Artist Books

Artist Books

Artist books, in the most general sense, are books made by artists, and intended as works of art. This practice arose in the early twentieth century, initially engineered by entrepreneurs such as Ambrose Vollard and David Henry Kahnweiler, who commissioned books from artists including Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, Georges Rouault, André Derain. These livres d’artistes, as they were known, feature etchings and lithographs, often accompanied by text from prominent writers. This medium was later adopted by various avant-garde groups, such as the Dadaists, the Constructivists, and the Surrealists, who created innovative works that pushed the boundaries of the form. The Rare Books Collection has endeavoured to collect representative examples of artist books that reflect the development of this art form, from pioneering livres d’artistes through to works by contemporary Australian artists.

Exhibited works

  • Book on white tabletop, open to double page spread, featuring red and black graphic elements

    Jasper Johns (artist)
    United States of America, 1930-
    Samuel Beckett (author)
    Ireland, 1906-1989

    Foirades / Fizzles, 1976
    Lift-ground aquatints, five etchings with mixed media, one soft-ground etching and one aquatint
    First edition
    London, Paris, New York: Editions de Minuit and Petersburg Press S.A.

    Rare Books Collection
    Purchased through the Ivy M. Pendlebury Bequest in memory of Gerard Frederic Pendlebury, 2023

    Samuel Beckett and Jasper Johns are towering figures in their respective fields. Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature, and Johns’ work is recognised as central to post-war American art. This collaboration was conceived in 1972 by Vera Lindsay, editor at Petersburg Press. The following year, Johns and Beckett met in Paris, and agreed to work together on Foirades / Fizzles, a series of prose fragments Beckett had written in French in the early 1960s. These brief, disembodied monologues about disintegration and isolation represent Beckett’s late minimalist style. The project proceeded on the understanding that Johns would be given free rein to design the book, and to select which of Beckett’s ‘fizzles’ would feature in both French and English versions. The result testifies to the creative potential of artists from different disciplines coming together to push the boundaries of their respective art forms.

  • Large cream rectangular double page book featuring red graphic elements

    George Matoulas (artist)
    Australia, 1966-
    Peter Lyssiotis (author)
    Cyprus, 1949-

    Bridge, 2021
    Lithographs, screenprints
    Melbourne, Victoria: Masterthief [and] Messofapress

    Rare Books Collection
    Purchased through the Ivy M. Pendlebury Bequest in memory of Gerard Frederic Pendlebury, 2020

    Comprising text in both English and Greek, accompanied by lithographic illustrations, Bridge was initially conceived as a reimagining of Le Chants des Morts [The Song of the Dead], a celebrated artist book created by Surrealist poet Pierre Reverdy and Pablo Picasso in 1948. Lyssiotis is a Cypriot born artist, photographer and writer, whose parents emigrated to Australia in 1953; Matoulas, born in Melbourne to Greek parents, is a painter, printmaker, and prominent publisher of artists’ books. Departing from Reverdy and Picasso’s original themes, which responded to World War II, Lyssiotis and Matoulas set their book in Mavrovouni, Cyprus, home to both the Holy Monastery of Ayios George and a military checkpoint. They use the intersection of spiritual and state power as a means of interrogating ideas of homeland, their ancestry, and their parents’ lives.

  • Paroles peintes II, 1965
    Etchings, lithographs and printed text
    Paris Editions O. Lazar-Vernet

    Rare Books Collection
    Purchased through the Ivy M. Pendlebury Bequest in memory of Gerard Frederic Pendlebury, 2022

    One of a series of books published in Paris under the direction of French publisher Odette Lazar-Vernet, the aim of the Paroles Peintes series was to pair the work of contemporary poets with leading artists, a trademark feature of French livres d’artistes. This second book in the series features fifteen etchings and lithographs by prominent European artists, including Alberto Giacometti, Hans Arp, and Jean Fautrier, whose work sits alongside the work of French poets Alain Bosquet, Christian Dotremont, Alain Jouffroy, Yves de Bayser, and others.

    The illustrations on display in this exhibition include those by Portuguese-born artist Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, the first woman ever to be awarded the French Government’s Grand Prix Nationale des Arts in 1966; Cuban artist Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla, whose paintings and prints meshed Surrealist imagery with Afro-Cuban themes; and Italian artist Enrico Baj, best known for his use of mixed media, and for his collages on political themes.