Artists' Books - Critical Issues and Debate

Critical Issues and Debate

A number of issues around the artist's book have been vigorously debated. Some of the major themes under examination have been:

  1. Definition of the artist's book: distinguishing between the terms 'artist's book', 'book art', 'bookworks', 'livre d'artiste', fine press books, etc.
  2. Where the artist's book "should" be situated in relation to Craft and Fine Art traditions.
  3. Where to put the apostrophe.
  4. When is a magazine a book? Some examples of "artists' books" provided on this page (such as Theo van Doesburg's De Stijl) are magazines and not books at all.

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