An exhibition of artists’ books from the 1940s to the present investigates what’s happening in this seductive hybrid genre, looking at the contrast between contemporary artists’ books and earlier volumes produced by artists such as Matisse (right) and Picasso. The show highlights the role of the relationship between publisher and artist and explores the place of the book in the work of contemporary and modern artists.
Books form an integral part of the oeuvre of some, such as Daniel Buren and Richard Long. Other artists have illustrated classic texts; an example in this show is Paula Rego’s brooding ‘Jane Eyre’ (2003). The exhibition’s title is literal as well as symbolic: real blood is incorporated in works by both Ed Ruscha and Anselm Kiefer; it’s also a feature of the works of photographers Peter Beard and Philip Blenkinsop. The exhibition underlines the fact that artists’ book is a difficult term to define but one that encompasses a huge range of delights. As Rowan Watson, co-curator with specialist art publisher Elena Foster, points out in his catalogue introduction, ‘In all their myriad formats, books continue as among the most potent means of artistic expression.’
