Invisible Colors: A Visual History of Titles

by John Welchman

In one of his sparkling aphorisms on the end of "optical" art, Marcel Duchamp suggested that the title of an artwork was an "invisible color." John Welchman now offers the first critical history of how and why modern artworks receive their titles. He shows that titles were seldom produced and can rarely be understood outside of the institutional parameters that made them visible-exhibitions, criticism, catalogues, and even national politics.

464 pages, Hardcover

First published November 13, 1997