Digital History - Histoire Numérique

Artist Books as an Historical Source

Artist books are an important source on the past because they supply less-than-conventional information on the past in unique ways. They often provide crucial information on the stylistic development of an artist and their social-political views, which are often difficult to find in other sources. This information can be particularly important, especially for relatively obscure artists who have little written about them, or for artists who have gained significant agency over the years.

Brian S. Osborne, Professor Emeritus of Geography at Kingston’s Queen’s University and specialist in Canadian history, wrote against the archival community’s lack of using visual culture or artwork in his 1983 article “the Artist as Historical Commentator”, which explores how 19 century watercolours helped shape our understanding of early Canadian history.

As with other types of visual culture – like maps or advertisements – artist books are often overlooked as a source on the past because archivists and researchers do not always recognize their potential. Brian Osborne believed strongly against this idea, arguing that “art should be regarded as documentation and an interpretation of the society of which it is a part and upon which it provides a commentary.” This is because artists can – and often do – act as acute observers capable of producing valuable commentaries on their surroundings, and the works they produce can be just as valuable as the written word to researchers.

Eva Marothy-Major is an art historian and archivist who specializes in Canadian art history. In her 1994 article, “The Place of Art in the Study of history,” she highlights how archivists and researchers have yet to learn how to properly use visual culture an historical source, and describes in lengthy detail the power of images.

Ten years later, the importance of art and artist books was still largely founded on their aesthetic value. According to Eva Marothy-Major, this is because more groundwork was needed to fully understand the extent of the information that artworks could provide on the past, and how said information could be used. Researchers needed to build a methodological approach to the analysis of artworks that factor in their limited objectivity. After all, all art was created with a specific function in mind and was aimed at a specific audience, and accordingly, must be understood as biased.

Recently, artist books (and other kinds of visual culture) have been acknowledged as important historical sources. Contemporary artists have a newfound interest in creating informed art that often provides a social-political commentary and integrates historical sources into their medium. Artists often seek out information that is not in-line with what more “traditional” researchers look for, leading them to uncover previously unknown information, and address or fill some of the holes in the gaps between records.

Kate Theimer is the author of the ArchivesNext blog, and is a speaker, chair, and commentator for archival programs at the national level, including Co-Chair of the Society of American Achivists’ Issues and Advocay Roundtable. In her 2014 article “The Role of Archives in a Digital Society: Now Is What Matters,” she writes about the evolving role and place of archives in society as we continue into the digital era.

Archival institutions have caught on to this interest, and are changing the way that their collections are accessed and being used to better engage with artists and other new researchers. By increasing the number of artist books in their collections, archival institutions are able to better communicate with their new users by offering them something familiar to analyse. In doing so, archives will also be better at engaging with their community and promoting a more comprehensive understanding of the past.

Artist Books - Historical Source