Michael Desmond

Turning the pages back: the archaeology of the artists' book

Today the artist's book is typically a lyrical, limited edition hand-made book, an expression of the artist's psyche and manual skills.  It is usually expressionistic, though stylistically this may not at first be apparent.  This was not always the case however.  The artist's book as we know it today derives principally from developments in the 1970s as a distinct art format.  This talk explores the genesis of the medium, the prompts that brought it into being and the lessons from that period for the present.
Michael Desmond is the curator at the National Portrait Gallery. He has extensive experience in the Arts industry. He worked as the Manager of the Drill Hall Gallery in Canberra and at the National Gallery of Australia as Curator of International Paintings and Sculpture. Until recently he was the Manager of Collection Development and Research at the Powerhouse Museum. Over the last two decades he was responsible for making a number of significant acquisitions and developing many exhibitions.