UWM Special Collections - "The Photograph as Book"

"The Photograph as Book," an exhibit of experimental books, final class projects, and a collaborative artists’ book by students in the first UWM course on photographic books offered by Professor Leslie Bellavance, head of the photography area in the Department of Visual Art, and a successful book artist herself, was on view in the Library Lobby and in the Special Collections Reading Room through October 31, 1999. An exhibit reception was held in Special Collections on the fourth floor of the Golda Meir Library, September 30, 1999, 5:00 - 7:00 pm. The reception was free and open to the public.

In the Spring Semester of 1999, Professor Bellavance’s Photography III class was devoted to the investigation of experimental book forms using photography along with other media. The primary focus was on the notion of experimental "artists books," where the book functions as an artwork in and of itself, rather than as a vehicle for representation of artwork produced in other media. From William Henry Talbot’s ground breaking The Pencil of Nature in the 1840s, to Ed Ruscha’s conceptual Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1966), photographic artists’ books have had a long and rich tradition. Students in the Photography III class were able to draw inspiration from the collection of artists’ books housed in Special Collections at the Golda Meir Library. Works on display represent a selection of student work, including experimental scroll books and single-page folded book forms; individual book projects; and a beautifully produced collaborative artists’ book, Scavenger Hunt, which has been presented to the Golda Meir Library as part of Special Collections’ permanent artists’ book collection.

The image above, a silver gelatin print with a body ring mounted on a metal box, is from Dan Bishop's 1999 artist's book, I.