Art History 290ab - Colloquium: The Artist's Book in the 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 examines the varieties of form and expression used by book artists and the relationships between these artists and the sociocultural, 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 read extensively in the literature of artistic manifestos and of semiotics, focusing on those critics who have explored the complex relationship of word and image. Enrollment limited to 18. Group B

[CE] ARH 290 Limit