Author(s): Giorgio Maffei

Graphic Design

This succinct catalogue features wonderful cover and interior spread reproductions of a selection of the most important and influential artist's books of the twentieth century. Beginning with Stephane Mallarme's 1914 Un Coup de Des Jamais N'Abolira le Hasard, now yellowed and slightly frayed around the edges, it includes works by Kokoschka, Kandinsky, Marinetti and other Futurists, Constructivists like El Lissitzky and such Dadaists as Schwitters, Tzara, Ernst and Duchamp. Photo experimentation by Maholy-Nagy is followed by Matisse's Jazz. There are Fluxus books by aa.vv., Daniel Spoerri and George Maciunas, mid-60s offerings by Ettore Sottsass, Dieter Roth and Andy Warhol, and Minimalist and Conceptual works by Carl Andre, Lawrence Weiner, Allan Kaprow, Vito Acconci and Bruce Nauman, followed by Arte Povera books and others from the 80s and 90s. Includes a gem-like illustrated bibliographies for all genres of artist's books, from the Futurists to books on typography.