Book! Art!
Offenbach has good reason to talk about the art of books and writing. It is essential that the history of the book includes not only the text, but also - and this is usually underestimated - the ornament, the illustration and finally the image. What was familiar to book illumination from the early Romantic period to the end of the Gothic period, i.e. providing space for opulent painting, was lost in the following centuries. Only the graphic illustration remained, which acted as an explanatory aid to the text. It was not until the transition from the 19th to the 20th century that the visual language was given new scope and freedom.
In Offenbach, Karl Klingspor - not only a man of letters, but also a lover of books - promoted this development. It is no coincidence that his collection includes the enchanting book "Träumende Knaben" (Dreaming Boys), in which the very young painter Oskar Kokoschka exemplified the potential of the picture. Rudolf Koch wrote and colored books, and the Klingspor Museum was keen to acquire high-ranking book art from the very beginning of its foundation.
Press printing, the painter's book and finally the artist's book increased the understanding of the importance of the book as a medium for the artist's work. The Klingspor Museum's collection of artists' books is one of the most important of its kind in the world, both in terms of printed editions and individual works. In regular exhibitions and publications, numerous artists from past decades and the present have their book works on display in the museum.
