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A Century of Artists Books By Riva Castleman
This splendid celebration of the illustrated
book as an art form begins with remarkable works
produced in France by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
and Paul Gauguin at the end of the last century, and
traces the international development of the modern
illustrated book to the last decade of this century. It
includes notable works by major artists of the mod
ern movement — among them Marc Chagall, Henri
Matisse, and Pablo Picasso — who turned to the
"illumination" of poems, classical literature, or their
own writings to make books that are luxuriously
produced collectors' objects. Such limited editions
have continued to be created alongside other types
of artists' books aimed at a much larger audience.
The more available artists' book has served a differ
ent purpose, often expressing aesthetic and political
principles, in the hands of such artists as Kasimir
Malevich, Marcel Duchamp, Edward Ruscha, and
Joseph Beuys.
New York, offers authoritative historical back
ground on the art of the book. She considers the
complex relationships artists have had with publish
ers, authors, and printers; the constraints imposed by
physical materials and processes of bookmaking;
and recent dramatic changes in assumptions about
the book as a site of artistic creativity. Illustrations
include page spreads from 140 volumes, many in full
color, with comments and detailed bibliographic
information about each work.
York, that constitutes the most extensive and wide-
ranging survey of modern illustrated books to be
offered in many years, presenting work by artists
from Pierre Bonnard to Barbara Kruger and writers
from Guillaume Apollinaire to Susan Sontag. It is the
most complete survey in English on this subject and
an important reference for collectors and connois
seurs, as well as a delight for any lover of fine books.
A Century of Artists Books
A Century
Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York
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Published on the occasion of the exhibition ^ Century of Artists Books, organized
by Riva Castleman, Chief Curator, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books,
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 23, 1994—January 24, 1995.
This exhibition is supported in part by a grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts.
Produced by the Department of Publications
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Osa Brown, Director of Publications
Edited by Harriet Schoenholz Bee
Designed by Antony Drobinski,
Production by Marc Sapir
phers, New York, and Emsworth Design, Inc.
Printed by Stamperia Valdonega, Verona, Italy
Bound by Legatoria Torriani, Milan, Italy
Copyright © 1994 by
copyright cited in the Photograph Credits.
All rights reserved.
Number: 94-76019
ISBN 0-87070-152-5 (paperbound, MoMA)
ISBN 0-8109-6124-5 (clothbound, Abrams)
11 West 53 Street, New York, New York 10019
Clothbound edition distributed in the United
States and Canada by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,
New York, A Times Mirror Company
Clothbound edition distributed outside the
United States and Canada by
Thames & Hudson, Ltd., London
La Prose du Transsibenen et de la petite Jehanne de
France by Blaise Cendrars (Frederic-Louis
Sauser). Paris: Editions des Hommes Nouveaux
[Cendrars], 1913. Pochoir. 81 % x 14^" (207.4 x
36.2 cm), irreg. The Museum of Modern Art,
New York. Purchase (see plate 118)
Page 264: Detail of Le Cygne, from Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec. Histoires naturelles by Jules
Renard. Paris: H. Floury Editeur, 1899. Transfer
lithograph. 7% x 7%" (20 x 20.2 cm), irreg. The
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Louis E.
Stern Collection
||U|i||IU|
81 Plates
246 Bibliography
Foreword
This volume is published on the occasion of the first extensive exhibition to
focus on the Museum's extraordinary collection of books illustrated or wholly cre
ated by modern artists. Over the past thirty years the expansion of the collection has
followed the parallel increase of publications in this form by artists. This, then, is a
celebration of the history of the modern artist's book as exemplified by richly inven
tive and beautiful works included in the Museum's holdings with a few additional
examples from other distinguished collections.
A project of this scope could not have been realized without the support of
many individuals and organizations. An essential aspect was the thorough catalogu
ing of the Museum's book collection, which has been carried out during the past six
years with deeply appreciated assistance from Mrs. Arthur Stanton, Mrs. Donald B.
Straus, Philip A. Straus, The Cowles Charitable Trust, the National Endowment for
the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts. We are also most grateful to
Walter Bareiss, the Drue Heinz Foundation, and the National Endowment for the
Arts for grants which have aided this presentation of A Century of Artists Books.
We owe a large and very special debt of gratitude to Riva Castleman, who
conceived, planned, and directed the exhibition and this accompanying publication.
She has graciously and appropriately dedicated both to Monroe Wheeler, whose
early recognition of the illustrated book as a significant expression of modern art laid
the foundation for the Museum's outstanding role as a collector and exhibitor in this
field. The fact that most of this exhibition, representing a hundred years of artists'
books through superb and often rare examples, could be drawn from the Museum's
own holdings is impressive testimony to the dedication, care, and connoisseurship
with which she has expanded and shaped our collection of artists' books during more
than three decades at this institution — as a member of the Drawings and Prints
Department beginning in 1963 and subsequently as Director of the Department of
Prints and Illustrated Books since its inception in 1976. Her accomplishments in the
world of prints and her contributions in other program areas are equally notable,
and the present occasion is only the most recent manifestation of the professional
ism, knowledge, and perceptive eye which characterize every exhibition she orga
nizes. A Century of Artists Books is special, however, in offering the opportunity to
appreciate in high degree how greatly Riva Castleman has enriched the inheritance
she received from Wheeler and his colleagues and what a remarkable legacy of her
own achievements she will pass on to the next generation of curators entrusted with
this collection. On their behalf, as well as my own, I am happy for this occasion to
express to her our admiration and very warm thanks.
Richard E. Oldenburg
tion, a multitude of colleagues, collectors, publishers, and dealers assisted, advised,
and supported my research and helped to bring these endeavors to a successful con
clusion. They all deserve my most enthusiastic appreciation and heartfelt thanks.
At the outset, however, the following individuals must be accorded special recog
nition for their support and crucial contributions: Walter Bareiss, collector, con
noisseur, and longtime donor to the Museum's collection; Robert Rainwater,
Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Librarian of Art, Prints, and Photographs and Curator
of the Spencer Collection of the New York Public Library, who graciously brought
his considerable knowledge on the subject to reviewing my manuscript; and Gerald
Cramer, John Fleming, Lucien Goldschmidt, and Warren Howell — four illustrious
members of the commercial world of books, who inspired my own love of the book
but died before I could demonstrate my profoundest gratitude in this form.
In addition, while the collections of many esteemed institutions were made
available to me for research, the opportunity I was given as a Visiting Scholar at the
Resource Collections of the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humani
ties, Santa Monica, was an invaluable occasion to organize a wealth of material and
my thoughts about artists' books.
Other friends and colleagues to whom sincere thanks are owed are: Daisy
Aldan; Charles Altschul; Andrew Hoyem, Arion Press; John Ashbery; Brigitte
Baer; Dr. Karl Dachs, Dr. Elmar Hertrich, and Dr. Beatrice Hernad, Der Baye-
rischen Staatsbibliothek, Munich; Pierre Beres; Loriano Bertini; Antoine Coron,
Conservateur a la Reserve des Imp rimes, Bibliotheque Nationale de France;
Fran^oise Woimant, Conservateur en Chef du Departement des Estampes, Biblio
theque Nationale de France; Timothy A. Eaton, Curator, Boca Raton Museum of
Art; Elaine Lustig Cohen; Marilyn Symmes, Curator of Drawings and Prints,
Cooper Hewitt Museum, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Design,
New York; Patrick Cramer; Francois Chapon, Bibliotheque Litteraire Jacques
Doucet, Paris; Harriett Watts, Associate Director, Lyonel Feininger Galerie,
Quedlinburg; Rainer Michael Mason, Conservateur, Cabinet des Estampes du
Museed'Art etd'Histoire, Geneva; Donald Anderle, Assistant Director, J. M. Edel-
stein, Senior Bibliographer and Resource Coordinator, and Marcia Reed, Special
Collections Curator of Rare Books, The Resource Collections of the Getty Center
for the History of Art and the Humanities, Santa Monica; Sabine Solf, Leiterin des
Forschungs und Kulturbereichs, Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbiittel; Kimball
E. Higgs, Cataloguer, The Grolier Club; Anne Anninger, Philip Hofer Curator of
Printing and Graphic Arts, and Eleanor Garvey, Philip Hofer Curator Emeritus
of Printing and Graphic Arts, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge;
Ralph Jentsch; Gunnar Kaldewey; E. W. Kornfeld and Christine E. Stauffer,
Galerie Kornfeld und Cie, Bern; Emmanuel Benador, Jan Krugier Gallery, New
York; Maurice Jardot, Galerie Leiris, Paris; Helmut Friedel, Director, and Annegret
Hoberg, Curator, Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; Sid Shiff, Limited
Editions Club; Kenneth Lohf; Jean-Francois Meijanes, Conservateur, Cabinet des
Dessins, Musee du Louvre, Paris; William S. Lieberman, Chairman, Department of
Twentieth-Century Art, and Colta Ives, Curator, Departments of Drawings and
Prints, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Isabel Monod-Fontaine, Conser
vateur, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris; Anna Lou Ashby, Associate Curator
of Printed Books and Bindings, The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; Andrew
Robison, Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C.; Francis O. Mattson, Curator of the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection,
Virginia Bartow, R.are Book Curator, Roberta Waddell, Curator of Prints, and Mar
garet Glover, Librarian, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foun
dations; Ben Shiff, Osiris, New York; Michael Owen; Carlo Bella, Pace Prints, New
York; Innis H. Shoemaker, Senior Curator, Prints, Drawings, and Photographs,
Philadelphia Museum of Art; Elizabeth Phillips; Anatole Pohorilenko; John Russell;
Dr. and Mrs. Marvin Sackner; Lawrence Saphire; Mary C. Schlosser; Ulrike Gauss,
Leiterin, Graphische Sammlung Staatsgalerie Stuttgart; Carlton Lake, Executive
Curator, Linda Ashton, Assistant Curator, and Debra R. Armstrong-Morgan, Reg
istrar, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at
Austin; Christine Swenson, Curator of Graphic Arts, The Toledo Museum of Art;
William Goldston, Universal Limited Art Editions; Gerrard White; May Castleberry,
Editor, "Artists and Writers Series," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York;
Mrs. William Wolgin; Richard Field, Curator, Department of Prints and Drawings,
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; Tony Zwicker.
Over the many years since the Louis E. Stern Collection of illustrated
books arrived at The Museum of Modern Art, there have been numerous members
of the Museum's curatorial staff who have worked with the Museum's book collec
tion. Among these, I particularly wish to acknowledge Deborah Wye, Curator in
the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, and Kynaston McShine, Senior
Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture, both of whom have written
catalogues including them and have brought a considerable number of works into
the collection. I have benefited greatly from their experience and expertise, and also
from that of Clive Phillpot, former Director of the Library, who made the Museum
a major resource of the Artist's Book.
Both the exhibition and this publication are the result of the dedicated work
and rigorous intelligence of the following individuals, mostly members of the Muse
um's staff, to whom the preponderance of my gratitude belongs. In the Department
of Prints and Illustrated Books, Starr Figura, Curatorial Assistant, did most of my
work and hers, perfectly; Carol Smith, Research Assistant, devoted such care in
cataloguing the Museum's illustrated book collection that it was possible to under-
8
take this project; and Audrey Isselbacher, former Associate Curator, assured the
accuracy of the cataloguing. For this intricate publication, I wish to thank Harriet
Schoenholz Bee, Managing Editor in the Department of Publications, who bril
liantly improved my phrases and pages while leaving their messages intact; Antony
Drobinski, of Emsworth Design, Inc., this book's splendid designer, who mastered
the narrow line between classic purity and modern accessibility; and Marc Sapir,
Assistant Production Manager. I sincerely appreciate the thorough contribution of
Daniel Starr, Associate Librarian and always the consummate bibliographer. For
the exhibition, I am especially grateful to Jerome Neuner, Director of Exhibition
Production and Design, who organized the display of the material with the skill and
fine eye of a magician; Barbara London, Assistant Curator, Department of Film and
Video, whose research led to video presentations of complete books; and Nestor
Montilla, Assistant Registrar and caretaking manager of the many valuable loans.
Thanks are also owed these members of the Museum's staff: Sue B. Dorn,
former Deputy Director for Development and Public Affairs; James S. Snyder,
Deputy Director for Planning and Program Support; Charles Danziger, former
Assistant General Counsel; Wendy Weitman, Associate Curator, Alyson Shotz,
Senior Cataloguer, and Frances Nicosia, Executive Secretary, Department of
Prints and Illustrated Books; Terence Riley, Chief Curator, Matilda McQuaid,
Assistant Curator, and Christopher Mount, Curatorial Assistant, Department of
Architecture and Design; Magdalena Dabrowski, Senior Curator, Department
of Drawings; Peter Galassi, Chief Curator, and Virginia Dodier, Study Center
Supervisor, Department of Photography; Rona Roob, Museum Archivist; Janis
Ekdahl, Assistant Director, and Eumie Imm, Associate Librarian, the Library;
Richard L. Palmer, Coordinator, and Eleni Cocordas, Associate Coordinator, Exhi
bition Program; Antoinette King, Director, Karl Buchberg, Conservator, Patricia
Houlihan, Associate Conservator, and Erika Mosier, Mellon Intern, Department of
Conservation; Diane Farynyk, Registrar, and Meryl Cohen, Associate Registrar;
John L.Wielk, Manager, Exhibition and Project Funding, and Rebecca Stokes,
Grants Assistant, Department of Development; Jessica Schwartz, Director, and
Rynn Williams, Press Representative, Department of Public Information; Osa
Brown, Director, and Kim Tyner, Executive Secretary, Department of Publications;
Mikki Carpenter, Director, Photographic Services and Permissions; Kate Keller,
Chief Fine Arts Photographer, and Mali Olatunji, Fine Arts Photographer; and
Michael Hentges, Director of Graphics.
My final words of thanks are to the Committee on Prints and Illustrated
Books, its Chairman, Joanne M. Stern, and Vice Chairman, Jeanne C. Thayer, for
their loyal and generous support, and to Richard E. Oldenburg, the Museum's
Director for the past two decades, for his leadership and enthusiastic encouragement
of this and the many other projects I have undertaken during his notable tenure.
Riva Castleman
A Century of Artists Books
For the past three decades exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art
have included small selections from the Louis E. Stern Collection of illustrated
books, which was presented to the Museum by the executors of Stern's estate in
1964. For the most part, the contents of the present survey are taken from that col
lection, which was itself formed under the influence of other surveys, particularly
a singularly historic exhibition organized by Monroe Wheeler. The Museum of
Modern Art and all who admire and cherish modern artists' books are, therefore,
greatly in his debt for revealing their beauty and importance more than fifty years ago.
Monroe Wheeler, to whom this book and the exhibition it accompanies are
dedicated, was director of publications and exhibitions at the Museum. Since his
youth in Evanston, Illinois, he had published poetry. During the late 1920s and
early 1930s, under his own imprint, Harrison of Paris (occasionally called by the
names of additional backers, but never by his), he was able to design and publish
several beautiful books, including Alexander…