Research brief

The Book as Art is the working title for this research project in which I intend to investigate the contemporary practice of artists’ books. Through this research I will seek to clarify what an artists’ book is and is not and identify the origins of the practice.

The illuminated manuscripts of medieval times are certainly works of art but they do not fall into the zone of the artists’ book, many more contemporary illustrated books may contain works of art but also do not fit into the context of the artists’ book.

In France the practice of the artists’ book is referred to as Livre artiste and is considered by the author Johanna Drucker who wrote The century of artists' books [1] as an artistic practice that originated in the last 100 years.

In a series of blog posts I will seek to shed some light on and discover information about artists’ books through a process of research conducted via Swinburne’s Library. I will search for books and articles from the libraries catalogue and databases and conduct additional research online via the internet in order to source information relevant to the topic and as a means to provide a diverse range of material for the reader.

As this process of research will be an organic one my focus for the research may change slightly as I discover more about the subject however I will aim to meet the agreed deadlines for reporting.

The first post will serve as an introduction to the research topic and its intended scope and serve as a means to define the area that I intend to explore and within that context what is meant by artists’ books

Subsequent postings will focus on:

o   The historical context of Artists ‘Books as a form

o   Key international and Australian artists’ working in this medium

o   Examples of  contemporary practice

o   ‘Altered’ books

o   Future trends

Each blog post will be accompanied by relevant links to online journals and articles and a list of book titles relevant to the topic will be developed over the course of the project. Images where possible will also be sourced to provide illustrations of the variety of artists’ books created.

My intention is to have collected sufficient material by the completion of this research task  for the reader on the subject of Artists ‘ Books to whet their appetite and hope  to encourage them to follow the links provided for additional resources to extend their knowledge.

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[1] Drucker, J c2004 The century of artists' books, 2nd edn, Granary, New York.

First steps

Books as Art is a research into the history and contemporary practice of artists’ books; a subject that serves to satisfy two interests of mine namely art and books. 

Although I have seen some examples of artist’ books in several exhibitions and in books on art I really have no real idea about the history of this form of expression or what constitute the parameters of an artist book. 

Through this research project I hope to get a better sense of the history and the contemporary practice of artists’ books and hope to come up with a clearer definition of what an artist book is.

My first steps are with a simple search in the Swinburne Library catalogue using the term artists’ books in the search field, this result in numerous titles and I quickly select 2 items that are available and put another on hold.

One of the first books that I open is Australian Artists Books by Alex Selenitsch, published by the National Gallery of Australia; a statement in the introduction helps to provide a definition for an art that takes a variety of formats including pages in folders or boxes, scrolls and folded concertinas.

“An artists' book is a book made by an artist, and is meant to be an art work.”  Alex Selenitsch

The look and feel of books as we know them… a series of folded sheets joined together at the folded edge to create a series of pages that can be leafed through provides a versatile means for an artist to present their ideas. It allows the viewer to hold the work close to themselves, to move backwards and forwards from one work to another allowing the work to be ‘read’ in a different ways.

The next book I open is Artists books in the modern era 1870-2000: the Reva and David Logan collection of illustrated books, RF Johnson & D Stein. This book focuses on works from a private collection of livre d’artiste; books created by artists such as Picasso Matisse Miro and Duchamp combining visual works in conjunction with poetry which enabled them to create works that did not necessarily fit in with their oeuvre and or to create works for the printed medium.

The history of livre d’artiste stems from the mid to late 19^th century encouraged by the Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard in publishing ventures to take advantage of the increased demand for art and luxury items due to the industrial revolution.

Books produced by these artists focused on printing as an art form not as a means of mass production and were generally limited edition signed by the artist.

Depending on whom you read livre d’artistes either fit into the profile of what is considered an artists’ book or they don't. 

In A Century of Artists’ Books by Johanna Drucker the author defines an artist book as one that ‘interrogates the form of the book’ and conceptually engages with what a book is and could be.

This title is a survey of the past 100 years exploring different kinds of artists’ books and is a not only a critical analysis of what constitutes an artists’ book but also provides illustrations of artists books from key artistic periods  in the past century. 

Drucker, J c2004, The century of artists' books, 2^nd edn, Granary, New York.
 

Johnson, RF & Stein, D 2002, Artists books in the modern era 1870-2000: the Reva and David Logan collection of illustrated books, Thames & Hudson, London. 

Selenitsch, A 2008, Australian artists books, National Gallery of Australia, Parkes, A.C.T.

Branching Out

The history of artists’ books is inseparable from the history of the book. Before books took the form they do today; a series of folded pages secured together at one edge other forms existed including the use of clay or stone tablets, parchment scrolls or in Asia thin bamboo or pandanus strips made into a series of slats ‘strung’ together like a Venetian blind or fixed at a point to form a fan so as the information could be stored in order.
Each new technological development enabled new methods of book making; the invention of paper allowed folds to be made in the material to form a folded concertina.

Artists who create artists’ books draw on this rich history of the book to inform their practice and the results are works that manifest in a variety of forms or are hybrids of one or more of these historical techniques.
Consequently there are no set parameters of what constitutes an artists’ book or for what to call them.
There are a number of terms that are used to refer to the same basic concept including book art, bookworks, book as artwork, artists' book objects, bookwork, artists books ( with no apostrophe).

After doing some preliminary reading I felt that I should get out there and have a look at some more examples both online and actually. A search of Darebin Libraries catalogue led me to Jonathan Safran Foers book Tree of Codes a fascinating book that I think fits into the genre of artists’ books the experience of reading it if that is the correct way to describe what one does involves an engagement which is quite different from reading other books.

The pages in this book have been die cut so each page reveals the layers beneath it some of these are the next page other cut sections are deeper.  His intention was to create new book by erasing or cutting away some of the text from an existing work. He used the existing text from The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz as the starting point as this was his favourite book.  He creates a completely new narrative and also a work that is sculptural and poetic.

In my initial search of the Swinburne Library catalogue I discovered an online journal called The BoneFolder a site hosted by the university of Syracuse in the USA. This site has lots of links and information regarding bookworks, book binding, etc.

A simple Google search led me to the State Library of Queensland which has a collection and online exhibition of artists’ books. I have listed this link on my favourites and this is interesting as it provides examples of different styles of artists’ books including the book as object, concertina style, altered book etc
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My curiosity piqued I went to the State Library of Victoria which currently has a permanent exhibition on the history of books which includes some artists’ books and also an exhibition called Fine Impressions: Printmaking and Artists’ books in Melbourne 1999-2010 which focuses on 20 contemporary Australian artists working in this area.  The exhibition runs until 16^th of February 2012.

Artisan books which is a fabulous bookshop in Gertrude Street Fitzroy has hosted exhibitions of artists’ books since 2006, please refer to links to access the archives of these exhibitions as the works are diverse and beautiful.

If you are quick you may still be able to catch Born to Concrete an exhibition on concrete poetry at Heide Museum of Modern Art where I volunteer.  Although the exhibition is not specifically about artists’ books there are some lovely examples of the form and it is generally an interesting exhibition.

Artist Books 2010 "Atlas - an exhibition of artist books", Artisan Books, viewed 14 September 2011, <http://www.artisan.com.au/exhibition/artist_book10.htm >.

Artist Books 2007 "Text/txt" - an exhibition of artist books, Artisan Books, viewed 14 September 2011, < http://www.artisan.com.au/exhibition/artist_book07.htm>.  

Artists books, Victoria and Albert Museum, viewed 14September 2011, <http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/a/artists-books/ >. 

Artists’ Books 2011, State Library of Victoria, viewed 16 September 2011, <http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/our-collections/collection-strengths/history-book/artists-books>.

Artists’ books – redefining the book 2011, State Library of Queensland, viewed 21 August 2011, 
< http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/find/online/ab/find_artists_books>. 

Safran Foer, J. 2011, Tree of Codes, Visual Editions, London.

Verheyen, P D (ed.) 2011, The BoneFolder – an e-journal for the bookbinder and book artist, DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals, viewed 21 August 2011, <http://www.philobiblon.com/bonefolder/>.