The new display, Expanding the book, is now up and available to view outside the National Art Library doors. The two-case display explores how artists challenge the traditional concept of the book by using unusual materials and formats. With dates ranging from 1985 to 2023, you will see books made from feathers and silk, polymer clay, glass mirror boards and more.
To choose these books, I went on a mission inside our locked cupboards where we keep our artists’ book collection. By opening up countless boxes, I discovered lots of weird and wonderful books and made a selection that would eventually become this display.
Lady Freedom Among Us is a sculptural artists’ book by Claire Van Vliet, founder of Janus Press and recipient of the 1989 MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award for her contributions to typography and book arts. The cover features an embossed cut-out of the Capitol dome, and when opened, a three-dimensional folded face emerges: Lady Freedom, the statue that crowns the Capitol building and symbolises liberty, national strength, and the protection of American democracy. The work features a poem by Rita Dove, who served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, becoming the youngest and first African American poet in the role. Her text portrays a woman who may be perceived as less fortunate, urging humility and compassion through the line, ‘she is one of the many / and she is each of us.’ Together, the poem and sculpture convey a powerful message of equality, a physical representation of the democratic ideals on which the United States was founded.
Contained within a plastic bottle is an issue of SMILE, the Neoist magazine founded in 1984 by Stewart Home. A defining element of Neoism is the use of shared pseudonyms and identities to challenge conventional ideas of individuality and authorship. The name Monty Cantsin was adopted by all who produced a Smile magazine. This 1985 edition of SMILE was produced by Michael Tolson (alter-ego tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE) and was conceived of as a collective portrait made from transparent images submitted by contributors, which could be layered to form a composite image. One hundred transparencies from each Monty Cantsin contributor were assembled, later becoming part of a 17½-minute 16mm film featuring the band White Colours. Described as a ‘film magazine,’ Transparent Smile is stored in a plastic bottle as one more layer of transparency, allowing the work to be viewed from the outside. On the labels you can see the mailing address of the Victoria & Albert Museum as well as all the addresses of every Monty Cantsin contributor.
Sophie Loss, co-founder of the artists’ coalition AMBruno, created He trots the air as part of a 2023 project on the theme of rhythm. The artist was inspired by a legless statue of a horse in the British Museum, which can be seen on the artist-made postcard next to the book. The artist says ‘this book imagines the sound and rhythm of the invisible hooves. Marks across the pages trace the sound of the horse moving through air – coming closer, moving further away, louder at times, fainter at others.’ The concertina format lends itself perfectly to Loss’ concept, acting as a long strip of sky, the folds creating movement and dimension. The marks from the hooves can be seen as trompe l’oeil holes on the paper, imperfect horseshoe stamps getting closer and further away, creating a sense of sound and rhythm.
You may also notice a box filled with pieces of paper and ephemera: The Book of Disquiet by Tim Hopkins. Based on Fernando Pessoa’s book of the same name, the work recreates the text in the fragmentary state in which it was discovered after Pessoa’s death in 1935. The writings captured the everyday reflections of Pessoa’s narrator, Bernardo Soares. First published in Portuguese in 1982, the book is now considered a modernist classic. Hopkins letterpress-printed the text by hand onto more than 60 pieces of ephemera and found objects, allowing readers to engage with the work in any order they choose. Printed on items such as a playing card, a map, a lollipop stick and even a pencil, the text reflects the wandering, introspective nature of Soares’s thoughts. Even the stitched board box, with its handprinted lid, reinforces the theme of ordinary, everyday objects. Highly unconventional in form, the artist has created an immersive experience that brings the reader closer not only to the writer but also his character.
Please come along to the library entrance to see these and the rest of my selection, viewable whether the library is open or closed. I hope it will expand your perception of what a book is and the kind of material we have in the National Art Library collection.
WHAT’S ON DISPLAY?
Case 1
Lady Freedom among us
Claire Van Vliet, poem by Rita Dove
Published by Janus Press, West Burke, Vermont, 1994
Museum no. 38041995100070
Smile: transparent: Monty Cantsin, performing with White Colours
Published by ‘Monty Cantsin (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE)’ i.e Michael Tolson, Baltimore, Maryland, 1985
Museum no. 38041992109058
Livre de référence (‘Reference book’)
Geneviève Seillé, Burton upon Trent, 1991
Unique
Museum no. 38041992100560
Dark matter
Victoria Browne
A response to Flatland: a romance of many dimensions by Edwin Abbott, 1884
Published by the artist, London, 2008
Acquired through the generosity of the Birgit Skiöld Memorial Trust, 2010
Museum no. 38041010208833
中空 Nakazora (‘Empty air’)
Masao Yamamoto
Published by Nazraeli Press, Tucson, Arizona, 2001
Museum no. 38041007209398
The mirror book/book
John Christie and Ron King
Published by Circle Press, Guildford, 1985
Museum no. 38041991104506
Case 2
He trots the air
Sophie Loss
References a legless ancient Greek horse statue in the British Museum
Published by the artist, London, 2023
Museum no. 38041024002487
Pocket book
Larry Beck Thomas, USA, 1990–1992
Unique
Museum no. 38041993106384
Op de lucht (‘In the air’)
Jeroen van Westen
Published by the artist, Enschede, Netherlands, 1990
Museum no. 38041992108803
The mermaid
Kathleen Amt, poem by W.B. Yeats
Published by the artist, Washington, D.C. 1989
Museum no. 38041800100000
The book of disquiet
Tim Hopkins, text by Fernando Pessoa
Published by Half Pint Press, London, 2017
Museum no. 38041017029224
Really fascinating to see how creativity continues to expand the meaning of books and visual storytelling. Innovation and fresh ideas, much like Doctiplus, are what keep modern experiences engaging and impactful.