This new essay by Javier Maderuelo starts from the recognition of an evidence: “a good part of the artists of the 20th century were not only dedicated to making works of art, but by extending their creative production by experimenting with new formats, materials and techniques, they have generated a varied production that until now was situated on the margins of “great art”…. Many artists have become publishers of their own print production, have directed and produced artists’ magazines, and have produced serial and multiple works…. If a poster, a programme or an invitation has been designed, printed and manipulated by the artists themselves, the aesthetic qualities of these products, which are not usually appreciated as “works of art”, are of artistic interest.
In the pages of Arte impreso, Maderuelo does not wish to “invent” a new genre, but he does propose a categorisation of this type of material, an ordering different from that which historiography has traditionally applied to “works of art”, an ordering conditioned by the vicissitudes of the powerful and prosperous art trade.
