Alphabet, from Wordswordswords

Description

Characterized as an author, painter, poet, philosopher, gamesman, scientist, inventor, and teacher, Edwin Schlossberg saw his life’s work as getting people to think for themselves. In Wordswordswords, he deliberately ignored some of the basic rules of printing in order to make reading a physical act. Wordswordswords is a virtual “what not to do” in printmaking: misalignment, misspelling, reversals, accidental masking, creased paper, blind embossing, and fragmented letters. Of this piece Schlossberg said, “I hope they see the words, and then I hope they see themselves.”

Alphabet, from Wordswordswords

Edwin Schlossberg

1967–68

Accession Number

107077

Medium

Lithograph in black from one stone on white wove paper

Dimensions

Image: 23 × 21.7 cm (9 1/16 × 8 9/16 in.); Sheet: 28.1 × 21.8 cm (11 1/8 × 8 5/8 in.)

Classification

letterpress

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

U.L.A.E. Collection acquired through a challenge grant of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Dittmer; purchased with funds provided by supporters of the Department of Prints and Drawings; Centennial Endowment; Margaret Fisher Endowment Fund