The Flue was a periodical published between 1980 and 1989 by the venerable institution Franklin Furnace Archive, which was founded in 1976 by the artist Martha Wilson to present, preserve, interpret, proselytize, and advocate on behalf of avant-garde art, especially forms that may be vulnerable due to institutional neglect, cultural bias, their ephemeral nature, or politically unpopular content. The periodical took on a multitude of media forms and functions, from organizational newsletters to exhibition supplements and catalogs, to scholarly surveys of contemporary and historical artists’ book movements. This shapeshifting approach was supplemented by artists’ projects and a changing cast of editors and designers, most of whom were artists. In total, there were sixteen issues of The Flue across six volumes, and all have been digitized and made available online for the first time here.

This double issue is the catalog to the exhibition Cubist Prints / Cubist Books, which was curated by Donna Stein. It features forewords by Aldis Browne and Martha Wilson, “Cubism and the Future of Art” by Ernő Kállai, “Four Poets and the Cubist Painters,” by Ron Padgett; and “Cubist Illustrated Books in Context,” by Donna Stein. An annotate checklist and indexes of artists, writers, and lenders is also included.

128 pages
9 x 8 inches
Paperback
1983
Editor: Martha Wilson
Designer: Erika Rothenberg
Publisher: Franklin Furnace

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Managing Editor (2021): James Hoff
Managing Designer (2021): Dan Bourke