The artists' book occupies its own place in visual art. A story in images, unique (a 'one-off') or in a small edition (so-called 'multiples').
Artist's books appear in a wide variety of forms: scrolls, pop-up books, harmonica books, loose leaves together in a box, leporello, or in the classic form with (sometimes hand) bound pages. Usually published in-house.
Artists have been making artists' books for centuries. Well-known examples from the Middle Ages are the Celtic 'Book of Kells' and the 'Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry' with richly colored illustrations. The most famous and perhaps the first artist's book was made by the British poet and artist William Blake, 'Songs of Innocence and of Experience'.
From the 20th century onwards, the artist's book takes on an increasingly free form, artists from all kinds of disciplines are experimenting with the medium a lot. Integrate text, image and form. The original purely informative function of the book disappears, the book becomes a work of art itself.
In the exhibition you can see unique items as well as mutiples:
Mirjam Beuker, Noor van der Brugge, Etta Boerkoel, Bep van Delden, Bas Fontein, Emmy Gostelie, Jeanet Kingma, Max Kisman, Caroline Koenders, Ellen Korth, Henny Overbeek, Andre Pielage, Cisca Poldervaart, Beatrijs Rümke, the roofprint press / Leni van de Berg, Herma Steur, Jep van der Ven, Lies Verdenius, Ans Verdijk and Marjolijn de Wit.