1 Framing Fraktur was published in conjunction with two exhibitions that were presented by the Free Library of Philadelphia in 2015. The premise of these exhibitions was to reinterpret and reframe the library’s historic fraktur collection through the lens of contemporary art. Fraktur is a manuscript-based folk art that was created by German immigrants in Pennsylvania, beginning in the later part of the 17th century. The term is derived from the Latin fractura (breaking) and refers to the broken style of lettering. In Pennsylvania the most common form of fraktur were birth certificates and, less commonly, marriage and death memorials. Other non-religious types of fraktur included merit rewards, love letters, music manuscripts, greeting cards, and family records. As such, fraktur was a text-heavy art form that provided a unique record of everyday life. Fraktur fuses together the styles of early-European illuminated religious manuscripts with the colourful and idiosyncratic approach of North American folk art.

2 The book is divided into three sections, the first of which is devoted to the history and development of fraktur tradition. Lisa Minardi’s insightful and clearly written essay explores the individuals and communities behind fraktur. She draws our attention to the ways in which the social backgrounds of the artists affected the styles and outcome of fraktur artworks. For example, illustrations by artists from the Ephrata community had very sparse and minimal content, due in large part to their cloistered lifestyle and practise of abstinence.

3 The second section of the book looks at a variety of 20th- and 21st-century artworks that incorporate text. At first it might seem like a leap of faith to compare the centuries-old and formalized folk art genre of fraktur with experimental artworks from the Dada, cubist and pop genres. However the author of this chapter, Matthew F. Singer, attempts to draw parallels between these disparate groups by showing how they all blurred the lines between utilitarian, commemorative and artistic painting. Singer goes onto to explore works by artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, who used the interplay of words and graphics as a way to express historically rooted identities.

4 The final section of the book, written by Judith Tannenbaum, looks at contemporary artworks that have direct links with the fraktur tradition such as Marian Bantjes artwork entitled, My Dear, Can We Work Together (2007). This work is a highly embellished hand painted manuscript that is done in the style of fraktur but the text is from a spam/scam email. Another work by Bantjes, Lost Child (2014), is a simple and colourful needlepoint composition that is made using hair from My Little Pony toys. Both these pieces are uncanny in the way that they blend the traditional styles of fraktur with mass media and consumer culture.

5 The book could have benefitted from a larger print size because of the heavily embellished detail of the fraktur illustrations. However, as a whole, the publication helps animate these historical documents and brings to light this fairly obscure rural art tradition. The book and accompanying exhibition successfully use the filter of contemporary art to promote engagement with the museum’s collection.