Emily Grace King is the queen, of sorts, reigning over approximately 4,000 artworks held by Denver Public Library.
King remains giddy in her newish dream job as DPL’s very first art and exhibits curator. She stepped into her role in the Special Collections and Archives department on Aug. 31, 2024 — only about eight weeks before the Nov. 3 reopening of the recently renovated central branch downtown.
Asked whether that month proved a baptism by fire, King said: “Totally!” then added, “It was fun!”
King’s passion for art bubbles up when she speaks of the impressive collection.
“It’s a hidden gem,” she said.
The DPL collection includes an impressive combination of contemporary and historic artworks owned by DPL since the institution’s earliest days — approximately 1,500 original works and 2,500 lithographs, etchings and prints. Most artworks were donated since the founding of Denver’s first public library in 1889. The library purchased some of the artworks, including important pieces in the collection.
Rachel Vagts serves as director of DPL’s Special Collections and Archives.
"Our collection benefits greatly from the foresight of City Librarian Malcolm Glenn Wyer who began collecting artwork from the West in the 1930s, acquiring pieces from iconic American artists such as Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, and Albert Bierstadt," Vagts said. "This allowed the library to acquire significant works before they became too expensive, making the collection a valuable resource.”
One of King’s first tasks was to install art in the central library’s fifth-floor Mullen Manuscripts Room. The sequestered, glazed space caters to customers researching noncirculating books, manuscripts and other items from the “closed stacks” — librarian-speak for materials that might require one to wear white cotton gloves while handling.
Customers can request to see artworks
Outside the Mullen room, at the Special Collections and Archives reference desk customers can request to see up-close works of art in the DPL collection.
“Unlike at a museum or art center, you can search our collection and we will bring art to you in that room. To me, it’s really incredible, having grown up adoring art. To have this kind of access to a collection is pretty unprecedented for the public,” King said. “You might have to say, ‘I’m writing a dissertation’ or have letters of recommendation to be able to research things that aren’t on display. But you can come in this room, and say ‘I want to see this painting,’ and they’ll bring it to you. We have some limitations. You can see two pieces at a time.”
In the Mullen Room, King installed works by some of the marquee artists in the DPL collection. Most notably, the room includes a small painting by Albert Bierstadt, the influential 19th century American landscape painter. But the bigger Bierstadt story is DPL’s large, 62-inch by 98-inch painting titled “Estes Park, Longs Peak.”
Beirstadt painting on loan from DPL to DAM
“When Michael Graves designed the central library, he created a niche for the painting to exhibit on the fifth floor,” King explained.
She pointed out, instead, a black-and-white photograph of the painting in DPL’s Burnham Hoyt Library — the predecessor to today’s central branch. The photo shows the big Bierstadt painting installed over a fireplace with a wood fire burning — an art conservator’s nightmare considering damaging heat and soot. The large Bierstadt is on loan from DPL to the Denver Art Museum, where it is exhibited in the Western Art collection.
“The painting was deemed too important for the library to keep because we don’t have the same level of conservation or climate control,” King said.
In DPL’s Mullen Manuscripts Room, visitors can see works by some of Colorado’s most revered artists and masters of historic Western art.
“In this room is a mini capsule that represents the collection really well,” said King, who worked with librarians to install artworks representing a broad time period and a range of artists. The room features works by historic luminaries Frederick Remington, Vance Kirkland and Herbert Bayer, along with contemporary artists Sushe Felix, Trine Bumiller and also Bob Ragland — a Denver artist recently honored posthumously with a DPL branch library bearing his name.
Art is installed elsewhere on the fifth floor. Stone sculptures of bighorn sheep and bears by Gladys Caldwell Fisher adorn the tops of bookcases.
“The Derrick,” the library’s signature sculpture by the building’s architect, Graves, soars upwards like a mining landmark or a windmill.
And on a wall behind the vintage wood and brass card catalogs hangs a painting by Alan Tupper True. The small Western landscape is one of several True pieces held by DPL. One of the other True works is a large mural.
King said: “Allen Tupper True had murals throughout the original Andrew Carnegie library on the stairway landings, but the "Commerce of the Prairies" mural was originally located in the Warren Branch Library.
As King led the way through a labyrinthine section of the library reserved for staff, she joked: “We’re entering Narnia.”
Titled “Commerce of the Prairies,” the 7-feet by 10-feet oil on canvas mural painted by True in 1913 depicts cowboys around a covered wagon, a fiddler playing in the center of the group.
“My goal is to move this to a public display area,” King said. “Alan Tupper True also did the murals that were in the Greek Theater in Civic Center Park. He painted murals all over Denver.”
In DPL’s art storage space, King pointed out racks holding upright paintings arranged mostly in chronological order. She opened a cabinet drawer that happened to hold works on paper by Gio Ponti, the architect of the Denver Art Museum’s signature, seven-story building opened in 1971.
DPL’s dedicated art gallery with expansive views
While the library’s fifth floor holds a lot of artistic interest, the real art extravaganza is installed on the seventh-floor walls of a long hallway, as well as in the Vida Ellison Gallery. In addition to large-scale artworks, the gallery is home to a piano. The windows grant stunning views of the Mile High Cityscape, the foothills and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Doors open to a terrace.
“There are no books up here,” King said. “There’s not a lot to do up here other than engage with the art.”
That’s reason enough to ascend to the seventh floor, where King installed dozens of paintings in the hallway. The curator envisions rotating exhibitions of Colorado artists.
“Our big focus is on Colorado artists and the core of research behind them. We have Vance Kirkland’s papers. We have some of Herbert Bayer’s papers,” she said. “We’ll highlight the strength of Colorado artists. All our art is trans-Mississippi West, largely Colorado, but my goal is to skew more Colorado and fill in gaps of our collection. We want to make sure that our collections and our exhibits are telling the stories of the communities who are here. We do have a wider Western view as special collections and archives overall, but we’re hyper-focused to make sure people see themselves reflected, which to me means a Colorado focus.”
King is herself an artist, a passionate encaustic — hot wax — painter who learned to raise bees so she could source wax for her artworks. Previously on staff at the Arvada Center as exhibitions manager and associate curator, she is quite obviously the right woman for the job as DPL’s first art curator.
“The position is brand new so I get to kind of shape it,” King said. “I’m the only arts person on staff for the entire library system. My gallery assistants to help move and hang this art are librarians and archivists. The team who worked on organizing the art collection were our collections assistant, Laura Hermanstorfer, and former special collections librarian, Martin Leuthauser. I am so thankful for their work!”
As for her curatorial aspirations, King said: “I’m really excited about the challenge of elevating the exhibits throughout all of the branches using materials from special collections and archives, as well as empowering branches to continue to do their own art shows.”
Above all, King relishes the “public” in the public library’s art collection.
“There’s still a lot of fear and pretentiousness around art — both in interpreting and handling. This is our collection. We can move it and hang what we like and it doesn’t have to be such a deep academic context. We’re a big public building and we’ve got to get art on the walls.”
Asked why she believes art intimidates, King said: “At least in school, there are a lot of right and wrong answers. Art doesn’t have a lot of right and wrong answers. When you look at something, it’s asking you questions. People like to look at something and understand. It makes them feel smart or like they have the right answer. Art doesn’t do that.”
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