Moving back to the mid-nineteenth century, one finds even earlier fine art books of a different nature. Both offer the readers pleasurable visual and tactile experiences. The distinction between artists’ books and artists’ illustrated books may lie in the eye of the beholder as much as in formal definitions. Why? Although Nigerian artist Onobrakpeya initiated and solely executed this handsome collection of prints illustrating excerpts of African literature, it is still a conventional portfolio of prints. The Bruce Onobrakpeya Portfolio of Art and Literature, containing twenty-seven original prints enclosed in a hand-made leather case, is another example of an artist’s illustrated book. More poignantly, as real characters in the tale of flight, displacement and deprivation, these three women illustrated their own experiences of the ultimate safari. The Artist’s Press in South Africa initiated the project, which is based on a story by Nadine Gordimer, and commissioned Aletah Masuku, Alsetah Manthosi, and Dorah Ngomane to illustrate it. The Ultimate Safari in our exhibition is an example of an artist’s illustrated book. This genre appeared early in the twentieth century and continues today. They are conventional in format-the traditional codex or portfolio-and in binding. Often these are limited fine art editions and may be initiated by the publisher or author, not the artist. History of Artists’ Books: The PrecursorsĪrtists’ illustrated books ( livres d’artistes) are book works with art or art and text produced by a press or publisher. They may offer several pathways to explore. What is it made of? How is it constructed? How is it bound or enclosed? How does one move through the book? What will the next page reveal? Artists’ books play with the codex format in a variety of fanciful ways. The multiple formats of artists’ books challenge the reader to engage with the object in hand. How is the artist’s imagination reflected in the book? With an artist’s book, the experience is heightened because of its artistry, its tactile qualities, and its sheer unexpectedness. Ideally, an artist’s book invites an intimate experience between the reader and the book. According to Johanna Drucker, “An artist’s book may succeed on the strength of its formal qualities or on the compelling vision of its meaning, but the best artists’ books are those which integrate production and content so dynamically that such distinctions are moot.” The intimacy in one’s handling, turning pages, or unfolding flaps of an artist’s book is central to the experience.
The visual and tactile qualities are primary, as it is after all a three-dimensional or even sculptural artifact. Others argue that the physical properties of the artist’s book are so intimately integral with the content that all must be considered together. With artists’ books the structure and format may be privileged over content. Artists’ books are often produced on old letterpress, technology no longer used by mainstream publishing.
Frequently, the primary book construction material is paper, but artists’ books are made of any material-cloth, plastic, metal, glass, wood, leather. They may be produced entirely by the artist or may be collaborative projects with paper makers, printers, typesetters, binders, poets, and other specialists. Most importantly, they are intended as a visual art work.Īrtists’ books may be limited editions produced by fine art presses or may be inexpensive “democratic multiples,” often with a political or social message, distributed cheaply or freely. Artists’ books build on the traditional codex form of sequential bound pages, but they expand and push those boundaries in limitless creative ways. To avoid getting tangled up in definitions, let’s just invoke the tautology that an artist’s book is a book made by an artist that the artist calls an artist’s book. The forms and structures of these artists’ books blend with a stunning range of African themes explored by both African and international artists.Īrtists’ books resist definition. In accord with the Smithsonian’s mission of “valuing world cultures,” this exhibition presents Africa in books of artistry and imagination.
#Storyo print index cards full
They offer the full span from illustrated nineteenth-century atlas folios to livres d’artistes to twenty-first century artists’ books. Robbins Library at the National Museum of African Art and the National Museum of African Art collection. The featured books are from the Smithsonian Libraries’ Warren M. Since artists’ books are not normally associated with African art, our goal in this exhibition is to introduce the genre and survey its “African” manifestations.
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