In 1950s New York, before he became one of the most famous names of the 20th century, Andy Warhol was already a skilled and successful commercial artist. During this time, as part of his strategy to woo clients and forge friendships, he created seven handmade artist’s books, reserved to his most valued contacts. These featured personal, unique drawings and quirky texts revealing his fondness for—among other subjects—cats, food, myths, shoes, beautiful boys, and gorgeous girls. Decades later, with originals now changing hands for thousands of dollars at auction, TASCHEN presents an XL-sized volume containing meticulous reprints of these seven books. With titles such as Love Is a Pink Cake, 25 Cats Named Sam, and À la Recherche du Shoe Perdu, the series reveals the artist’s off-the-wall character as well as his accomplished draftsmanship, boundless creativity, and innuendo-laced humor. This book makes delightful play with styles and genres, including A Is for Alphabet, which devotes a page to each letter of the alphabet, with illustrations complemented by stumbling three-line verses that tell of strange encounters between man and animal. In the Bottom of My Garden is at once a Warhol twist on a children’s book and a covert celebration of gay love. Wild Raspberries, meanwhile, is a spoof cookbook with a cornucopia of adventurous recipes and illustrations. This volume also includes introductions for each of Warhol’s illustrations. Complete with rarely seen photographs of the artist, inspirational ephemera, and commercial assignments, they contextualize Warhol’s 1950s art, offering a glimpse into his early creative process as well as his endearing, playful character. Little-known, much-coveted jewels in the Warhol crown, these hand-drawn delights are as appealing and original today as they were back in the halcyon days of the 1950s and offer a unique glimpse at a budding genius on the cusp of global fame. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

This book highlights two series of little known drawings from the 1950's, drawings where Andy Warhol first explored the controversial and for him deeply personal subject of drag. His oeuvre during the first decade of his career, before he became the god father of Pop, has proven to be enormously influential on his life's work but remains little known. In 1953, Warhol created two unique series of drawings, quite different from his commissioned work. In one series, he developed an ensemble of spirited wome n that were derived from photographs of stage divas and - of men in drag. He delved deeper into the art of dressing as the opposite sex with his second series, a set of portraits of men posing in high and low drag. This book considers Warhol's work and its d ebt to newly discovered photographs that his friend, photographer Otto Fenn, staged explicitly for Warhol's purpose. Drag & Draw sheds light on New York's secret gay and drag scenes during the repressive 1950s

English summary: Picasso was one of the most prolific artists of the 20th Century, including in the decorative art of book design. Between 1905 and 1973, he designed more than 150 books, the most important of which are shown in a superb exhibition at the Museum Brandhorst in Munich. The focus of the exhibition lies on Picasso's experimentation with techniques and expressive possibilities in this fascinating medium. This catalog and the exhibition present the artist's book by Picasso as a complex object, not as a commercial art. The universal artist scratched, cut, stabbed or drew illustrations, but he also wrote poems, dedications and political texts. Page sequences, layout and typography inspired him as much as book covers and slipcases. He used almost every previously known printing technique and drove new technologies to their limits. The earliest illustrations were created at the request of his friend, the author Max Jacob. They were followed in the coming decades by projects with Paul Eluard, Tristan Tzara, Pierre Reverdy, and many others. Picasso also responded to the invitations of major publishers such as Pierre Andre Benoit, Iliazd and Georges Hugnet, and with them he created some of the most beautiful art books of the 20th Century. The catalog Pablo Picasso: Kunst am Buch traces the stimulus that books exerted on Picasso and his friends. Pictures of side tracks, covers and slipcases clearly highlight the diversity of the medium. In-depth articles explain the collaboration with various authors and publishers and provide insight into some of the most exciting artist books. German text. German description: Picasso war einer der produktivsten Kuenstler des 20. Jahrhunderts, auch auf dem Gebiet des Kuenstlerbuchs. Zwischen 1905 und 1973 gestaltete er mehr als 150 Buecher, von denen die bedeutendsten in einer auaergewohnlichen Ausstellung im Museum Brandhorst in Muenchen gezeigt werden. Im Mittelpunkt steht Picassos Experimentierfreude mit den Techniken und Ausdrucksmoglichkeiten dieses fesselnden Mediums. Katalog und Ausstellung prasentieren das Kuenstlerbuch Picassos erstmals als komplexes Objekt, nicht als Gebrauchsgraphik. Der Universalkuenstler ritzte, schnitt, stach oder zeichnete Illustrationen, er verfasste aber auch selbst Gedichte, Widmungen und politische Texte. Seitenabfolge, Layout, Typographie inspirierten ihn ebenso wie Bucheinbande und Schuber. Er benutzte fast jede bis dahin bekannte Drucktechnik und trieb neue Techniken an ihre Grenzen. Die ersten Illustrationen schuf Picasso auf Bitten seines Freundes, des Autors Max Jacob. Es folgten in kommenden Jahrzehnten Projekte mit Paul Eluard, Tristan Tzara, Pierre Reverdy und anderen. Picasso reagierte zudem auf die Einladungen bedeutender Verleger wie Pierre Andre Benoit, Iliazd und Georges Hugnet und schuf mit ihnen einige der schonsten Kuenstlerbuecher des 20. Jahrhunderts. Den entstandenen Buchkunstwerken merkt man die Freude ihrer Schopfer an jedem Detail an, sie kitzeln beim Durchblattern alle Sinne. Der Katalog "Pablo Picasso. Kunst am Buch" spuert dem Reiz nach, den Buecher auf Picasso und seine Freunde ausgeuebt haben. Aufnahmen von Seitenstrecken, Einbanden und Schubern machen die Vielfalt des Mediums anschaulich. Vertiefende Texte erlautern die Zusammenarbeit mit einzelnen Autoren und Verlegern und geben Einblick in einige der spannendsten Kuenstlerbuecher.