October 29, 2025
CLARK ART INSTITUTE PRESENTS EXHIBITION
OF RAFFAELLA DELLA OLGA
Raffaella della Olga: Typescripts opens November 22, 2025
Williamstown, Massachusetts—The Clark Art Institute presents the first solo museum exhibition of artist Raffaella della Olga (b. 1967, Italy; lives and works in France). Della Olga makes unique artists’ books using modified typewriters and multicolor ink ribbons, printing on a wide range of materials. The exhibition is on view November 22, 2025 through May 31, 2026 in the Eugene V. Thaw Gallery for Works on Paper, located in the Clark’s Manton Research Center.
“There is an intimacy and immediacy in Raffaella della Olga’s work that is palpable,” said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. “There is a long history of artists working with typewriters, but della Olga’s process is uniquely her own. We were particularly drawn to this work given the Clark library’s extensive collection of artists’ books, among which Raffaella’s work stands apart.”
The exhibition assembles new and existing artists’ books alongside della Olga’s typewritten paintings and cut fabric wall-hanging works. A portion of the exhibition is devoted to comparative materials from the Clark library’s collections to illustrate the rich history of typewriter art while also suggesting the artist’s unique contribution to the field.
“Using what are essentially office supplies, Raffaella della Olga creates works with the presence and preciousness of illuminated manuscripts," said Robert Wiesenberger, the Clark’s curator of contemporary projects. “With each new book, and each turn of each page, the artist never fails to surprise and delight, reinventing the book as we know it.”
Della Olga thinks of herself as a sculptor, typing on surfaces ranging from silk to sandpaper and embossing them with forceful keystrokes before binding them into three-dimensional form. With her manual interventions, della Olga also draws, smearing her sheets by pressing the ink ribbons with one hand while dragging the paper with the other.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
For the past decade, Raffaella della Olga has made unique artists’ books using modified typewriters, multicolor ink ribbons, and a range of materials—from tracing paper to photo paper to sandpaper. Della Olga worked briefly as an attorney before becoming an artist; now, seeking refuge from conventional language, she grinds down the characters on her typewriters (a selection of which are on view in the exhibition) and communicates through form and color, texture and rhythm. The artist plays her typewriters like instruments and sees many of her works as graphic scores—notations of ambient sound or invitations for others to produce their own.
The exhibition features thirteen of della Olga’s books, seven of her typed paintings, three of her textiles, and one of her wall-hanging typescripts. Three of della Olga’s books in the exhibition are on loan from the Special Collections of the Center for Curatorial Studies Library and Archives at Bard College. The exhibition is accompanied by a selection of rare and artists’ books from the Clark’s library collection, spanning the late nineteenth century to the present, which reflect the typewriter’s still vivid potential as a creative tool.
Each of della Olga’s books is addressed to a different conceptual or technical problem and titled with a sequential number preceded by the letter T. This stands for tapuscrit, French for “typescript,” a now uncommon term for an author’s original, typewritten text. Like that word, della Olga’s work joins the mechanical with the manual, expressing gesture through the machine. The artist drags and smears her ink ribbons, types on colorful carbon papers, and inserts textiles into the typewriter carriage, conveying their texture as a kind of text. Weaving and typewriting are linked by the up-down, side-to-side directionality of the grid—a structure that della Olga both studies and subverts.
In the past five years, della Olga has begun what she calls her “vertical adventure,” making pictures typed on canvas or textured paper and stretched over wood. She often begins by preparing the surface with oil paint and then runs it through her typewriters to produce pointillist pictures, striped patterns, or grids. This series is titled “TP” (typed painting) and “Haute-Isle,” for the name of the town outside Paris where her studio is located.
Since 2016, Della Olga has also made fabric works, which she calls Stoffe, from the Italian word for textiles. Using found fabrics in tartan, plaid, or gingham patterns—usually wool suiting—she excises the negative spaces defined by the grid and displays them draped over a spent fluorescent tube. The effect is of a sheer surface with depth and volume, not unlike her treatment of the book page. The voids, as della Olga explains, also relate to the sprocket holes that advance filmstrips, whose flat emulsions are made to project from a surface into three-dimensional space.
OTHER TYPESCRIPTS
The final gallery of Typescripts features rare and artist’s books from the Clark’s library. Each of the nineteen artists and writers represented in this section draws inspiration from the typewritten mark, whether to create abstract pictures or poetic language. Historical works include the earliest known and surviving example of typewriter art (1898) by Flora Stacey, typewriter studies by textile artist Anni Albers, work by the concrete poet and Benedictine monk Dom Sylvester Houédard, and a Fluxus score by artist Jackson Mac Low. This section also includes contemporary works by artists including Victoria Burge, JJJJJerome Ellis, Mary Lum, and sadé powell, each demonstrating the typewriter’s still vivid potential as a creative tool.
This section of the exhibition is organized by Natalie Ginsberg, graduate student intern in the Williams College/Clark Graduate Program in the History of Art.
COMPANION INSTALLATION
During the same period, and in conjunction with Typescripts, the Clark library’s series of year-round public installations, Paginations, presents Gridlocked: The Geometry of Weaving, exploring facets of the art and science of weaving, as considered through a selection of manuals, pattern books, textile samples, and artists’ books. Going beyond practical applications, this display celebrates the intentional and inadvertent geometries related to the act of weaving. Gridlocked is free and open to the public in the Clark’s Manton Research Center reading room from November 21, 2025 through May 17, 2026.
CATALOGUE
The exhibition publication, the first monograph on della Olga, is designed by Christophe Boutin (Three Star Books, Paris) and published by the Clark and Yale University Press. It includes visual documentation of the della Olga’s unorthodox studio process, a curatorial essay and additional scholarly essay, a conversation with the artist, and color plates of her work.
Raffaella della Olga: Typescripts is organized by the Clark Art Institute and curated by Robert Wiesenberger, curator of contemporary projects.
Major funding for Raffaella della Olga: Typescripts is provided by the Edward and Maureen Fennessy Bousa Fund for Contemporary Projects and Dena M. Hardymon, with additional support from Katherine and Frank Martucci. Generous support for the catalogue is provided by Michael Alper and Bruce Moore, with additional support from Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip Aarons.
RELATED EVENTS
OPENING LECTURE
November 22, 11 am
Manton Research Center auditorium
Raffaella della Olga gives an improvisational typewriter performance and talks with curator Robert Wiesenberger about her singular process of making artists’ books
Free. For accessibility questions, call 413 458 0524.
Public Programs
A full slate of public programs is planned throughout the run of the exhibition; details are available at clarkart.edu/events.
ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of nearly 300,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free to all from January through March. From April through December, admission is $22 for adults, $20 for seniors (65+), $10 for young adults (18–25) and college students, and free for all visitors under 18. Admission is free year-round for Clark members. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
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