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The Arts Intel Report

Some of Tom's Typewriters: From the Collection of Tom Hanks Installed by Simon Doonan

Ettore Sottsass. Olivetti S.p.A., Olivetti Valentine, #TH279 (c. 1969).

48 Madison St, Sag Harbor, NY 11963

In 2016, the documentary California Typewriter, was nominated for awards at film festivals around the world—including the Newport Beach Film Festival and the Nashville Film Festival. The movie is about artists and writers who still use the instrument, preferring it to a computer. Tom Hanks, for instance, revealed that he owns 250 typewriters, 90 percent of them still in use. “What thrills me,” Hanks said of these little machines, “is that they are meant to do one thing and one thing only, and with the tiniest amount of effort, and maintenance, will last a thousand years.” This exhibition in Sag Harbor spotlights 35 of his favorite typewriters, which span generations. The show explores the “life of things”—those objects that accompany us through our lives and that we often turn to.
—Elena Clavarino