Margarita Madness At The Purple People Bridge : May 17th

Northern Kentucky University Reels in Special "Moby Dick" Art Collection

NKU says it likely has the largest collection of art depicting the literary classic at any college or university.

Jan 10, 2024 at 5:18 pm

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Photo: Provided by Northern Kentucky University

"Red Fire" by Aileen Callahan

Northern Kentucky University has reeled in a white whale that no one knew it was looking for.

NKU announced on Jan. 10 that the university acquired 66 charcoal drawings that interpret Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick from retired Boston College art professor and artist Aileen Callahan. The works add to the university's existing collection of art about the 1851 novel, potentially tipping NKU into record-setting waters.

"With the addition of the new drawings, NKU likely has the largest collection of art depicting the literary classic at any college or university," said NKU spokesperson

Clayton Castle in a news release.

Castle said the 66 new artworks will be added to the special collections section of NKU's Steely Library, which already houses more than 200 works of art about Moby-Dick. Artists in the collection include Robert Del Tredici, Matt Kish and Vali Myers, among others.

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Photo: Provided by Northern Kentucky University

"The Inscrutible Tides of God" by Robert Del Tredici

The university's interest in the famous white whale doesn't end there. Dr. Robert Wallace, NKU's regents professor of English and leading Moby-Dick expert, teaches courses specifically studying “Moby-Dick and the Arts."

According to the release, Wallace finds Callahan's charcoal depictions of Moby-Dick to be “unique for their ability to convey the shape, texture, force, finesse and symbolism of the skin of the whale though abstract patterns of charcoal on a white paper ground.”

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