This guide provides information about the George Shortess Artists’ Books Collection held by Lehigh’s Special Collections. In this guide there is general information about artists’ books, a brief look at the materials in the collection, resources for further research on artists’ books, and also an overview of how to access the collection.
"Books are a uniquely portable magic." – Stephen King
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Images of works in the collection:
What do we mean when we say “artists’ book”? A simple way to think about artists’ books is: art in the form of a book.
One definition comes from the Smithsonian Institute’s blog on Artists’ Books, “an artist’s book is a medium of artistic expression that uses the form or function of ‘book’ as inspiration. It is the artistic initiative seen in the illustration, choice of materials, creation process, layout and design that makes it an art object.”
The use of the form of the book allows artists to work with the confines of the medium, but be creative in the content. Artists who create artists’ books play with the medium, question the standards and create an artifact that is both within and outside the boundaries of a traditional book.
Another definition to highlight comes from Printed Matter, a non-profit organization “dedicated to the dissemination, understanding and appreciation of artists’ books.” They define an artists’ book as, “the artists’ book invites us to hold it and turn through its pages. Whether the contents are visually or linguistically based…the interplay of text and images, as well as considerations of printing process and the design of the book, allows for many exciting possibilities within narrative, media, and meaning that are specific to the artists’ book alone.”
The concept of an artists’ book is difficult to pin down into words, but that comes with the territory of artwork. Hard to define in language, but better understood by viewing and interacting with the art.
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