By Akron Art Museum Staff

The Akron Art Museum has a bestseller: Detroit Disassembled: Photographs by Andrew Moore, co-published by the museum and Damiani, an Italian publisher.  The book, produced for an exhibition organized by the museum last summer, is in its third printing just 8 months after its release.  It was just named one of the top picks for coffee table books in the 2010 New York Times Holiday Gift Guide. Detroit Disassembled was selected as one of 20 Michigan Notable Books for 2011 because, the committee reported, “photographer Andrew Moore finds beauty in what many consider Detroit’s decay. . . . Moore’s photographs capture nature’s reclaiming of spaces that were once populated with spectacular architecture and entwined in the heartbeat of a vibrant city. Former Detroiter and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Philip Levine provides an introductory essay championing the unshakable spirit that makes Detroit special.”

The project has received extraordinary coverage, with articles in Argentinean and Italian newspapers, New York Times T magazine, National Geographic, the New Yorker blog, Detroit News, Akron Beacon Journal and other publications.  TV programs were made about it by BookTV for CSPAN 2 and Western Reserve PBS.   NPR’s national program “The Takeaway” did a segment on it.

The exhibition was made possible by a major gift from Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell with additional support from the John A. McAlonan Fund of Akron Community Foundation.  The publication was underwritten by the Bidwells with additional funding from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation.  The exhibition’s next stop will be at the Queens Museum in New York City from mid-July through mid-October 2011.