Voice of the Artist: Artist Books from the Permanent Collection

Throughout its 75-year history, the Museum has presented contemporary art in all media, including the book arts. In 1983, the Museum organized At Home, an exhibition that included artists’ books by women created between 1970 and 1983. In 2009, Novel Constructions—Artists Create Monumental Books explored books as sculptural installations and included works by Genie Shenk and Carol Shaw-Sutton, both of whom are represented in the Ocean View Gallery. In 2019, the Museum presented The Artful Book of the California Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, and it continues this tradition with The California Effect.

Voice of the Artist highlights a selection of artists’ books from the Museum’s permanent collection. It touches on the history of the medium, from the livre d’artiste exemplified by Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, to contemporary offset-printed codex forms such as Barbara Kruger’s My Pretty Pony. Artists continue to expand the definition of the book through unconventional materials, like the tar paper in Genie Shenk’s Ring or the carved wood of Suvan Geer’s Author, Author? Unstill Poetry. The exhibition features a variety of forms, including traditional codex forms, accordion books, and a pop-up sculpture by Paul Johnson. The Museum gratefully acknowledges the generous support of a donor-collector Museum member, who anonymously provided both the exhibition and the video revealing more of the books’ interiors.

Image:
Barbara Kruger in collaboration with Stephen King, My Pretty Pony, 1988, Off-set print on paper, Anonymous gift 94.10