<< YCBA Home Yale Center for British Art Yale Center for British Art << YCBA Home

YCBA Collections Search

 
IIIF Actions
Creator:
Campbell, Ken, 1939–2022
Title(s):
Father's garden / Ken Campbell.
Published/Created:
[Oxford] : [Ken Campbell], 1989.
Physical Description:
[51] p. ; 34 cm.
Holdings:
Rare Books and Manuscripts
N7433.4 C35 F3 1989+ Oversize
Yale Center for British Art, Friends of British Art Fund
[Request]
Copyright Status:
© The Artist
Classification:
Books
Notes:
"This book carries a poem about a 'Father's Garden' that is used as an image of the type page as a garden of exits and entrances, a garden of furrows of type from which much may grow--a sacred garden, a garden representing Jerusalem; a garden in which 'Our father's juice flows everywhere,' a plot within a plot ... The book is processional: the poem is slowly revealed as the lines, the furrows of type, are exposed, and the masculine and formal Gill bold in which they are set is slowly picked apart and the more feminine and elegant Bembo italic replaces it. The thing loosens up ... The formal aspects of the layout are moved around and allowed to dance as each verse is finished, there's a formal dance with the elements and there's also a flowering of typographical material, inspiration for which I took from an Arabic or Turkish book in the British Museum. As each verse finished, I revealed one of the typographic equivalents to the three religions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. I printed solids on the surface of the paper, and sometimes printed inside the Chinese folded page. Then I varnished the pages. The inks show through the varnish, making the page faintly translucent and parchment-like. It's a riot really, but pretty solid in terms of procession and methodology. I'm very pleased with the book."--Ken Campbell, from The word returned.
Edition of 50. Printed letterpress inside as well as outside Chinese folds, double leaves in multi-color and metallic inks; some pages varnished, some tints produced by handwiping. Slipcase and binding are printed letterpress, handwiped with tinted varnish.
Original archival material related to this work is available in the collections of the Yale Center for British Art, Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts (Ken Campbell Collection, MSS 25).
Word returned: artist books by Ken Campbell, 12
Of green leaf, bird, and flower: artists' books and the natural world, p. 185
Selected exhibitions: "'Of Green Leaf, Bird, and Flower': Artists' Books and the Natural World" (Yale Center for British Art, May 15 - August 10, 2014).
BAC: British Art Center copy is no. [33] of 50, signed by author.
Subject Terms:
Artists' books -- Great Britain.
Campbell, Ken, 1939–2022.
Gardens.
Processions.
Form/Genre:
Artists' books -- Great Britain
Export:
XML
IIIF Manifest:
JSON

"Of Green Leaf, Bird, and Flower" : Artists' Books and the Natural World (Yale Center for British Art, May 15, 2014-August 10, 2014) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]


If you have information about this object that may be of assistance please contact us.