian artisans, or eighteenth-century architecture,” said Professor Edward Cooke, Charles F. Montgomery Professor of American Decorative Arts and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of the History of Art at Yale.
Celebrating Elisabeth Fairman
Professor Cooke celebrates Fairman’s deep understanding of the Yale Center for British Art collection and the individual attention she gives to people thus: “It was like having a personal librarian who knew my interests and happily helped me gather material with which to teach. I will miss her encyclopedic and insightful command of the collection.”
Curated Shows
Elisabeth Fairman curated over thirty exhibitions on a wide and diverse range of subjects during her time at the Center. The curatorial themes of her exhibitions include the First World War, the natural world, children’s games and pastimes, early maps and atlases, and contemporary artists’ books. Her recent shows include Eileen Hogan: Personal Geographies in 2019 and “The Poet of the Them All”: William Shakespeare and Miniature Designer Bindings from the Collection of Neale and Margaret Albert in 2016. In 2014, she curated “Of Green Leaf, Bird, and Flower”: Artists’ Books and the Natural World. Each of her projects was accompanied by fully illustrated books with scholarly essays, all published with Yale University Press. In 2014, “Of Green Leaf, Bird, and Flower” was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Book Prize and the Historians of British Art Book Prize.
About Elisabeth Fairman
Fairman’s integrity, vision, and professionalism guided her success at the Yale Center for British Art. She received her MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her BA from Earlham College. Fairman has a devotion to scholarship and intellectualism. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the Linnean Society, both in London.
Fairman is also a Fellow of Davenport College and a member of the Print Council of America and the Elizabethan Club of Yale University. Fairman has held different positions in several organizations. She was formerly co-chair of the Adrian Van Sinderen Book Collecting Prize. The book collection prize was established in 1957 to encourage Yale undergraduates to collect books and read for pleasure and education.
Fairman Responds to Retirement Wishes
Fairman appreciates her time working at the Yale Center for British Art and the people she met. “My time at the Center has been the best possible experience, start to finish. I couldn’t have asked for better colleagues—especially during this strange year while we’ve all been working remotely,” said Fairman.
The opportunity to add to Yale’s Center for British Art remains indelible in her heart. “I’ve so appreciated the opportunity to acquire some wonderful objects that I hope will be of interest to a wide audience for years to come. I can also say that one of my greatest joys was working with contemporary artists and introducing their work to students and our visitors,” she said.
Fairman is leaving behind a glowing achievement that will difficult to fill. Even as colleagues congratulate Elisabeth and wish her all the best in retirement, they hold her achievements dearly: “Her dedication to stewarding the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts, particularly her role in expanding both the breadth and accessibility of the collection, leaves a lasting mark on the Center and its holdings. She will be greatly missed,” said Director Courtney J. Martin.
Artcentron celebrates Elisabeth Fairman for her exceptional work at the Yale Center for British Art. We join her friends and colleagues in wishing her well as she retires with this retirement wishes quotes:
Retirement Wishes Quotes
Best wishes on your retirement. Enjoy your freedom and long weekend.
Congratulations on a standout career. Thank God for preserving you through the entire period. It’s an honor helping you celebrate your retirement.
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