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.