A History of Artist Books

The “artist book concept” did not materialize out of thin air: books and artists have been intertwined for centuries. Even before the invention of the printing press, artists were involved in book production by illuminating important texts. When bookmaking process began to quickly thanks to the Industrial Revolution’s steam and electric technology, artists like William Morris continued to create highly stylized versions of books with intricate borders, illustrations, and decorations, maintaining the connection between artists and book-making.

During the 20 century, artists began to work closely with prolific authors to created books where written word and visual design were almost equal in importance. It was also during this time that the stamping process – using woodcuts, rubber stamps, or lithography – began to gain in popularity because it facilitated the small-scale serial production of books.

Until the mid-20 century, artists were involved in the production of books, but were largely relegated to a decorative role and kept apart from the intellectual creation process. This began to change during the 1960s, when the emergence of Conceptual Art and Minimalism created an environment that encouraged artists to explore new mediums an re-evaluate their roles in book production.

Conceptual Art emphasized the importance of ideas and the thought process, making books a logical new medium to adopt. Minimalism encouraged a more industrial method of production that allowed artists to adopt a quasi industrial production that drove the price of their books down, making them more accessible. Using books to express original ideas, and publishing books in series, are the two key factors that differentiated them from their predecessors.

By the late 1970s, minimalism and conceptual art began to fall out of favour, and artists were increasingly interested in engaging with the social-political issues of the times. Seeking greater freedom to experiment with format and aesthetics, artists returned to the artisanal method of book making. This quasi-return to smaller-scale bookmaking clashed with the artist books of the 1960s, and sparked a debate that persists to today over what is considered to be an artist book.