Shakespeare, Life of an Icon

Shakespeare, Life of an Icon, one of the Exhibitions at the Folger, opened January 20, 2016 and closed March 27, 2016. Life of an Icon was curated by Heather Wolfe, Curator of Manuscripts and Archivist at the Folger Shakespeare Library. It was part of The Wonder of Will: 400 Years of Shakespeare 2016 commemoration of Shakespeare's death.

We will never have a photograph of William Shakespeare or a recording of his voice, but we can catch glimpses of the man in this stunning array of documents from his own lifetime. Shakespeare, Life of an Icon brought together some of the most important manuscripts and printed books related to Shakespeare's life and career, drawn from the Folger collection and other major British and US institutions. Among them: deeds recording Shakespeare's real estate purchases, drafts of the heraldic grant of arms that he helped his father to obtain, diary entries about seeing his plays and buying his works, and quick takes on Shakespeare's fast-rising reputation—from disdained, "upstart crow" in 1592, to the "sweet swan of Avon," as his friend Ben Jonson describes him in the preliminary material to the first edition of Shakespeare's collected works, the 1623 First Folio. Seen together, these glimpses provided a fresh and intimate perspective on the most famous author in the world.

The exhibition included the premier of Shakespeare Documented, an online exhibition featuring hundreds of manuscripts, printed books, and more that document Shakespeare in his own time.