Visual arts inspired by ‘Moby Dick’

“Acushnet (Whaler),’’ from Henry M. Johnson logbook (1845-47) (ink pencil and watercolor on pencil), from the show “Call Me Ishmael: The Book Arts of Moby Dick,’’ at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass., through March 29.

Edited remarks from the museum:

“The novel (Moby Dick) and its timeless themes continue to inspire artists, designers and creatives of all types. Its first sentence: ‘Call me Ishmael,’ is one of the best-known opening lines in all of literature.

“This is the first exhibition focused on the book arts of the hundreds of editions published since 1851: the illustrations, binding designs, typography and even the physical structure….The show explores decades of creative approaches to interpreting the novel visually in book form. It will shed some light on Herman Melville’s original inspiration and include a contemporary update through recent artists’ books, graphic novels, a translation into emoji and pop-up books.’’

Our brief time?

“Noise Aquarium” (installation view from the “Our Time on Earth” exhibition), by Victoria Vesna, at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass., through June 9.

© Danann Breathnach Photography

Use everything

 

"Tangle'' (300-foot-long rope made with acorn caps), by BETH GALSTON,  in the show "Branching Out: Trees as Art,'' at the Peabody Essex Museum, in Salem, Mass.,  through Sept. 20, 2015.

She collected the acorn caps under a single red oak in Boston's Arnold Arboretum.

"The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we'll hang them.''

-- Lenin