Shirley Sharoff, Book Artist

Sharoff writes: “Ovi was the first book I made thanks to a collaboration with Francois DaRos, typographer in Paris. I had never much thought about making books before. I had begun my studies in Fine Art at Brooklyn College, but after my move to Paris, I began to work at the printmaking studios of Jonny Friedlaender and then the Ecole des Beaux Arts where I was primarily interested in etching as a medium. But Ovi, made in 1986 but published in 1988, opened up anew way of thinking. I saw that texts that I loved could come together with prints and a conception of a book and make something wonderfully new. A book contained a different notion of time than a single print.

“I have [participated] in books hows in Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and France. My books are found in many municipal and regional collections in France … and the Bibliotheque Nationale. The Great Wall is part of the collection of [the National Art Library at] the Victoria & Albert [Museum] and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich.”

Shirley Sharoff’s work is also in the collections of many fine public and private collections throughout the United States, Canada and South Africa.