About

In 1985 I came across Liz Vels’ hand-made book-shaped object on the Cape Town Triennial exhibition, South Africa. I found this object intriguing as I had not expected to find a book in an art exhibition. This book, however, contained no text (at least not on the pages exhibited) and for the first time I saw the potential of the book as an art object. The book itself challenged my expectations further in that it did not conform to what I considered the conventions of the medium: it was obviously a book, but one without text.

My decision to research the book as an artwork was made when I viewed Selected Poems 1961 – 1991. This book was a collaborative effort between the poet Patrick Cullinan; the artist Judith Mason, who produced the illuminations and illustrations; Mark Attwood, who hand printed the book; Bruce Attwood, who made the wooden cover boards and Johan Maree who bound the book.

After having been introduced to Jack Ginsberg and his extraordinary collection of artists’ books I was invited by Steven Sack, then of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, to curate the first exhibition of artists’ books ever to be held in South Africa. A significant portion of Jack’s collection formed the basis of the exhibition to which I added a number of local works which I was uncovering and researching at the time. Artists’ Books in the Ginsberg Collection became one of the largest exhibitions of its kind in the world when it opened in 1996.

This site was launched to coincide with the opening of the exhibition Navigating the Bookscape: Artists’ Books and the Digital Interface at the 2006 Aardklop Arts Festival, Potchefstroom and since then, other research projects around the book-as-an-artwork have been undertaken and the resultant exhibitions, book-objects as well as related textual research are included here.

New to the site is The Bibliography of The Jack Ginsberg Collection on Artists’ Books, which is an index to thousands of printed items (books, scholarly texts, catalogues, pamphlets, tracts etc.) on artists' books, collected by Jack Ginsberg over the last forty-five years. I am certain that this bibliography will be of great interest to collectors, librarians and scholars of the artist’s book.

This project is partially funded through subsidies received from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHET) for articles published in accredited journals.

David Paton January 2013

Jack Ginsberg

Jack has been collecting books all his life and during the last forty years, has created an internationally renowned collection of artists’ books. Jack’s passion for and knowledge of the book-arts field has made him internationally known and respected. His collection, unique on the African continent, is visited by artists, scholars and bibliophiles from all over the world. His knowledge, passion and collection constitute the heart of this website, the exhibitions held in this country as well as the impetus for on-going research into the artist’s book in South Africa. Jack is also a founding patron of The Ampersand Foundation (TAF) which supports South African artists and those working in the visual arts to spend time on residency in New York.

David Paton

David is a senior lecturer in the Department of Visual Art, University of Johannesburg. In 2000, he completed a master's degree entitled: South African Artists’ Books and Book-objects since 1960. He and Jack curated the first exhibition of artists’ books ever held in South Africa titled: Artists’ Books From the Ginsberg Collection held at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1996, then purportedly the second largest exhibition of artists’ books ever staged in the world. His interest in artists' books is the impetus for this website. David makes art across a wide range of media including printmaking and artists' books. He also produces textual research and curates exhibitions on artists' books, their theoretical underpinnings and their digital interfaces.

Rosalind Cleaver

Ros has a master’s degree in Fine Art from the University of Johannesburg, lecturers in Fine Art studio practice and is an artist across a wide range of media and forms, including artists’ books. Ros has been the senior research assistant on this project since its inception working with the website database, the Ginsberg Archive on Artists’ Books and the Ginsberg Collection of Artists’ Books.

Peter Dennis

In 1997 Peter established Logos Flow developing software and website solutions. Peter is the webmaster and designer of this site, whose unique software powers the databases of this site.