New in the Art Library: In Spirit

Daniel Essig’s artists’ books explore ideas of life, death and regeneration. He creates sculptural books that combine ancient binding styles and distressed finishes with found and treasured objects from other times and cultures. We are especially excited to have an opportunity to acquire In Spirit, Dan’s second “bridge book” and the one that helped build his reputation as a pioneer in the world of book art. Its unique construction ingeniously solves the problem posed by all artists' books: how to elegantly and effectively create a book which can also be understood as an art object. Essig’s bridge books uniquely join these two worlds, and In Spirit fills a special role as the prototype and catalyst for future works.

In Spirit

1996‒97

Distressed and painted wood, steel, sinew, rag text paper, Ethiopian binding.

20 x 14 x 6 inches