Ed Ruscha, Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1966)
Image credit: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/429.2008.a-bbb/
Definition
I think a great way to start a discussion
of artist's books is to quote Angela Lorenz, a contemporary artist who creates
books herself. She says that art books can be defined by what they are not:
They are not
children's books.
They are not sketch books.
They are not diaries.
They are not blank books.
They are not exhibition catalogs.
They are not reproductions of a body of an artist's work.
They are not art books (a common misnomer). [1]
They are not sketch books.
They are not diaries.
They are not blank books.
They are not exhibition catalogs.
They are not reproductions of a body of an artist's work.
They are not art books (a common misnomer). [1]
She then describes
what they are and can be:
However, they may
parody or play with any of the above, as well as all other
standard categories
such as novels, self-help books, non-fiction, cookbooks,
operating
manuals, manifestos, travel guides, essays, etc. Artist's books function
in
the same way as contemporary art: as an expression of someone's creativity,
often with
social commentary, but sometimes in a purely abstract way, in absence words or
recognizable imagery. [2]
As you can see from this description,
it is really hard to define artist's books. They can be anything that an artist
intends them to be and can take many forms. But as a most basic definition,
they are books or book like objects created by artists as an expression of a
particular artistic intention.
History
Artist's books started with the
early 20th century art movements and they are still made today. Although there
were artists making books before the 1960s, the genre took off during and after
this decade (Strizever). From the Russian futurists to Edward Rusha and Sol
LeWitt to Andy Warhol and the Pop artists to contemporary artists such as Ken
Campbell and Helen Douglas (with the latter two being primarily book artists),
artist's books have been around for a long time and don't seem to be going away
(Bury).
Format
These books sometimes have a
traditional format, while others do not. This varies depending on the artist as
well as their intention and vision for the book. The artists often combine text
and image, image and image, and even text alone. There are artists who completely
tear apart the traditional codex format. These artists push the idea of what a
book is, with nontraditional materials and formats that can hardly be described
as a book but still fall within this particular genre. There can be many editions
of an artist's book, but they can also be one of a kind. These situations bring
up problems in relation to the collection of such books, where uniqueness may
push the artist's book into art object territory instead of the collectable
book format (Bury).
For example, moving away from the
typical artist's book, Edward Ruscha turned the artist's book genre on its head
with Every Building on the Sunset Strip
(1966). Instead of a codex, Ruscha created an accordion style book that offered
two continuous views of the Sunset strip in photographic form. Created as
lithographs printed in accordion book form, he offered a complete view of both
sides of the Sunset Strip, with one side right side up and the other side
upside down and a large white space in the middle, suggesting the road on which
a viewer would drive down to get these views
(http://blogs.getty.edu/pacificstandardtime/explore-the-era/worksofart/every-building-on-the-sunset-strip/).
Publication
Artists sometimes publish the books
themselves, but there are also presses that specialize in these books. These
presses, which are also sometimes run by artists, include One Star Press, a
large scale publisher of artist's books (Bury); Wild Hawthorn Press, a press
for works by Ian Hamilton Finlay's work
(http://www.ianhamiltonfinlay.com/wild_hawthorn_press.html); Circle Press, a
now closed press started by Ron King that published artist's books for 100s of
artists and poets (http://www.circlepress.com/); and Coracle Press, a press run
by Erica van Horn and Simon Cutts that publishes their own projects as well as
other artists' work (http://coracle.ie/new-books/).
Collection
For the collection of artist's
books, the art librarian needs to be conscientious of collection practices, especially
given the uncommon formats and materials these books often come in and the
issues that surround them. Not only are artist's books often more expensive
than normal books, even monographs, the upkeep after the fact can also ecru
more budgetary blows than other art books. These books, which are works of art
in their own right, often need special care and consideration, the cataloging is
never straight forward, and the decision on how to care for and circulate them
can push even the most expansive collection policy (Bury).
Bury suggests looking for second
hand or later editions of these books, especially for ones that have been
commercialized. This can be helpful for books that appear in these formats, but
can limit your collection to only those that are commercialized and not any
unique, special objects.
Users
The main users of artist's books
range widely, including studio artists doing research for their own work,
scholars doing research on an artist, librarians preparing for instructional
sessions, professors preparing for classes, art history students doing
research, and any other patron interesting in book arts (Kulp, 7-8).
Case studies
During my research, I found one
university very interesting as a case study in the collection and cataloging of
artist's books. Virginia
Commonwealth University
Their research guide is fantastic,
with information about their own collection and how to gain access to it. They
also have a phenomenal resources section, with books, articles, websites, and
journals that relate to the study, research, and creation of artist's books.
They also link to their catalog (http://guides.library.vcu.edu/book-art).
In 2012, staff members at the VCU
Libraries Mary Anne Dyer and Yuki Hibben published an article about their
particular struggle with cataloging artist's books. In the article, they
discussed their process, which started as early as the collections creation in
1979, in developing a cataloging system for the artist's books that worked for
the librarians, faculty, and staff as well as the users. They discuss the
limitations of MARC cataloging for artists books, the shortcomings of LC
Subject Headings, and even describe how Getty's AAT and other vocabulary
systems could only help so much. In lieu of giving up, the VCU Libraries
developed their own, in house genre headings to make them accessible to all.
The staff of the Collection Management, Cataloging, and Special Collections and
Archives departments worked together to make these headings, which described
not only the content of the artist's books, but also the format and creation
techniques involved in their making.
Dyer and Hibben describe their new
system, which created "A separate local book art genre index in the
catalog... with each genre heading structured to appear in the MARC record as a
655 tag with a second indicator of 7 and a subfield 2 of book art. Book art
genre terms were also added to a genre keyword index and to the general keyword
index for the catalog." [3] The count of genres used at the VCU Libraries
at the time of the publication was 60, with new ones added as needed. This
particular library showcases how cataloging and collection development go hand
in hand to provide access to these collections. The staff analyzed the most
efficient way for the patrons to access the collection and put the search and
catalog interfaces in the terminology that was needed. This shows great innovation
and intention on the part of the librarians to provide outreach for the
collection and shows how they provide services in order to make the collections
and their services relevant.
Another
great case study for cataloging development is the Artists' Book DC Washington ,
DC
Strizever discusses the role the
catalog plays in the browsing ability and discoverability that is essential in
special collections such as these. Since this website exists outside of the
library system, she got input from librarians and curators to ensure their
presence was adequate and as helpful as possible.
Problems
Cataloging artist's books has been
a problem for decades. A great overview of the challenges that face the art
librarian/cataloger is Timothy Shipe's 1991 article "The Monographic
Cataloger and the Artist's Book: The Ideal Reader." In it, he discusses
the strange nature of the artist's book and how difficult it can be for the art
librarian to handle, especially given the normal cataloging necessary for the
position. These same issues have been discussed in article after article since
1991, with no clear answer or best practices that will work for every
collection. Although slightly dated, the concerns Shipe brings up are still
relevant today. His discussion on the liminal space these books inhabit brings
emphasizes the need for specific genre headings. This is being done well in
certain cases, as seen in the case studies of the VCU Libraries and Artists'
Books DC.
Another issue that arises in
relation to artist's books is the placement of them in libraries. There seems
to be some contention among the art information professionals about who can
collect artist's books. Curators are not thrilled that librarians are collecting
artist's books, since these objects are can be considered works of art instead
of just books. The need for a middle ground between proper storage and
necessary usage gives artist's books a unique position in regards to
librarianship and museum collection (Herlocker).
However, many books in libraries
become works of art, so librarians are just as capable of collecting these
works of art as museum curators are. And since librarians understand how to
handle and catalog books, librarians might just be better equipped than some
museum curators. This is especially true since these books are meant to be read
by the viewers of them, given that they are books, instead of put in a case
like a work of art. If these objects were left in a museum, these books would
be kept on a shelf and never read. However, art librarians and special
collection librarians understand how to allow access without degradation of the
object.
Works Cited
[1] Angela Lorenz. "Artist's
Books - For Lack of a Better Name." 2002. Retrieved from http://www.angelalorenzartistsbooks.com/whatis.htm.
[2] Angela Lorenz. "Artist's
Books - For Lack of a Better Name." 2002. Retrieved from
http://www.angelalorenzartistsbooks.com/whatis.htm.
[3] Mary Anne Dyer and Yuki Hibben,
"Developing a Book Art Genre Headings Index,"
Art
Documentation 31, no. 1 (2012): 61.
References and Further Reading
Artists' Books DC, "A Guide to Researching Collections."
2015. Retrieved from
http://www.artistsbooksdc.com/
Bury, Stephen. "1, 2, 3, 5: Building a Collection
of Artists' Books," Art Libraries
Journal 32, no. 2 (2007): n.p.
Drucker, Johanna. A Century of Artists’ Books. New York : Granary Books,
1995.
Dyer, Mary Anne and Hibben, Yuki.
"Developing a Book Art Genre Headings Index," Art
Documentation 31,
no. 1 (2012): 57-66.
The Getty Center
http://blogs.getty.edu/pacificstandardtime/explore-the-era/worksofart/every-
building-on-the-sunset-strip/
Herlocker, Annie. "Shelving
Methods and Questions of Storage and Access in Artists’ Book
Collections," Art Documentation 31,
no. 1 (2012): 67-76.
Kulp, Louise. " Artists’ Books in Libraries: A Review of the
Literature," Art
Documentation 24, no. 1 (2005),
5-10.
Lorenz, Angela. "Artist's
Books - For Lack of a Better Name." 2002. Retrieved from
http://www.angelalorenzartistsbooks.com/whatis.htm.
Strizever, Michelle. "Artists’
Books DC: Developing Access, Promoting Research, and
Facilitating Browsing," Art Documentation 34, no. 1 (2015): 89-100.
Facilitating Browsing," Art Documentation 34, no. 1 (2015): 89-100.
No comments:
Post a Comment