Hauser, Robert, 1942-

Robert Hauser, founder of Busyhaus Associates (1974) and Busyhaus Publications (1984) was born 14 August 1942 in Wareham, MA, and grew up in Falmouth, MA . Hauser studied Graphic Arts at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts from 1963 to 1967. He continued his studies at Tufts University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science and Education in 1970 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1973. He served as the Museum Conservator at the Museum of American Textile History in North Andover, Massachusetts, from 1968 until 1982, at which time he accepted the Museum Conservator position at Old Dartmouth Historical Society Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts . He co-founded the New England Conservation Association in 1978. In 1974, Hauser established Busyhaus Associates, offering professional graphic and exhibit design, preservation services, technical and historical research in the book arts, and educational programs. He has published over a dozen scholarly articles on topics such as decorative papers, paper preservation, paper duplication, and bookbinding, including American Decorative Papermakers, published from his own press in 1984.

The name "Busyhaus" was derived from Hauser once saying that "this house is too busy" and his design interest in the Bauhaus he combined the German for house into "Busyhaus." Hauser is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation and a member of the Boston Society of Printers . Between 1974 and 1998 Busyhaus conducted over one hundred book art and hand papermaking workshops at universities and art museums.

Michael McCurdy, who owned and operated Penmaen Press from 1967 to 1985, was born 17 February 1942 in New York City and grew up in New Rochelle, NY, and Marblehead, Massachusetts . From 1960 to 1966, he attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, where he completed his first wood engraving (1963) and met his longtime friend and collaborator Robert Hauser . At Tufts University, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (1964) and a Master of Fine Arts (1971). He served as an Instructor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts from 1966-1967, at Concord Academy from 1972-1975, and at Wellesley College Library Rare Book Print Lab from 1975-1976. McCurdy founded Penmaen Press in 1968, from which he published many high quality literary works, including first-edition poetry, fiction, and translation, until he discontinued the Press in 1985. As of 2004, his artwork had been included in 194 books and had been commissioned by dozens of corporations and institutions for use as company logos or to illustrate literature.

Hauser and McCurdy first met in March 1966, when McCurdy commissioned Hauser to design posters for an exhibit at Tufts University . They soon collaborated on other projects, as McCurdy did engravings for several of Hauser's works, while Hauser designed artistic bindings for some of McCurdy's Penmaen Press books. In August 1983, Hauser proposed the idea that would become Face to Face, and the project would keep them working together closely for years to come. Face to Face: Twelve Contemporary American Artists Interpret Themselves in a Limited Edition of Original Wood Engravings was published in 1985 in an edition of 250 boxed sets, each of which contained twelve original 6 x 8-inch signed wood engravings by Fred Becker, Jack Coughlin, John DePol, Fritz Eichenberg, Raymond Gloeckler, James Grashow, Judith Jaidinger, Stefan Martin, Michael McCurdy, Barry Moser, Gillian Tyler, Herbert Waters, and an unsigned engraving by Lynd Ward, to whom the collection was dedicated. The introduction was written by Leonard Baskin . McCurdy's work in Face to Face was engraved in 1983 and the remainder in 1984.

Collaborated Works: Face to Face: Twelve Contemporary American Artists Interpret Themselves in a Limited Edition of Original Wood Engravings , Great Barrington, MA: Penmaen/Busyhaus Publications , 1985 .

From the guide to the Penmaen/Busyhaus Collection., 1967-, (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center .)