In 2018, the Turin gallerist Liliana Dematteis decided to entrust her precious collection of artists’ books to the Thomas J. Watson Library of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The volume ‘On collecting artists’ books’ pays homage to this important collection, born from Dematteis’ experience as a scholar, publisher, and director of the Martano Gallery. It proposes a comparison between Italian and American artists who were engaged in this practice, between the 1960s and the ‘70s. Indeed, in both countries different artistic movements have seen in this commonly used object not only an alternative and effective vehicle of content, but also a stimulating ground for experimentation.

This selection of volumes, which compares some of the most emblematic books of Arte Povera, Minimal art, Performance art, Fluxus and Visual Poetry, is edited by Melania Gazzotti, and is introduced by texts by Liliana Dematteis, Giorgio Di Domenico, Ken Soehner, and Tony White. -Publisher