“If there is any facet of my work that I feel was kissed by angels, I’d say it was my books. My other work is definitely tied to a tradition, but I’ve never followed tradition in my books.” Ed Ruscha, in an interview with David Bourdon in Art News, April 1972.
In this series on artists’ books at the AA/PG Library, we are starting off with Ed Ruscha, the American artist known primarily for his large canvas paintings that incorporate words or phrases.
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some are to be
chewed and digested.”
~Francis Bacon, Essays (1625) Bacon’s Essays By Francis Bacon, Richard Whately.
We have talked about artists’ books on the Smithsonian Libraries blog before. And we’ll talk about them more, as a part of a short series to highlight interesting works of book art owned by the Smithsonian’s American Art & Portrait Gallery Library.
But what, exactly, is an artist’s book? You may not be able to tell just from looking at the object itself!