Brother Blue: A Narrative Portrait of Brother Blue A.K.A. Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill (Portrait Series) [Paperback]

Warren Lehrer (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 267 pages
• Publisher: Bay Pr (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941920364
• ISBN-13: 978-0941920360
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,347,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Warren Lehrer is a writer and artist/designer known internationally as a pioneer in the fields of visual literature and design authorship. His work explores the vagaries and luminescence of character, the relationships between social structures and the individual, and the pathos and absurdity of life. His books, acclaimed for capturing the shape of thought and reuniting the traditions of storytelling with the printed page, include: Crossing the BLVD: strangers, neighbors, aliens in a New America (W.W. Norton) with Judith Sloan,The Portrait Series: a quartet of men (four book series, Bay Press); GRRRHHHHH: a study of social patterns (Center for Editions) with Sandra Brownlee and Dennis Bernstein; FRENCH FRIES with Dennis Bernstein (Visual Studies Workshop); i mean you know (Visual Studies Workshop), and versations (EarSay).

He has received many awards for his books and projects, including the 2004 Brendan Gill Prize, the 2003 Innovative Use of Archives Award, a Media That Matters Award, three American Institute for Graphic Arts Book awards, two Type Director's Club awards, The International Book Design Award, a Best of the Best Award from the New York Book Show, and a Prix Arts Electronica award. He's received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council and Foundation for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Greenwall Foundation, the Furthermore Foundation, and others. His work has been exhibited widely and is in many collections including the Museum of Modern Art, L.A. County Art Museum, The Getty Museum, Georges Pompidou Centre, and Tate Gallery. The Crossing the BLVD exhibition (co-produced with Sloan) has been to fifteen museums and galleries and continues to travel the country. Lehrer is also a performer and has co-written four plays (Social Security: the basic training of Eugene Solomon with Dennis Bernstein, Denial of the Fittest, A Tattle Tale, and The Whole K'Cufin World and a Few More Things with Judith Sloan), and co-written and co-composed one opera (The Search For IT and Other Pronouns with Harvey Goldman). He co-produces public radio documentaries and audio works with his wife Judith Sloan. Lehrer's performances and plays have been performed at many venues including La MaMa Experimental Theatre, The Public Theatre, The Knitting Factory, Independent Art at Here, The Painted Bride, the Market Theatre (Johannesberg), and the Theatre Workshop (Edinburgh).

Lehrer is a frequent lecturer and presenter at universities, art and literary centers, and book stores throughout the United States and internationally. Lehrer has been written about in scores of books and in many feature articles and reviews in print and broadcast media. His essays on design authorship and visual literature have been widely reproduced. Lehrer is a professor at the School of Art+Design at Purchase College, SUNY, and a founding faculty member of the Designer As Author graduate program at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. He received his BA from Queens College, CUNY, and an MFA from Yale University. Together with Sloan, Lehrer founded EarSay, a non-profit arts organization dedicated to uncovering and portraying the lives of the uncelebrated in print, on stage, on radio, in exhibitions, electronic media, and through educational programs in public schools, prisons, and community centers. Lehrer is currently completing an illuminated novel which contains 101 books within it, entitled A Life In Books: the rise and fall of Bleu Mobley.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars true to the man, April 14, 2000

By 

Laura Packer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brother Blue: A Narrative Portrait of Brother Blue A.K.A. Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill (Portrait Series) (Paperback)

I know Brother Blue well, and must say, this book captures him. The layout of the language (wandering over the page, exuberant, lyrical) echoes his words, rhythms, and movement far more eloquently than I ever thought a written genre could. I am very impressed with this work, and recommend it to anyone interested in modern poetry, storytelling, and sheer passion for an artform. Be prepared to be challenged. Parents should review some of the content before sharing it with younger kids.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brother Blue's Story-telling is MATCHLESS!, January 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Brother Blue: A Narrative Portrait of Brother Blue A.K.A. Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill (Portrait Series) (Paperback)

Anyone and everyone will come away from this story-telling masterpiece with a bit of wisdom to keep and share... "The second chance," for instance, is a mordant narrative of a downtrodden black family and its caring but hopeless father-figure who is willing to do the ultimate sacrifice to see his family pull through the Great Depression. More importantly it is the crucial point in a young boy's life: Brother Blue's life as an eight year old boy forced to become his "father's father" in a life-and-death situation... Equally beautiful is the artistry that Warren Lehrer has put to work in crafting a book that is itself an aesthetic and typographical work of art...In conjunction with a powerful and moving 80+minutes cassette reading of the book by Brother Blue himself, this book is a gem. Wonderful , packed with hope and wisdom!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful oral history that really captures the person, January 12, 2000

By 

KTB "KTB" (NYC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Brother Blue: A Narrative Portrait of Brother Blue A.K.A. Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill (Portrait Series) (Paperback)

I read this book for an oral history class and loved it. I read the entire portrait series but this book and Claude were my favorites. i never got through the other two. I liked this book above Claude because of Brother Blue. His personality is all over this book and I would love someday to meet him. After reading this, I feel like I know him. This is one of those books that really draws you in with it's straightforward honesty and realness. I love the reality of this man who just feels like a real person to me. Definately a great book.