Mary Ellen Bartley

Mary Ellen Bartley is known for her photographs exploring the tactile and formal qualities of the printed book and its potential for abstraction. She has exhibited in numerous institutions including The Queens Museum, The Walker Art Center, Houston Center for Photography, Parrish Art Museum, and The Watermill Center.

One aspect of her practice is working in unique libraries and archives where she responds to collections and their habitats. Bartley has realized projects in the private libraries of artists such as Robert Wilson, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and most recently the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi. Born in New York in 1959, Bartley received a BFA from Purchase College and lives and works in Sag Harbor, New York.