LONDON.- Whitechapel Gallery and the Authors Club announced an eclectic shortlist that showcases the most exciting concepts, subjects and designs in English-language arts publishing today.
Thirty titles have been shortlisted for best book in six categories:
contemporary art
art history
contemporary architecture
architectural history
contemporary design
design history
The shortlist includes publishers from Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, UK and the USA. The winners will be announced at the London Art Book Fair at Whitechapel Gallery in September 2019 alongside two further awards celebrating the best Artist Book and best Book Design. The shortlist is:
BEST BOOK ON CONTEMPORARY ART
Tomma Abts (Art Institute of Chicago, Serpentine, Gallery, Yale University Press, Editors: James Rondeau, Lekha Hileman Waitoller)
Thomas Demand: The Complete Papers (Mack, Editor: Christy Lange, Design: Naomi Misuzaki)
David Goldblatt: Photographs 1948-2018 (Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia, Editor: Rachel Kent, Design: Alex Torcutti)
Arthur Jafa: A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions (Serpentine Galleries, the Store X, Julia Stoschek Collection, and Koenig Books, Author: Arthur Jafa, Design: Osk Studio)
The Love of Painting. Genealogy of a Success Medium (Sternberg, Author: Isabelle Graw, Design: Surface)
Sovereign Words: Indigenous Art, Curation and Criticism (Valiz, Editor: Katya García-Antón, Design: Hans Gremmen)
BEST CONTRIBUTION TO ART HISTORY
Art in Hungary, 19561980 (Thames & Hudson, Editors: Edit Sasvári, Sándor Hornyik, Hedvig Turai, Design: Daly & Lyon)
The Central Collecting Point in Munich: A New Beginning for the Restitution and Protection of Art (Getty Publications, Design: Jim Drobka, Project Editors: Lauren Johnson, Mary Christian)
Conceptual Art in a Curatorial Perspective: Between Dematerialization and Documentation (Valiz, Author: Nathalie Zonnenberg,Design: Sam de Groot)
Dubuffet and the City: People, Place, and Urban Space (Hauser & Wirth, Editor: Jennifer Bernstein, Design: Mevis & van Deursen, with Marius Schwarz)
Nicholas Hilliard. Life of an Artist (Yale University Press, Author: Elizabeth Goldring)
BEST BOOK ON CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People (Vitra Design Museum, Editors: Jolanthe Kugler, Khushnu Panthaki Hoof, Design: Double Standards)
Elemental (Phaidon, Authors and Editors: Alejandro Aravena, Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan Cerda, Victor Oddo, Diego Torres, Design: Victor Oddo)
The Empire Remains Shop (Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, Editor: Jesse Connuck, Design: An Endless Supply)
Hassan Fathy: Earth & Utopia (Laurence King, Authors: Salma Samar Damluji, Viola Bertini, Design: Blok Graphic)
Miroslav Sik: Analogue Old / New Architecture (Quart Architektur, Editor: Miroslav ik , Design: Carla Gartmann)
BEST CONTRIBUTION TO ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY
Archigram. The Book (Circa, Editors: Dennis Crompton, David Jenkins, Design: Dennis Crompton)
Drawing Architecture (Phaidon, Author: Helen Thomas, Design: Julia Hasting (cover), Hans Stofregen (book design))
Giedion and America: Repositioning the History of Modern Architecture (gta Verlag, ETH Zurich, Author: Reto Geiser, Design: Buero 146)
The Object of Zionism. The Architecture of Israel (Spector Books, Editor: Zvi Efrat, Design: Studio Matthias Görlich)
Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia 1948-1980 (The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Editor: Stephanie Emerson, Design: Bruno Margreth, Martina Brassel)
BEST BOOK ON CONTEMPORARY DESIGN
Color Library. Research into Color Reproduction and Printing (JRP Ringier, Editors: Maximage David Keshavjee, Guy Meldem, Julien Tavelli, Design: Maximage)
Kenya Hara: 100 Whites (Lars Mueller Publishers, Author: Kenya Hara, Design: Kenya Hara + Tomoko Nishi)
Naoto Fukazawa: Embodiment (Phaidon, Author: Naoto Fukazawa, Design: Asami Koga, Nana Fukasawa)
Renny Ramakers: Rethinking Design (Lars Mueller Publishers, Author: Aaron Betsky, Design: Irma Boom Office)
The Serving Library Annual (Roma Publications, Editors: Francesca Bertolotti-Bailey, Stuart Bertolotti-Bailey, Vincenzo Latronico, David Reinfurt)
BEST CONTRIBUTION TO DESIGN HISTORY
Alice Rawsthorn: Design as an Attitude (JRP Ringier, Editor: Clément Dirié, Design: Gavillet & Cie (Concept))
Camp: Notes on Fashion (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Author: Andrew Bolton)
The Playground Project (JRP Ringier with Bundeskunsthalle Bonn & Kunsthalle Zürich, Editor: Gabriela Burkhalter)
Victor Papanek: The Politics of Design (Vitra Design Museum, Editors: Mateo Kries, Amelie Klein, Alison J. Clarke, Design: Visual Fields, Bristol)
Chaired by Richard Schlagman, the panel of judges for the 2019 awards comprises the director of the Whitechapel Gallery, Iwona Blazwick; architect Adam Caruso; critic, poet and Authors Club member Sue Hubbard; Turner Prize nominee artist Dexter Dalwood; art historian, curator and co-director of the Translocal Institute for Contemporary Art, Maja Fowkes; and design historian and writer, Emily King. The visual identity for the new awards has been designed by Astrid Stavro of Pentagram and the award itself is from leading contemporary designer Björn Dahlström.
Iwona Blazwick says: The Richard Schlagman Art Book Awards reflects the urgent ideas and fascinating subjects being published on art, architecture and design today. The originality of research, rigorous scholarship and verve in writing style reflected in our shortlist is matched with beautiful design and outstanding production values. Its going to be difficult to choose the winners!
Richard Schlagman says: I have spent the greater part of my working life in an endeavour to produce books on art and cultural subjects with a commitment to the highest standards of content and presentation, and I am delighted to chair a jury that is committed to finding and awarding the best in contemporary visual arts publishing. It was a pleasure as well as a challenge to review the great variety of submitted titles.