Black Book by Christopher Wool

Black Book was created in 1989 by a Chicago native, Christopher Wool. It is composed of a hardcover book with 17 screenprints printed on smooth wove bound paper. In Black Book, the writings are done in thick, black stencils printed on the white background. Words, such as “Assistant”, “Prankster”, and “Celebrity” are written in a non-linear and unconventional style that you would not see in ordinary books. The style of the artwork echoes Minimalism and other conceptual art movements of the 1960s. The price and the value of Black Book vary depending on the editions that are available at auction houses. For example, Phillips’s website lists the estimated price of edition 255/350 of $14,782–$22,173 and it was sold for $30,796. Christie’s listed the estimated price of $10,000 – $15,000 for edition 282/350. It has not been sold as of yet. Christopher Wool created works, such as Black Book, as a response to Neo-Expressionism that became popular in Europe and America in the 1980s. The Black Book is just a good example of how words can make art as powerful as images.