twombly, italia
twombly, italia is an artist's book that includes a sequence of 10 poems and 21 photographs, an invocation of the artist, Cy Twombly.
The artist’s book is a non-linear presentation about the ephemeral nature of being, and the desire and longing which inhabits us all, albeit unresolved.
The book appears all white, like a blank canvas, when first opened.
A place of meditation.
An invitation to reflect on the life of an extraordinary artist.
The all white book unfolds to reveal two books, an accordion book of images, and a separate hand-stitched pamphlet, a book of poems. The two work in harmony as a narrative. They can be considered separately or together. The images do not illustrate the poems, The writing informs the images and vice versa.
Nothing has changed (and) everything has changed.
2015, edition of 70
7 1/4 x 6 inches, 84 pages, softcover, bound accordion book & hand-stitched pamphlet (includes 2 polaroids by Cy Twombly, thanks to the Cy Twombly Foundation)
Produced following a residency at the American Academy in Rome with the generous participation of the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio, Gaeta
Prints available upon request
Collections
American Academy in Rome; Art Institute of Chicago, Banff Centre; Brown University; Columbia University; Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio; Hellenic Centre for Photography, Athens, Greece; Lafayette College; Library of Congress; Menil Collection; McGill University; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal [2 prints]; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; National Poetry Library, London; Occidental College; Swarthmore College; University of Minnesota; University of Toronto; Washington & Lee University
Exhibitions
Occidental College, Los Angeles, California, 2019
in the garden, Cy Twombly, ONEROOM Books, Rome, Italy, 2018 [including photographs]
Photography and The Artist Book: First Edition, Fall Line Press, Atlanta, Georgia, 2017 [Atlanta Celebrates Photography; including photographs]
Gagosian Gallery Bookstore, New York, New York, 2017
Athens Photo Festival, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, 2017
Menil Collection Bookstore, Houston, Texas, 2016
Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Bruton, United Kingdom, 2016
American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy, 2015
Lectures
Hauser & Wirth, Bruton, United Kingdom, 2016
Menil Bookstore, Houston, Texas, 2016
Press
Ewa Monika Zebrowski: twombly, italia, L’Oeil de la Photographie, 7 March 2020
Traces of Virgil as a Chalk Giant: Ewa Monika Zebrowski’s Meditation on Cy Twombly by James D. Campbell, Ciel variable, Winter 2020
New York Times T Magazine on Instagram, March 2018
For the Love of Cy by Dorota Kozinska, Vie des Arts, Winter 2017-18 (French/English)
twombly, italia by James D. Campbell, The Book Arts Newsletter (ed. Sarah Bodman), no. 106, September-October 2016
