Clive Phillpot

Clive Phillpot

Clive Phillpot is a specialist on artists' books, essayist, art writer, curator, and a librarian. Phillpot started his library career at the Charing Cross Public Library in London. He is a former librarian at the Chelsea School of Art in London, and served as the Director of the Library at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from 1977 to 1994. After his departure from the Library at the Museum of Modern Art, Phillpot pursued freelance work, writing, and curating exhibitions. While serving as the head of the MoMA's library, Phillpot founded and curated the Artist Book Collection, established in 1977. Phillpot was an active supporter of the New York art world during the 1980s. He contributed to artist exhibition catalogues (including the catalogue for The Art Press, an exhibition on the history of art magazines), conducted artist interviews, wrote essays on artists, and contributed a column titled Feedback to the art magazine Studio International. In 2013, JRP-Ringier published a collection of Clive Phillpot's essays and interviews, titled Booktrek: Selected Essays on Artists' Books (1972-2010). Phillpot served on the boards of Center for Book Arts, Franklin Furnace Archive, and the New York State Council on the Arts. From 1980-1994, Clive Phillpot served as a Board Member for Printed Matter, and served as the president of Printed Matter from 1992-1993.

Clive Phillpot defines artists' books as a "book of which an artist is the author" in an issue of Art Documentation. Phillpot recognizes the fluidity of artists' books, and later defines them as "books or booklets produced by the artist using mass-production methods, and in (theoretically) unlimited numbers, in which the artist documents or realizes art ideas or artworks." On the discovery of artists' books, Phillpot philosophizes on the nature of experiencing art in unknown outlets: "What can be so beautiful, at a time when things are changing, is that one cannot fully understand what one has in one's hands, or what indeed is happening more generally. To lose that confusion later is almost sad."

In 1989, Clive Phillpot served as the president of the Art Library Societies of North America. Phillpot serves on the editorial board of Art Documentation, a peer-reviewed journal by the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) and the University of Chicago Press. In an article titled "The Social Role of the Art Library" published by Art Documentation in 1983, Clive Phillpot outlines his philosophical perspective on the social roles of the art library in contrast to the research-based exclusionary barrier of art libraries. Phillpot assesses the art library as an institution benefitting the public in terms of open accessibility to the public, encouragement of visual inspiration, and advocacy for visual nourishment and education.

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