Andrew Lambirth

Presentation over content

<strong>Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book</strong><br /> <em>V&A, until 29 June</em>

issue 17 May 2008

Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book
V&A, until 29 June

The partnership between the written word and the visual image has a long and distinguished history. Leaving aside the pictographic tradition and the fertile area of calligraphy, the first artists’ books must date from the modern period when artists began to grow ever more independent and self-confident. Although it could never be said that Leonardo or Piero della Francesca lacked self-confidence, it should be remembered that they functioned within a culture which recognised the position of artists primarily as craftsmen who were employed to fulfil a need — mostly in the domain of religious imagery, and increasingly in that of secular portraiture. Artists were not then paid to indulge themselves in orgies of self-expression. There was a Madonna to be painted or a rich patron to be portrayed.

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