The Artist in the 20th Century

Some of the art movements of the 20th century used the artist's book as a means of expression. These movements included; Cubism, Russian and Italian Futurism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Dada, Lettrism, Fluxus, Pop Art, Conceptualism, Minimalism, The Women's Art Movement and Post Modernism.

I think the artists are attracted to the book as a form of artistic expression because very famous artists were often published here in this medium. Also because the book was so free of restrictive conformist formats. One could create practically what they liked within the book.

The form is popular with some galleries because they were in essence art.
The relationship between the printing industry and book artists shared at times a practice in fine printing. And whilst book art didn't conform to fine printing, they exhibited at times high qualities of work and practice that fell within this realm.
The techniques that artists used in creating artists books was widely carried. Covering numerous art movements gives an indication of the styles and mediums used. One could etch, print, hand colour, block print, draw, sketch..... the techniques utilised were endless.

Artist's books are not like regular books, they follow no set of guidelines and in saying this, this is a factor that affects the sale of the books. They are not mass produced or replicated as a livre d'artiste book.