Art History 268 - ARTIST'S BOOK IN 20TH CENTURY

A survey of the genre from its beginnings in the political and artistic avant-garde movements of Europe at the turn of the 20th century through contemporary American conceptual bookworks. In particular, the course will examine the varieties of form and expression used by book artists and the relationships between these artists and the socio-cultural, literary, and graphic environments from which they emerged. In addition to extensive hands-on archival work in the library's Mortimer Rare Book Room and the museum's Selma Erving Collection of Livres d'Artistes, students will read extensively in the literature of artistic manifestos and of semiotics, focusing of those critics who have explored the complex relationship of word and image. Permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 18.

Instructor Permission.