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 special issue on artists’ books, archives, and collections features artist projects by Nat Dean, Leon Golub, Don Hazlitt, Ellen Lanyon, Larry List, Richard Nonas, and Nancy Spero, as well as Matthew Hogan’s “A Report from the Archives,” Barbara Tannenbaum’s “Artists’ Books: A Chronology of Secondary Sources.” Book reviews by Alexandra Anderson, Shelly Rice, and Reagan Upshaw and interviews with Don Russell by Tony Whitfield and Ira Wool by Buzz Spector. Editorials and organizational news are also included.

32 pages
10 x 8 inches
Paperback
1983
Artists / Editors: Buzz Spector, Tony Whitfield
Designer: Adrienne Weiss
Publisher: Franklin Furnace

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