February 2017 | Rebecca Rego Barry

Rare Book Week West: Chinese Book Art & Design

All this week on the blog we'll be highlighting Rare Book Week West--either items on offer at the book fairs and special auction or items on exhibit at numerous San Francisco Bay-area venues. Today's post combines two of these: the Codex Book Fair & Symposium and the Book Club of California, both of which put the spotlight Chinese book art and design this year.

Screen Shot 2017-02-03 at 11.42.08 AM.pngPictured above is a handmade book by Codex exhibitor, Ning Li of XM Books.

At Codex, which opened earlier today, eleven artists from China are exhibiting their work. At the symposium tomorrow and Tuesday, both keynote speakers, Lu Jingren and Marshall Weber, will address related topics. Jingren, one of China's most influential book designers, will discuss traditional Chinese book art and the effect of Western influences. Weber, artist and curator at Booklyn, will give a talk titled "Reflections on Diamond Leaves: artists' books in China now."

Concurrently, the Book Club of California hosts the exhibition, Lu Jingren: Master of Chinese Book Design, showcasing "some of Professor Lu's finest and most inventive works, which provide a modern response to the centuries-long traditions of both Chinese and Japanese book making." The exhibit remains on view through March 13.