Europe to America: A Shift In Power 1955-1970

The fifteen-year period covered by the books in this gallery chronicles the gradual yet definitive shift in which Europe lost its prominence in artists’ books and America emerged as a new creative centre. There was a certain inevitability as any of the great European artists and publishers passed from the scene. However, this loss of energy and influence also mirrored what was happening in the contemporary art world as its centre shifted from Paris to New York. In the United States publishers such as Tatyana Grossman of Universal Limited Art Editions determinedly engaged the greatest American artists and writers of the period in the creation of dynamic publications. In addition, the inventive use of technology was in evidence in Los Angeles with the publication of Gemini G.E.L and the often self-published and inexpensive “bookworks” of Ed Ruscha.