Editing Artist's book (section)

===Regrouping the avant-garde===
After [[World War II]], many artists in Europe attempted to rebuild links beyond nationalist boundaries, and used the artist's book as a way of experimenting with form, disseminating ideas and forging links with like-minded groups in other countries.

{{Blockquote|In the fifties artists in Europe developed an interest in the book, under the influence of modernist theory and in the attempt to rebuild positions destroyed by the war.|source=Dieter Schwarz<ref>Lawrence Weiner : books, 1968–1989 : catalogue raisonné, Dieter Schwarz. p120</ref>}}

After the war, a number of leading artists and poets started to explore the functions and forms of the book 'in a serious way'.<ref>The Century of Artists' Books, Drucker, Granary Books, p12</ref> [[Concrete poetry|Concrete poets]] in Brazil such as Augusto and [[Haroldo de Campos]], [[Cobra]] artists in the Netherlands and Denmark and the [[Lettrism|French Lettrists]] all began to systematically deconstruct the book. A fine example of the latter is [[Isidore Isou]]'s ''Le Grand Désordre'', (1960), a work that challenges the viewer to reassemble the contents of an envelope back into a semblance of narrative. Two other examples of poet-artists whose work provided models for artists' books include [[Marcel Broodthaers]] and [[Ian Hamilton Finlay]].<ref>The question of the relation between avant-garde poetry and artists' books is dealt with very well in the chapter entitled "Poètes ou artistes?" in Anne Moeglin-Delcroix, ''Esthétique du livre d’artiste, 1960–1980'' (Paris: Jean Michel Place; Biliothèque nationale de France, 1997), 60–95.</ref>

Yves Klein in France was similarly challenging Modernist integrity with a series of works such as [[Yves: Peintures]] (1954) and [[Dimanche]] (1960) which turned on issues of identity and duplicity.<ref>Yves Klein, Sidra Stich, Hayward Gallery, 1994</ref> Other examples from this era include [[Guy Debord]] and [[Asger Jorn]]'s two collaborations, ''Fin de Copenhague'' (1957) and ''Mémoires''' (1959), two works of [[Psychogeography]] created from found magazines of Copenhagen and Paris respectively, collaged and then printed over in unrelated colours.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Collaboration between Guy Debord & Asger Jorn from 1957–1959 |first=Christian |last=Nolle  |url=http://virose.pt/vector/b_13/nolle.html |publisher=Virose.pt|access-date=2015-07-15}}</ref>