Letters from Wittgenstein, Abridged in Ghent
Joseph Kosuth
1992
Letters from Wittgenstein, Abridged in Ghent
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Ludwig Wittgenstein’s thought permeates Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice. In this artist’s book, the influence becomes literal. Kosuth takes as his starting point the correspondence between the British philosopher and architect Paul Engelmann, developing a parallel, ...
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Letters from Wittgenstein, Abridged in Ghent
Joseph Kosuth
1992
Ghent: Imschoot, uitgevers
Unpaginated [176 pages]
21.5 × 15 cm
Hardcover special edition of 50; signed and numbered 44/50; with a blind stamp “Joseph Kosuth ex libris 1992”

Ludwig Wittgenstein’s thought permeates Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice. In this artist’s book, the influence becomes literal. Kosuth takes as his starting point the correspondence between the British philosopher and architect Paul Engelmann, developing a parallel, anachronistic narrative through text and image. In 1925, Engelmann and Wittgenstein were commissioned by the philosopher’s sister, Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein – known, among other things, for posing for Gustav Klimt – to design her house in Vienna. The three-year project unfolded alongside a profound friendship, documented in an important corpus of letters published posthumously in 1967.


 


Over a discoloured facsimile of Engelmann’s publication of philosophical meditations and exchanges with Wittgenstein, Kosuth pastes photographs documenting the architectural transformation of the city of Ghent, where the book was commissioned and published. The two narratives unfold in parallel and complement one another: while the text traces the construction of a building – and a friendship – the photographs bear witness to the destruction and profound transformation of a city over the course of its recent history.

Ghent: Imschoot, uitgevers
Unpaginated [176 pages]
21.5 × 15 cm
Hardcover special edition of 50; signed and numbered 44/50; with a blind stamp “Joseph Kosuth ex libris 1992”

Ludwig Wittgenstein’s thought permeates Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice. In this artist’s book, the influence becomes literal. Kosuth takes as his starting point the correspondence between the British philosopher and architect Paul Engelmann, developing a parallel, anachronistic narrative through text and image. In 1925, Engelmann and Wittgenstein were commissioned by the philosopher’s sister, Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein – known, among other things, for posing for Gustav Klimt – to design her house in Vienna. The three-year project unfolded alongside a profound friendship, documented in an important corpus of letters published posthumously in 1967.

 

Over a discoloured facsimile of Engelmann’s publication of philosophical meditations and exchanges with Wittgenstein, Kosuth pastes photographs documenting the architectural transformation of the city of Ghent, where the book was commissioned and published. The two narratives unfold in parallel and complement one another: while the text traces the construction of a building – and a friendship – the photographs bear witness to the destruction and profound transformation of a city over the course of its recent history.

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Ludwig Wittgenstein’s thought permeates Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice. In this artist’s book, the influence becomes literal. Kosuth takes as his starting point the correspondence between the British philosopher and architect Paul Engelmann, developing a parallel, anachronistic narrative through text and image. In 1925, Engelmann and Wittgenstein were commissioned by the philosopher’s sister, Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein – known, among other things, for posing for Gustav Klimt – to design her house in Vienna. The three-year project unfolded alongside a profound friendship, documented in an important corpus of letters published posthumously in 1967.

 

Over a discoloured facsimile of Engelmann’s publication of philosophical meditations and exchanges with Wittgenstein, Kosuth pastes photographs documenting the architectural transformation of the city of Ghent, where the book was commissioned and published. The two narratives unfold in parallel and complement one another: while the text traces the construction of a building – and a friendship – the photographs bear witness to the destruction and profound transformation of a city over the course of its recent history.

Ghent: Imschoot, uitgevers
Unpaginated [176 pages]
21.5 × 15 cm
Hardcover special edition of 50; signed and numbered 44/50; with a blind stamp “Joseph Kosuth ex libris 1992”

Ludwig Wittgenstein’s thought permeates Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice. In this artist’s book, the influence becomes literal. Kosuth takes as his starting point the correspondence between the British philosopher and architect Paul Engelmann, developing a parallel, anachronistic narrative through text and image. In 1925, Engelmann and Wittgenstein were commissioned by the philosopher’s sister, Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein – known, among other things, for posing for Gustav Klimt – to design her house in Vienna. The three-year project unfolded alongside a profound friendship, documented in an important corpus of letters published posthumously in 1967.

 

Over a discoloured facsimile of Engelmann’s publication of philosophical meditations and exchanges with Wittgenstein, Kosuth pastes photographs documenting the architectural transformation of the city of Ghent, where the book was commissioned and published. The two narratives unfold in parallel and complement one another: while the text traces the construction of a building – and a friendship – the photographs bear witness to the destruction and profound transformation of a city over the course of its recent history.

MORE BOOKS

Ludwig Wittgenstein’s thought permeates Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual practice. In this artist’s book, the influence becomes literal. Kosuth takes as his starting point the correspondence between the British philosopher and architect Paul Engelmann, developing a parallel, anachronistic narrative through text and image. In 1925, Engelmann and Wittgenstein were commissioned by the philosopher’s sister, Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein – known, among other things, for posing for Gustav Klimt – to design her house in Vienna. The three-year project unfolded alongside a profound friendship, documented in an important corpus of letters published posthumously in 1967.

 

Over a discoloured facsimile of Engelmann’s publication of philosophical meditations and exchanges with Wittgenstein, Kosuth pastes photographs documenting the architectural transformation of the city of Ghent, where the book was commissioned and published. The two narratives unfold in parallel and complement one another: while the text traces the construction of a building – and a friendship – the photographs bear witness to the destruction and profound transformation of a city over the course of its recent history.

MORE BOOKS