The Book of Eighteen Letters
José Luis Castillejo
1972
The Book of Eighteen Letters
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José Luis Castillejo (1930–2014) occupies a singular position within postwar Spanish experimental art and poetry. His artistic production evolved alongside his diplomatic career. Closely associated with concrete and visual poetry while ultimately moving beyond both, ...
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The Book of Eighteen Letters
José Luis Castillejo
1972
Madrid: Artes Gráficas Luis Perez
Unpaginated
24.2 × 17 cm
Edition of 350

José Luis Castillejo (1930–2014) occupies a singular position within postwar Spanish experimental art and poetry. His artistic production evolved alongside his diplomatic career. Closely associated with concrete and visual poetry while ultimately moving beyond both, he developed the theory of nueva escritura ("new writing"), which conceived writing as an autonomous artistic medium. Just as modern painting had abandoned representation and modern music had broken free from traditional harmony and melody, Castillejo sought to liberate writing from its exclusively linguistic function, treating it instead as a visual and conceptual practice.


 


The Book of Eighteen Letters (1972) is among the most important realizations of Castillejo's nueva escritura. Published in Madrid by Artes Gráficas Luis Pérez in a limited edition of 350 copies, the artist's book comprises approximately 400 unnumbered pages. Here, Castillejo isolates a selected set of eighteen letters (consonants) from the Spanish alphabet, transforming them into both the material and the subject of the work. Through seriality and the disciplined organization of the page, the letters are stripped of their conventional communicative function and acquire an autonomous visual and conceptual presence. Reading gives way to contemplation as the book unfolds as a field of structure and spatial relationships, where writing is experienced as form and visual order rather than as a vehicle for narrative or semantic meaning.


 


This copy is marked with the name of the artist and critic Richard C. Kostelanetz, written in pencil, alongside the date 8/72.

Madrid: Artes Gráficas Luis Perez
Unpaginated
24.2 × 17 cm
Edition of 350

José Luis Castillejo (1930–2014) occupies a singular position within postwar Spanish experimental art and poetry. His artistic production evolved alongside his diplomatic career. Closely associated with concrete and visual poetry while ultimately moving beyond both, he developed the theory of nueva escritura ("new writing"), which conceived writing as an autonomous artistic medium. Just as modern painting had abandoned representation and modern music had broken free from traditional harmony and melody, Castillejo sought to liberate writing from its exclusively linguistic function, treating it instead as a visual and conceptual practice.

 

The Book of Eighteen Letters (1972) is among the most important realizations of Castillejo's nueva escritura. Published in Madrid by Artes Gráficas Luis Pérez in a limited edition of 350 copies, the artist's book comprises approximately 400 unnumbered pages. Here, Castillejo isolates a selected set of eighteen letters (consonants) from the Spanish alphabet, transforming them into both the material and the subject of the work. Through seriality and the disciplined organization of the page, the letters are stripped of their conventional communicative function and acquire an autonomous visual and conceptual presence. Reading gives way to contemplation as the book unfolds as a field of structure and spatial relationships, where writing is experienced as form and visual order rather than as a vehicle for narrative or semantic meaning.

 

This copy is marked with the name of the artist and critic Richard C. Kostelanetz, written in pencil, alongside the date 8/72.

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José Luis Castillejo (1930–2014) occupies a singular position within postwar Spanish experimental art and poetry. His artistic production evolved alongside his diplomatic career. Closely associated with concrete and visual poetry while ultimately moving beyond both, he developed the theory of nueva escritura ("new writing"), which conceived writing as an autonomous artistic medium. Just as modern painting had abandoned representation and modern music had broken free from traditional harmony and melody, Castillejo sought to liberate writing from its exclusively linguistic function, treating it instead as a visual and conceptual practice.

 

The Book of Eighteen Letters (1972) is among the most important realizations of Castillejo's nueva escritura. Published in Madrid by Artes Gráficas Luis Pérez in a limited edition of 350 copies, the artist's book comprises approximately 400 unnumbered pages. Here, Castillejo isolates a selected set of eighteen letters (consonants) from the Spanish alphabet, transforming them into both the material and the subject of the work. Through seriality and the disciplined organization of the page, the letters are stripped of their conventional communicative function and acquire an autonomous visual and conceptual presence. Reading gives way to contemplation as the book unfolds as a field of structure and spatial relationships, where writing is experienced as form and visual order rather than as a vehicle for narrative or semantic meaning.

 

This copy is marked with the name of the artist and critic Richard C. Kostelanetz, written in pencil, alongside the date 8/72.

Madrid: Artes Gráficas Luis Perez
Unpaginated
24.2 × 17 cm
Edition of 350

José Luis Castillejo (1930–2014) occupies a singular position within postwar Spanish experimental art and poetry. His artistic production evolved alongside his diplomatic career. Closely associated with concrete and visual poetry while ultimately moving beyond both, he developed the theory of nueva escritura ("new writing"), which conceived writing as an autonomous artistic medium. Just as modern painting had abandoned representation and modern music had broken free from traditional harmony and melody, Castillejo sought to liberate writing from its exclusively linguistic function, treating it instead as a visual and conceptual practice.

 

The Book of Eighteen Letters (1972) is among the most important realizations of Castillejo's nueva escritura. Published in Madrid by Artes Gráficas Luis Pérez in a limited edition of 350 copies, the artist's book comprises approximately 400 unnumbered pages. Here, Castillejo isolates a selected set of eighteen letters (consonants) from the Spanish alphabet, transforming them into both the material and the subject of the work. Through seriality and the disciplined organization of the page, the letters are stripped of their conventional communicative function and acquire an autonomous visual and conceptual presence. Reading gives way to contemplation as the book unfolds as a field of structure and spatial relationships, where writing is experienced as form and visual order rather than as a vehicle for narrative or semantic meaning.

 

This copy is marked with the name of the artist and critic Richard C. Kostelanetz, written in pencil, alongside the date 8/72.

MORE BOOKS

José Luis Castillejo (1930–2014) occupies a singular position within postwar Spanish experimental art and poetry. His artistic production evolved alongside his diplomatic career. Closely associated with concrete and visual poetry while ultimately moving beyond both, he developed the theory of nueva escritura ("new writing"), which conceived writing as an autonomous artistic medium. Just as modern painting had abandoned representation and modern music had broken free from traditional harmony and melody, Castillejo sought to liberate writing from its exclusively linguistic function, treating it instead as a visual and conceptual practice.

 

The Book of Eighteen Letters (1972) is among the most important realizations of Castillejo's nueva escritura. Published in Madrid by Artes Gráficas Luis Pérez in a limited edition of 350 copies, the artist's book comprises approximately 400 unnumbered pages. Here, Castillejo isolates a selected set of eighteen letters (consonants) from the Spanish alphabet, transforming them into both the material and the subject of the work. Through seriality and the disciplined organization of the page, the letters are stripped of their conventional communicative function and acquire an autonomous visual and conceptual presence. Reading gives way to contemplation as the book unfolds as a field of structure and spatial relationships, where writing is experienced as form and visual order rather than as a vehicle for narrative or semantic meaning.

 

This copy is marked with the name of the artist and critic Richard C. Kostelanetz, written in pencil, alongside the date 8/72.

MORE BOOKS