{"product_id":"book-on-the-floor-andre-malraux-and-the-imaginary-museum-by-walter-grasskamp","title":"Book on the Floor Andre Malraux and the Imaginary Museum \/ by Walter Grasskamp","description":"\u003cp\u003eJ. Paul Getty Museum, 2016. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn 1954, the French writer, politician, and publisher André Malraux (1901–1976) posed at home for a photographer from the magazine Paris Match, surrounded by pages from his forthcoming book \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eLe musée imaginaire de la sculpture mondiale\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. The enchanting metaphor of the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003emusée imaginaire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (imaginary museum) was built upon that illustrated art book, and Malraux was one of its greatest champions. Drawing on a range of contemporary publications, he adopted images and responded to ideas. Indeed, Malraux’s book on the floor is a variation of photographer André Vigneau’s spectacular \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eEncyclopédie photographique de l’art\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, published in five volumes from 1935 on—years before Malraux would enter this field. Both authors were engaged in juxtaposing artworks via photographs and publishing these photographs by the hundreds, but Malraux was the better sloganeer.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eStarting from a close examination of the photograph of Malraux in his salon, art historian Walter Grasskamp takes the reader back to the dawn of this genre of illustrated art book. He shows how it catalyzed the practice of comparing works of art on a global scale. He retraces the metaphor to earlier reproduction practices and highlights its ubiquity in contemporary art, ending with an homage to the other pioneer of the “museum without walls,” the unjustly forgotten Vigneau.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Desierto Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46476311462054,"sku":null,"price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0659\/3465\/5654\/files\/thebookonthefloor.jpg?v=1751546701","url":"https:\/\/249f2c-1b.myshopify.com\/products\/book-on-the-floor-andre-malraux-and-the-imaginary-museum-by-walter-grasskamp","provider":"DESIERTO BOOKS","version":"1.0","type":"link"}