Gamwell’s Dream Book

This book, and the exhibition it accompanied, are commemorations of the one-hundredth anniversary of Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams. It is an unusual exhibit catalog, however, indeed it may not be an exhibit catalog at all, but a dream in its own way. It is itself an exhibit containing carefully selected images inspired by dreams in the plastic, performing, and cinematic arts of the 20th century. It contains three major sections. The first consists of essays of very different length, purpose, and tone, illustrated by photographs of the art forms discussed; the more scientific essays are accompanied by diagrams. The second is the sumptuous “Gallery” of more than 150 works of art in color and black and white relating to dreams and dreaming. The third is an alphabetical “Dream Archive” containing some 500 small black and white photographs, with references to those included elsewhere in the text.