ABOUT  US  

Gallery    B O O K A R T S            ~    A b o u t   U s   ~

 

Book Arts is the culmination of the collective efforts of gifted American and Florentine bookbinders, conservators, book artists, letterpress printers and leather craftsmen. Inspired by the classic Florentine atelier, Book Arts coalesces a life-time of experience to make available timeless works with finest uncompromising  services, employing the arts of fine binding.

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STEPHEN L. VANILIO was born into a family of art book binders with a legacy of more than 100 years. Mr. Vanilio was imbued--from an early age-- with a reverence for books, fine book design, and an appreciation for their power to be provocative. Mr. Vanilio has created fine bindings and other objects for Presidents Carter, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, Clinton, G.W. Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden, personally, and as state gifts presented to foreign heads of state. His work is in numerous palaces, institutional libraries and private collections throughout the world.

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Other clients have included notables in the worlds of the arts, entertainment and industry, foreign governments, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Vatican.  In 2010, Mr. Vanilio was appointed to the Hermitage Museum Foundation Advisory Board. Mr. Vanilio received his A.B. from Kenyon College, and his M.A. from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, (SAIS) Bologna, Italy.

 

 

 

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JOHN PAUL GREENAWALT,    principal artist, has devoted  his career to the book arts.    Mr. Greenawalt was classically trained by Merriweather Post’s master bookbinder,  Nicholas S. Chepuras, for over 20 years.  Mr. Greenawalt has received numerous accolades for his design of fine bindings and related objets d’art.  Presidents G.H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, G.W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden have commissioned numerous Greenawalt pieces as gifts to foreign heads of state.  His work, by now, is in virtually every presidential palace in the world.

 

Mr. Greenawalt has designed entire collections for Tiffany’s, Mark Cross, and Pineider 1774.  Other clients range from Princeton University and NASA, to the National Gallery of Art and the Vatican.  In 2003, Mr. Greenawalt formed        The Book Arts Conservatory, which is committed to the vigorous flourishing of the book arts genre.  Following      the induction of one work into the Rare Books Collection of the Library of Congress, John Paul was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Hermitage Museum Foundation,       in 2010.  Mr. Greenawalt has a B.S. from the University of Maryland University College.

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PAOLO BARBIERI

A master printer of Florence, Italy,

Mr. Barbieri is known for his faithful,

artistic rendering of works by the great masters of renaissance art and architecture.

 

Combining his historical sense, 

and the skills and methods of classical printing,

with modern technologies,

Paolo interprets the image upon the paper

with his unique vitality.

 

 

 

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MAX LONGHINI

From his native Florence, his career spanned nearly thirty years in the international marketing of Luxury Italian Design, fine leather-working, and top fashion houses.  He was the support force behind the American introduction of Fiorucci in New York in the late 70's, and had long since continued to lead in the field of Italian style and high design through introduction initiatives in America, and England, Italy, and throughout the rest of Europe.

 

Mr. Longhini earned his distinguished reputation for professionalism on projects of great complexity and critical timing. He added his artistic eye and diplomat's sensitivity gleaned from a career with the leading Italian high design organizations, to the mission of Gallery BOOK ARTS, where he was key to developing specialized book arts materials, and coordinating artistic resources between Tuscany and Washington. --- Truly, a Renaissance man.