Book selected: The Princes Gate Collection, Courtauld Institute Galleries
The catalogue of the Princes Gate Collection has been re-interpreted to represent the actuality of a gallery experience. Unless the viewer understands thoroughly the historical context of each painting and its painter and the collection as a whole the experience can be something of a mystery tour. The text accompanying each picture only represents a microcosm of the painting's history, intentions and provenance and leaves volumes unsaid.
The book, therefore, has been re-arranged to focus on the difficulties presented to the viewer. The gate-fold arrangement of each section reflects the collection's title. Nobody ever sees all the detail in each painting but picks out what interests him/her thereby only seeing a part of the whole. The pages have been re-arranged to represent this fractional vision and the erratic way in which people wander around a gallery.
The concertina binding of the sections is concerned with the backward and forward movements of the viewer. The threads are the links to the viewer's previous knowledge and the way forward to new connections and understanding. The wrapper reflects the mystery and mystique of galleries and their accessibility to a large percentage of the population
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