1. Schwitters Arp Gottfried Boehm

    Schwitters Arp

    Gottfried Boehm
  2. Every Thing Design Glenn Adamson The great Dutch book designer Irma Boom designed this handsome, hefty gem, which features 700 prints, posters and other objects from the collection of Zurich’s Gestaltung Museum. It is a collection renowned worldwide for its unsurpassed holdings of design masterpieces: Ettore Sottsass’s iconic red “Valentine” typewriter from 1969, Paul Rand’s 1950 poster for the film No Way Out, as well as graphic works by Toulouse-Lautrec and El Lissitzky, and a range of works by Richard Paul Lohse, Harry Bertoia, Willy Guhl, Makoto Saito, FHK Henrion and many other great designers. Founded in 1875, the museum’s collection focuses on twentieth-century mass-manufactured products, comprising over 10,000 objects and 20,000 examples of packaging, from famous designs to anonymous everyday objects; a graphics collection containing over 100,000 items from around the world, dating from the fifteenth century to the present; a collection of 300,000 posters and an applied arts collection, showcasing work from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that covers the overlap between industrial manufacturing, design and art. With beautiful, full-page spreads, Every Thing Design, like the Gestaltung Museum itself, expands our conceptions of what design is, unpacking how a designed object is perceived and how this perception changes over time. It examines the criteria museums use for acquisition, and how the objects’ significance and value are established. The result is a surprising reconsideration of trends, production techniques and public reception.

    Every Thing Design

    Glenn Adamson

    The great Dutch book designer Irma Boom designed this handsome, hefty gem, which features 700 prints, posters and other objects from the collection of Zurich’s Gestaltung Museum. It is a collection renowned worldwide for its unsurpassed holdings of design masterpieces: Ettore Sottsass’s iconic red “Valentine” typewriter from 1969, Paul Rand’s 1950 poster for the film No Way Out, as well as graphic works by Toulouse-Lautrec and El Lissitzky, and a range of works by Richard Paul Lohse, Harry Bertoia, Willy Guhl, Makoto Saito, FHK Henrion and many other great designers. Founded in 1875, the museum’s collection focuses on twentieth-century mass-manufactured products, comprising over 10,000 objects and 20,000 examples of packaging, from famous designs to anonymous everyday objects; a graphics collection containing over 100,000 items from around the world, dating from the fifteenth century to the present; a collection of 300,000 posters and an applied arts collection, showcasing work from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that covers the overlap between industrial manufacturing, design and art. With beautiful, full-page spreads, Every Thing Design, like the Gestaltung Museum itself, expands our conceptions of what design is, unpacking how a designed object is perceived and how this perception changes over time. It examines the criteria museums use for acquisition, and how the objects’ significance and value are established. The result is a surprising reconsideration of trends, production techniques and public reception.
  3. Design Research Unit: 1942-72 Michelle Cotton In the same way that the Helvetica font graphically defined the New York City subway system, the Design Research Unit visually branded the London we know today in everything from its street signs to such corporate identities as British Rail. Design Research Unit: 1942-72 details the history of the Unit and includes contemporary perspectives by artists, designers and critics.

    Design Research Unit: 1942-72

    Michelle Cotton

    In the same way that the Helvetica font graphically defined the New York City subway system, the Design Research Unit visually branded the London we know today in everything from its street signs to such corporate identities as British Rail. Design Research Unit: 1942-72 details the history of the Unit and includes contemporary perspectives by artists, designers and critics.
  4. Life Sentences: Literary Judgments and Accounts William H Gass A dazzling new collection of essays—on reading, writing, form, and thought—from one of America’s master writers. It begins with the personal, both past and present. It emphasizes Gass’s lifelong attachment to books and moves on to the more analytical, as he ponders the work of some of his favorite writers (among them Kafka, Nietzsche, Henry James, Gertrude Stein, Proust). He writes about a few topics equally burning but less loved (the Nobel Prize–winner and Nazi sympathizer Knut Hamsun; the Holocaust). Finally, Gass ponders theoretical matters connected with literature: form and metaphor, and specifically, one of its genetic parts—the sentence.

    Life Sentences: Literary Judgments and Accounts

    William H Gass

    A dazzling new collection of essays—on reading, writing, form, and thought—from one of America’s master writers. It begins with the personal, both past and present. It emphasizes Gass’s lifelong attachment to books and moves on to the more analytical, as he ponders the work of some of his favorite writers (among them Kafka, Nietzsche, Henry James, Gertrude Stein, Proust). He writes about a few topics equally burning but less loved (the Nobel Prize–winner and Nazi sympathizer Knut Hamsun; the Holocaust). Finally, Gass ponders theoretical matters connected with literature: form and metaphor, and specifically, one of its genetic parts—the sentence.
  5. Art and Social Change: A Critical Reader Charles Esche The relationship between art and social and political change is not only a highly topical area of current debate, it is also fundamental to the history of modern art. This volume gathers together for the first time the essential texts that have defined this area since the late nineteenth century. Using primary sources, case studies, and new commissions, Art and Social Change provides an overview of the historical development of art with ideas of social and political change, from utopian imaginings to active engagement. Incorporating artists’ writings and public statements, as well as critical and theoretical texts, the volume also highlights developments outside established Western art history.

    Art and Social Change: A Critical Reader

    Charles Esche

    The relationship between art and social and political change is not only a highly topical area of current debate, it is also fundamental to the history of modern art. This volume gathers together for the first time the essential texts that have defined this area since the late nineteenth century. Using primary sources, case studies, and new commissions, Art and Social Change provides an overview of the historical development of art with ideas of social and political change, from utopian imaginings to active engagement. Incorporating artists’ writings and public statements, as well as critical and theoretical texts, the volume also highlights developments outside established Western art history.
  6. Guy de Cointet Marie de Brugerolle Mentor to a generation of Californian Conceptualists and performance artists, Guy de Cointet (1934-1983) took language as a material from which to generate drawings, plays and performances. De Cointet collected phrases, words and even single letters culled from popular culture and literary sources, and scripted them as dialogues or props for plays inspired by the writings and homonymic compositional methods of Raymond Roussel: in the 1976 play At Sunrise… A Cry Was Heard, for example, a large painting depicting letters bisected by a white sash provides the dialogue of the lead actress, who recites its jumble of letters as if it were ordinary conversation. His drawings were often generated by geometric erasures of found text, leaving behind Concrete-style abstract patterns. A formative figure for Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy during his tenure at the Otis Art institute, de Cointet is today in the process of being rediscovered; this timely monograph is the first overview of his enigmatic and influential oeuvre.

    Guy de Cointet

    Marie de Brugerolle

    Mentor to a generation of Californian Conceptualists and performance artists, Guy de Cointet (1934-1983) took language as a material from which to generate drawings, plays and performances. De Cointet collected phrases, words and even single letters culled from popular culture and literary sources, and scripted them as dialogues or props for plays inspired by the writings and homonymic compositional methods of Raymond Roussel: in the 1976 play At Sunrise… A Cry Was Heard, for example, a large painting depicting letters bisected by a white sash provides the dialogue of the lead actress, who recites its jumble of letters as if it were ordinary conversation. His drawings were often generated by geometric erasures of found text, leaving behind Concrete-style abstract patterns. A formative figure for Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy during his tenure at the Otis Art institute, de Cointet is today in the process of being rediscovered; this timely monograph is the first overview of his enigmatic and influential oeuvre.
  7. Project Japan: Metabolism Talks Rem Koolhaas Between 2005 and 2011, architect Rem Koolhaas and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist interviewed the surviving members of Metabolism—the first non-western avant-garde, launched in Tokyo in 1960, in the midst of Japan’s postwar miracle. Project Japan features hundreds of never-before-seen images—master plans from Manchuria to Tokyo, intimate snapshots of the Metabolists at work and play, architectural models, magazine excerpts, and astonishing sci-fi urban visions—telling the 20th century history of Japan through its architecture, from the tabula rasa of a colonized Manchuria in the 1930s to a devastated Japan after the war, the establishment of Metabolism at the 1960 World Design Conference in Tokoy, to the rise of Kisho Kurokawa as the first celebrity architect, to the apotheosis of Metabolism at Expo ’70 in Osaka and its expansion into the Middle East and Africa in the 1970s. The result is a vivid documentary of the last moment when architecture was a public rather than a private affair.

    Project Japan: Metabolism Talks

    Rem Koolhaas

    Between 2005 and 2011, architect Rem Koolhaas and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist interviewed the surviving members of Metabolism—the first non-western avant-garde, launched in Tokyo in 1960, in the midst of Japan’s postwar miracle. Project Japan features hundreds of never-before-seen images—master plans from Manchuria to Tokyo, intimate snapshots of the Metabolists at work and play, architectural models, magazine excerpts, and astonishing sci-fi urban visions—telling the 20th century history of Japan through its architecture, from the tabula rasa of a colonized Manchuria in the 1930s to a devastated Japan after the war, the establishment of Metabolism at the 1960 World Design Conference in Tokoy, to the rise of Kisho Kurokawa as the first celebrity architect, to the apotheosis of Metabolism at Expo ’70 in Osaka and its expansion into the Middle East and Africa in the 1970s. The result is a vivid documentary of the last moment when architecture was a public rather than a private affair.
  8. A Little History of Philosophy Nigel Warburton Philosophy begins with questions about the nature of reality and how we should live. These were the concerns of Socrates, who spent his days in the ancient Athenian marketplace asking awkward questions, disconcerting the people he met by showing them how little they genuinely understood. This engaging book introduces the great thinkers in Western philosophy and explores their most compelling ideas about the world and how best to live in it. In forty brief chapters, Nigel Warburton guides us on a chronological tour of the major ideas in the history of philosophy. He provides interesting and often quirky stories of the lives and deaths of thought-provoking philosophers from Socrates, who chose to die by hemlock poisoning rather than live on without the freedom to think for himself, to Peter Singer, who asks the disquieting philosophical and ethical questions that haunt our own times. Warburton not only makes philosophy accessible, he offers inspiration to think, argue, reason, and ask in the tradition of Socrates. A Little History of Philosophy presents the grand sweep of humanity’s search for philosophical understanding and invites all to join in the discussion.

    A Little History of Philosophy

    Nigel Warburton

    Philosophy begins with questions about the nature of reality and how we should live. These were the concerns of Socrates, who spent his days in the ancient Athenian marketplace asking awkward questions, disconcerting the people he met by showing them how little they genuinely understood. This engaging book introduces the great thinkers in Western philosophy and explores their most compelling ideas about the world and how best to live in it.

    In forty brief chapters, Nigel Warburton guides us on a chronological tour of the major ideas in the history of philosophy. He provides interesting and often quirky stories of the lives and deaths of thought-provoking philosophers from Socrates, who chose to die by hemlock poisoning rather than live on without the freedom to think for himself, to Peter Singer, who asks the disquieting philosophical and ethical questions that haunt our own times.

    Warburton not only makes philosophy accessible, he offers inspiration to think, argue, reason, and ask in the tradition of Socrates. A Little History of Philosophy presents the grand sweep of humanity’s search for philosophical understanding and invites all to join in the discussion.
  9. Experience: Challenging Visual Indifference Through New Sensory Experience Sean Perkins Experience documents dialogue between over 100 organisations, marketeers, designers and artists around the world — from the creators of Japanese fog parks to the creatives behind Nike Town — exploring the possibilities of a radically progressive approach to marketing.

    Experience: Challenging Visual Indifference Through New Sensory Experience

    Sean Perkins

    Experience documents dialogue between over 100 organisations, marketeers, designers and artists around the world — from the creators of Japanese fog parks to the creatives behind Nike Town — exploring the possibilities of a radically progressive approach to marketing.
  10. A Universal History of Iniquity Jorge Luis Borges In his writing, Borges always combined high seriousness with a wicked sense of fun. Here he reveals his delight in re-creating (or making up) colorful stories from the Orient, the Islamic world, and the Wild West, as well as his horrified fascination with knife fights, political and personal betrayal, and bloodthirsty revenge. Sparkling with the sheer exuberant pleasure of story-telling, this collection marked the emergence of an utterly distinctive literary voice.

    A Universal History of Iniquity

    Jorge Luis Borges

    In his writing, Borges always combined high seriousness with a wicked sense of fun. Here he reveals his delight in re-creating (or making up) colorful stories from the Orient, the Islamic world, and the Wild West, as well as his horrified fascination with knife fights, political and personal betrayal, and bloodthirsty revenge. Sparkling with the sheer exuberant pleasure of story-telling, this collection marked the emergence of an utterly distinctive literary voice.
  11. Hugging the Shore: Essays and Criticism John Updike Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism, Hugging the Shore is an enormously intelligent, witty collection of essays by John Updike. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist sheds keen light on everything from the first kiss to going barefoot to the world’s greatest writers. First time in paper.

    Hugging the Shore: Essays and Criticism

    John Updike

    Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism, Hugging the Shore is an enormously intelligent, witty collection of essays by John Updike. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist sheds keen light on everything from the first kiss to going barefoot to the world’s greatest writers. First time in paper.
  12. The Books, 1968-2010 Peter Downsbrough Like his contemporaries Lawrence Weiner, Robert Barry and Sol LeWitt, American Conceptualist Peter Downsbrough (born 1940) combines a fondness for geometric art and typography with the possibilities of the artist’s book. Since the late 1960s he has worked across media (video, film and photography), but the artist’s book has proved an enduring format, a place in which to incorporate other projects and compose with text, line drawings, maps and photographs. In 1993 the publisher, book collector and curator Guy Schraenen wrote of his work: “One might call it the absolute zero of the book, since it presents itself in the simplest form.” This catalogue provides a comprehensive overview of the 85 artist’s books that Downsbrough has published from 1972 to the present, including such classics of Conceptualist book art as And, A Place—New York, Beside, Notes on Location 2 and Two Pipes Fourteen Locations.

    The Books, 1968-2010

    Peter Downsbrough

    Like his contemporaries Lawrence Weiner, Robert Barry and Sol LeWitt, American Conceptualist Peter Downsbrough (born 1940) combines a fondness for geometric art and typography with the possibilities of the artist’s book. Since the late 1960s he has worked across media (video, film and photography), but the artist’s book has proved an enduring format, a place in which to incorporate other projects and compose with text, line drawings, maps and photographs. In 1993 the publisher, book collector and curator Guy Schraenen wrote of his work: “One might call it the absolute zero of the book, since it presents itself in the simplest form.” This catalogue provides a comprehensive overview of the 85 artist’s books that Downsbrough has published from 1972 to the present, including such classics of Conceptualist book art as And, A Place—New York, Beside, Notes on Location 2 and Two Pipes Fourteen Locations.
  13. I’m Thinking of a Number Micah Lexier Canadian artist Micah Lexier has built an international reputation working in a variety of media, often making work with numerical themes, such as 1995’s “Self-portrait as a Lucite Cube Divided Proportionally a (Red) Volume Representing Life Lived and a (Clear) Volume Representing Life to Come, Based on Statistical Life Expectancy.” Over the past three decades, he has also produced a significant body of multiple materials to be distributed to viewers, including prize ribbons, printed balloons, custom-minted coins and individually numbered cards. Micah Lexier: I’m Thinking of a Number is a survey of the artist’s invitations, posters, book works, T-shirts, boxed sets and other multiples produced between 1980 and 2010. It includes a multiple created by the artist for this publication—a letterpress sheet of four stickers tipped in as the final work itemized by the monograph.

    I’m Thinking of a Number

    Micah Lexier

    Canadian artist Micah Lexier has built an international reputation working in a variety of media, often making work with numerical themes, such as 1995’s “Self-portrait as a Lucite Cube Divided Proportionally a (Red) Volume Representing Life Lived and a (Clear) Volume Representing Life to Come, Based on Statistical Life Expectancy.” Over the past three decades, he has also produced a significant body of multiple materials to be distributed to viewers, including prize ribbons, printed balloons, custom-minted coins and individually numbered cards. Micah Lexier: I’m Thinking of a Number is a survey of the artist’s invitations, posters, book works, T-shirts, boxed sets and other multiples produced between 1980 and 2010. It includes a multiple created by the artist for this publication—a letterpress sheet of four stickers tipped in as the final work itemized by the monograph.
  14. Silence: Lectures and Writings John Cage Silence, John Cage’s first book and epic masterpiece, was published in October 1961. In these lectures, scores, and writings, Cage tries, as he says, to find a way of writing that comes from ideas, is not about them, but that produces them. Often these writings include mesostics and essays created by subjecting the work of other writers to chance procedures using the I Ching. Fifty years later comes a beautiful new edition with a foreword by eminent music critic Kyle Gann. A landmark book in American arts and culture, Silence has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold over half a million copies worldwide. Wesleyan University Press is proud to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the book’s publication with this special hardcover edition.

    Silence: Lectures and Writings

    John Cage

    Silence, John Cage’s first book and epic masterpiece, was published in October 1961. In these lectures, scores, and writings, Cage tries, as he says, to find a way of writing that comes from ideas, is not about them, but that produces them. Often these writings include mesostics and essays created by subjecting the work of other writers to chance procedures using the I Ching. Fifty years later comes a beautiful new edition with a foreword by eminent music critic Kyle Gann. A landmark book in American arts and culture, Silence has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold over half a million copies worldwide. Wesleyan University Press is proud to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the book’s publication with this special hardcover edition.
  15. The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations Christopher Lasch When The Culture of Narcissism was first published, it was clear that Christopher Lasch had identified something important: what was happening to American society in the wake of the decline of the family over the last century. The book quickly became a bestseller. This edition includes a new afterword, “The Culture of Narcissism Revisited.”

    The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations

    Christopher Lasch

    When The Culture of Narcissism was first published, it was clear that Christopher Lasch had identified something important: what was happening to American society in the wake of the decline of the family over the last century. The book quickly became a bestseller. This edition includes a new afterword, “The Culture of Narcissism Revisited.”
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