Bruce Nauman | Pictures of Sculpture in a Room

Bruce Nauman

Pictures of Sculpture in a Room 

Davis, USA: Self-published, c1965

8 pp., 8.5 x 5.5”, staple-bound 

Edition size unknown

Bruce Nauman is not a prolific maker of artists’ books, but has produced a few classics, such as Clea Rsky, L.A. Air, and Burning Small Fires. His first foray into the genre was this title, made when he was a student at the University of California. It is comprised of four black and white images of early sculptures he made by leaning or hanging wood on a wall. 

In the catalogue raisonné Prints, 1970-89, Nauman is interviewed by Christopher Cordes and makes a rare statement about his bookworks: 

“Pictures of Sculpture in a Room was done when I was a student. My aim was to make an object of the book to confuse the issue a little bit. It is a total object, but it has pictures —however, it is a book, not a catalogue.”