The Book as Art: Altered Albums

Online Exhibition

This exhibition features altered books, art objects created with existing printed books. 

H. Terry Braunstein, Egg-plant, 2002; Altered sculpted book and photomontage created from images found in magazines, 9 x 6 x 2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of the artist; © Terry Braunstein

Overview

Inspired by the 1,000+ collection of artists’ books at NMWA, this series of online exhibitions, organized by book format, introduces the boundless range of mediums, techniques, and topics artists explore to transform and reinvent books as we know them. Part of “The Book as Art,” a series of online exhibitions that introduces the boundless creativity artists use to transform and reinvent books as we know them.

What Is an Altered Book?

Altered books are art objects created with existing printed books. Artists transform books through varied techniques that may be additive (such as painting, collaging, or printing) or reductive (like carving, folding, or erasing). These processes reinforce or reinvent a book’s original meaning.

An artist book sits open on a grey background. The open pages reveal a collage filled with scenes of war: soldiers, barbed wire, and ammunition. A toy version of a military helicopter protrudes from the cover of the book.
Sandra Jackman, On a Darkling Plain, 2000; Painted and collaged paper, radio, helicopter, photograph, bottle, and iron stand, 9 1/2 x 17 x 17 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of H.G. Spencer in honor of Lorraine Grace; © Sandra Jackman

Mary Bennett

German Egypt

German Egypt is a vintage German-language book from the 1940s that Mary Bennett (b. 1944) altered without adding or subtracting anything. The illustrations on the endpapers, or the pages pasted to the cover boards, inspired the sculptural pyramidal shape. Bennett’s goal is to make new and wonderful creations from objects that have outlived their usefulness; to rescue books from landfills.

An open book with its pages intricately folded upward into a geometric, fan-like shape; illustrations are visible on the inside covers. The image is set against a plain, light background.
Mary Bennett, German Egypt (from the series "Travel"), 2002; Mixed media, 8 1/2 x 12 x 4 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Marc and Nancy Lumer; © Mary Bennett

Mary Perrin

Climbing the Walls

In Climbing the Walls, Mary Perrin (b. 1947) explores the frustrating experience of being housebound with small children. It reflects Perrin’s time as a young mother, when she was engulfed by the chores necessary to rear a family and left with little opportunity to create. She includes collage as a metaphor for “nesting”, one must search for and assemble just the right materials.

An open book displays an intricate collage of layered wooden houses and ladders arranged in a dense, overlapping composition that spans both pages. The background is neutral and unadorned.
Mary Perrin, Climbing the Walls, 2003; Altered book with paint, graphite and collage, 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 9 1/4 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of the artist; © Mary Perrin

Kerry Miller

Britain’s Birds and Their Nests

To make Britain’s Birds and Their Nests, Kerry Miller (b. 1957) dissected a discarded natural history book. She carved out the book’s pages and cut from them images of birds, which she then partially hand-colored and reassembled within the book’s cover. Miller’s dense arrangement of birds echoes their work as nest-builders and cacophonous communicators, characteristics notably shared by humans.

An open book full of birds made of paper, flying out of the book.
Kerry Miller, Britain's Birds and Their Nests, 2015; Mixed media hand-cut assemblage, 11 x 2 1/2 x 2 3/8 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Museum purchase: Funds provided by the Library Fellows of NMWA; © Kerry Miller

H. Terry Braunstein

Egg-Plant

Egg-Plant hatched when H. Terry Braunstein (b. 1942) was inspired by the poem “Eggplant Epithalamion” by Erica Jong (b. 1942). Traditionally, epithalama are poems honoring marriage. Jong’s eggplant represents the creative process and human womb, as it contains seeds for production. An old book became Braunstein’s seed; she carved cavities and collaged images to visualize conception.

An open book features surreal, collage-like illustrations of human figures, abstract shapes, and mythological scenes. The book stands upright with pages spread, revealing colorful, imaginative artwork inside.
H. Terry Braunstein, Egg-plant, 2002; Altered sculpted book and photomontage created from images found in magazines, 9 x 6 x 2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of the artist; © Terry Braunstein

Sandra Jackman

Sandra Jackman (b. 1937) combined found objects and paper engineering in On a Darkling Plain. Static emanates from a radio adhered to the book’s cover, as the action unfolds with pop-ups to display the drama of destruction. This book is part of the war-related art that Jackman has created since 1967. She notes that for most of her life, the U.S. has been involved in a military conflict.

An artist book sits open on a grey background. The open pages reveal a collage filled with scenes of war: soldiers, barbed wire, and ammunition. A toy version of a military helicopter protrudes from the cover of the book.
Sandra Jackman, On a Darkling Plain, 2000; Painted and collaged paper, radio, helicopter, photograph, bottle, and iron stand, 9 1/2 x 17 x 17 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of H.G. Spencer in honor of Lorraine Grace; © Sandra Jackman

M. L. Van Nice

Dinner with Mr. Dewey

In Dinner with Mr. Dewey, M. L. Van Nice (b. 1945) nods to the Dewey Decimal System of organizing books and a quote from 17th-century writer Francis Bacon: “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Call numbers, logical yet nonsensical, reveal a menu of astrology (130), the Bible (220), astronomy (520), food/drink (641), and meals/table service (642).

A photo of a still life of the remnants of a large meal. The half-eaten food is actually made of books that are sculpted to resemble fishbones, slices of pie, and other food scraps.
M. L. Van Nice, Dinner with Mr. Dewey, 2002; Mixed media, 32 x 42 x 20 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Museum purchase: Members' Acquisition Fund

Exhibition Sponsors

This online exhibition series is created with gratitude to Curator Emerita Krystyna Wasserman, who assembled the museum’s rich collection of artists’ books during her 30-year career.

Text is adapted from object labels from the special exhibition The Book as Art: Artists’ Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts (October 27, 2006, to February 4, 2007).

Inspired to teach someone how to create an artist’s book or to make one yourself? Check out NMWA’s Art, Books, and Creativity Curriculum.

Online exhibition team: Traci Christensen, Deborah L. Gaston, Adrienne L. Gayoso, Alicia Gregory, Ashley W. Harris, Mara Kurlandsky, Elizabeth Lynch, Adrienne Poon, and Emily Shaw.

Photos by Lee Stalsworth unless otherwise noted.