Words Folded In: Artists' Books and the Expressive Form

Discover more than 75 artists’ books and works on paper that reveal the surprise and delight of the ingenious fold.

To an artist who makes books, words are just the beginning. Possessing both meaning and visual form, words inspire artistic experimentation that alters the act of reading, making it sensory, aesthetic, dimensional. In Words Folded In, Marcia Reed explores a range of artists’ books and works on paper that use folds to reveal and conceal, direct attention, and bring text to life. Drawn largely from the renowned collection of rare books at the Getty Research Institute, these inventive works demonstrate how artists have explored the endless creative possibilities of the deceptively simple act of folding.

• Explores the evolution of artists’ imaginative designs from the traditional book to sculptural forms to activated pop-ups.
• Journeys across artistic movements, decades, and continents to discover connections among the 20th-century avant-garde, contemporary artists’ books, and prints, including posters and broadsides.
• Features works by artists such as Etel Adnan, Tauba Auerbach, André Breton, Johanna Drucker, Marcel Duchamp, Kikuji Kawada, Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., and Sol LeWitt.

Richly illustrated and full of unexpected visual pleasures, Words Folded In is a must-have for art lovers, designers, and collectors.