CategoriesMedium and Techniques
Artists’ Books
Books conceived by artists as works in their own right, where sequence, binding, format and the act of turning pages are part of the art.
No works indexed yet · 10 related artists
No open-access works for Artists’ Books are in the index yet. They will appear here as more collections are indexed.
About
An artist's book is a work conceived as a book, where sequence, page-turning, binding and format belong to the art rather than simply containing reproductions of it. William Blake wrote, etched and hand-coloured his own illuminated books, including Songs of Innocence (1789). Russian Futurist poets and painters around 1912 made cheap lithographed booklets that mixed handwriting and drawing, and Sonia Delaunay and Blaise Cendrars's La Prose du Transsibérien (1913) unfolded into a two-metre column of colour and verse.
From the 1960s many artists embraced the inexpensive printed book as a way to reach readers directly. Ed Ruscha's Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963), Dieter Roth's cut and perforated volumes and Ulises Carrión's essay The New Art of Making Books (1975) shaped the field. Kikuji Kawada's photobook The Map (1965) uses fold-outs and dense sequencing to evoke Hiroshima. Forms range from pocket pamphlets to sculptural objects that can barely be opened.
Related artists
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