Artist's book
|
|
An artist's book is an art object in the form of a book. Occasionally, these are unique book-objects. More often, artist's books are printed in editions of various numbers.
Although artists have been active in printing and book production for centuries, the artist's book is primarily a 20th century form. Inexpensive artist's books were an important part of several avant-garde practices that attempted to democratize access to art.
The Dada and surrealist movements in the early decades of the 20th century saw many experimental publications by artists, including 3-dimensional book-objects by Marcel Duchamp and collage novels by Max Ernst.
Books were produced by members of the loosely affiliated Fluxus group (including George Maciunas and Yoko Ono), whose shared values included an emphasis on ephemeral forms.
Artists associated with the Pop Art movement of the 1960s, such as Andy Warhol and Ed Ruscha, produced well-known artist's books.
Conceptual and post-conceptual artists have also created artist's books, notably William Wegman, Douglas Huebler, Martin Kippenberger and Raymond Pettibon.
Related links
External links
- Discussion: Definition of Artist's Book. (http://www.philobiblon.com/whatisabook.htm)
- Printed Matter, a non-profit organization in New York City devoted to Artist's Books (http://www.printedmatter.org/)