Phaidon and Christie’s present 100 Years of Creativity
A Century of Bookmaking at Phaidon
Christie’s and Phaidon announce 100 Years of Creativity: A Century of Bookmaking at Phaidon, on view 15-18 October, 2023 at Christie’s London, King Street. In celebration of the iconic illustrated publisher’s 100th anniversary, the exhibition brings together over 200 of the most influential Phaidon books published from the 1920s to the present day. Set to run alongside Christie’s Modern British & Irish Art sale, 18th and 19th October.
Since its founding in 1923, Phaidon has been at the forefront of the creative arts, inventing the accessible large-format illustrated artist monograph and publishing groundbreaking and award-winning books in collaboration with the world’s most influential creators and brands. 100 Years of Creativity will commemorate the inspired work of authors who have changed culture at large, from Vincent van Gogh, the subject of Phaidon’s 1951 title, the first full-colour accessible artist monograph, to great thought leaders of today: Massimo Bottura, Grace Coddington, JR, Steven Klein, Annie Leibovitz, Linda Evangelista & Steven Meisel, Yoshitomo Nara, Nike, John Pawson, Rihanna and Paul Smith, among many others. The exhibition will also examine the art of bookmaking through the lens of Phaidon’s signature boundary-pushing yet timeless designs.
‘A century after Phaidon’s formation, one thing hasn’t changed: our belief that books should enlighten, delight, and inspire. 100 Years of Creativity will tell the story of how our books championed the great creative voices that defined the last 100 years.’ – Keith Fox, CEO, Phaidon Press
The books in 100 Years of Creativity will chart key milestones in publishing history. A first edition of E.H. Gombrich’s landmark The Story of Art (1950), which has sold more than 8 million copies in 40 languages, will appear alongside the recent bestseller Great Women Artists. A section dedicated to the acclaimed Contemporary Artists Series, Phaidon’s longest-running series of nearly 30 years and 108 books, will showcase editions in the series such as Antony Gormley, Wolfgang Tillmans, Cerith Wyn Evans. Rare, out-of-print monographs from Phaidon’s archives include 1930s surveys and monographs on the Italian Renaissance, Velazquez, and Michelangelo. Other categories feature beautiful books for children and innovative culinary titles, such as The Silver Spoon (2005), the seminal Italian cookbook that has been printed in 15 languages and has sold more than 1.5 million copies. Christie’s 2016 publication Going Once, marking 250 years of culture and collecting at the auction house, will be on view alongside titles featuring leading artists, photographers, and designers including: Aino and Alvar Aalto, Anni & Josef Albers, Le Corbusier, Lucian Freud, Robert Mapplethorpe, Harland Miller, Martin Parr, Ettore Sottsass, Nick Waplington, and many more.
The exhibition is accompanied by a Phaidon anniversary book, also entitled 100 Years of Creativity. This hardcover volume will present original, visual contributions from 100 living artists, writers, designers, architects, illustrators, and chefs previously published by Phaidon, including photographers Stephen Shore and Catherine Opie, chefs Ferran Adrià and Ruth Rogers, artists Jean-Michel Othoniel and Sarah Sze, and designers Dieter Rams and Faye Toogood, among others. As a limited edition of 1,000 copies, the book will only be available as a gift from the publisher or via select anniversary partners.
Complementing the exhibition will be a display of limited-edition artworks from Phaidon and Artspace including editions by Cecily Brown, René Burri, Nan Goldin, Elliott Erwitt, KAWS, Yoshitomo Nara, Woody De Othello, Martin Parr, Nicolas Party, Adam Pendleton, and more.
Phaidon was founded in Vienna by Dr Béla Horovitz, Frederick ‘Fritz’ Ungar, and Ludwig Goldscheider, who named the company after Phaedo of Elis, a pupil of Socrates. Their vision was to create elegantly produced, accessibly priced art books – something that had not been done before. Today, Phaidon is the leading global publisher in the creative arts with 50 million books sold in 40 languages and 1,500 titles in print.
