Homage to Adrienne Fontainas—Passionate Pilgrim for the Arts

The back cover copy and two of 23 essays are in English, but that's all; the rest is in French. This festschrift honors the memory and the work of Adrienne Fontainas (1929-2010), esteemed in the museum and art worlds for her writings and intellectual contributions as wll as her joie de vivre. Contributions by Belgian, French, and American scholars reflect the wide range of her interests, including art history, book collecting, publishing, literature, and music. The editors are affiliated as follows: Block (director of the Ricker Library for Architecture and Art, U. of Illinois); and Sorgeloos (curator of the rare book room of the Bibliogheque Royale de Belgique). Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jane Block received her PhD in the history of art from the University of Michigan. She is Director of the Ricker Library for Architecture and Art at the University of Illinois. Her works include Belgium the Golden Decades, 1880-1914; Gisbert Combaz (1869-1914): Fin-de-siecle artist; Homage to Brussels: The Art of Belgian Posters, 1895-1915; and Les XX and Belgian Avant-Gardism as well as numerous articles on Theo Van Rysselberghe, Georges Lemmen, the book arts in Belgium, Edmond Picard’s Maison d’Art, and Neo-Impressionism. She is a membre associe of the Academie Royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique and was awarded the distinction of Officier de l’Ordre de Leopold.
Claude Sorgeloos received his PhD in history from the Universite libre de Bruxelles and is a holder of a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DEA) in historic bibliography from the University of Mons. Since 2006 he has served as Chief Curator of the Rare Book Room of the Bibliotheque Royale de Belgique. His many works deal with the history of the book in Belgium from the sixteenth through the twenty-first centuries: publishing, circulation, readership studies, book-binding, libraries, and collectors.