Bowdoin College
Library / George J. Mitchell Dept. of Special Collections & Archives

50Books

  • About the Exhibition
  • Exhibits Home

Bern Porter, Aphasia. Madison, Me.: [s.n.], 1961 [i.e., 1961-ca. 1966].

Bern Porter, Aphasia. Madison, Me.: [s.n.], 1961 [i.e., 1961-ca. 1966].
Image 41 of 50

Unique 'found art' artist's book.

Porter defined this work as 'A psycho-visual satire on printed communication' (p. [3]). It consists exclusively of equally sized and bound clippings from newspapers, advertising inserts, comic strips, and similar pulp printings that illustrate commercialism, popular culture, and the mundane. Formerly a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, Porter quit his job after the bombing of Hiroshima and, although he later participated on the Saturn V space project, he principally turned to publishing, to making avant garde art and to writing experimental poetry. He was an innovator especially with such art forms as found art, mail art, and performance art.

Gift: Bern Porter.

George J. Mitchell Department of
Special Collection & Archives
Bowdoin College Library
3000 College Station · Brunswick ME 04011-8421
207-725-3288 · Email Us