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Luceros y Penumbras has just been officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest pop-up book ever created! Check out this record-breaking exhibition on your next visit to Central Library. Luceros y Penumbras: The World's Largest Pop-up Book - Library Foundation of Los Angeles
Entry is free and all ages are welcome Please reference the Library’s website for hours, location details, and holidays. SPECIAL EXHIBITION On view until November 2026
As a centerpiece of the building’s centennial celebration, Luceros y Penumbras unfolds across two giant pop-up spreads that evoke memory, culture, and discovery through rich imagery drawn from González’s personal history, the spirit of Los Angeles, and the history of Central Library. Complementing the installation, a selection from the Library’s rarely seen Toy Movable Collection is also on view.
When opened the book measures approximately 31' x 20', with pop-ups rising more than 11' tall. It weighs over 1,800 pounds.
The book is made entirely from the same materials used to produce traditional books, including paper, adhesive, and fabric.
With original art created by Los Angeles artist and printmaker Daniel González and paper engineering by Matthew Reinhart, this ambitious feat of scale and storytelling constructed in the Rotunda of the Richard J. Riordan Central Library is inspired by the Library’s enduring “light of learning.”
Luceros y Penumbras: The World's Largest Pop-up Book - Library Foundation of Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Public Library’s rarely exhibited Toy Movable Collection is a captivating archive of more than 2,000 intricate pop-up books and interactive titles. These materials provide historical context for the art form and underscore Southern California’s unsung role in the global history of pop-up book production.
A series of free public programs including children and family story times and paper engineering workshops will be presented in conjunction with the exhibition, to be announced soon.
About the artist
Daniel González is a Los Angeles-based artist and printmaker known for his community-rooted work, including the major 2012 LA Metro art commission “Engraved in Memory” at the La Cienega/Jefferson Station and his illustrations for The Ballad of Huck and Miguel, a novel by Tim De Roche. His work is on permanent display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County as part of the exhibition, Becoming Los Angeles. He has worked extensively with El Pueblo De Los Ángeles Historical Monument in Downtown Los Angeles and Self Help Graphics & Art in Boyle Heights, and currently teaches printmaking at Barnsdall Art Center and the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. LAPL holds a portfolio of González’s original prints in its Special Collections.
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