About
Elisabeth Tonnard is a Dutch artist and poet working in artists’ books, photography and literature.
She has published over forty books that are exhibited widely and held in numerous private and public collections including the Bodleian Library, Centre Pompidou, Columbia University, Getty Museum, Kunstbibliothek Berlin, MoMA Library, New York Public Library, Tate Library and the Walker Art Center. Much of her work involves responding to existing books, texts and images, reworking them into new (visual) literature. The works range in scale and method from a book that is completely invisible to a book that is a swimming pool. A catalogue of books is available here.
The work has won several awards, such as the Kleine Hans 2013. According to the jury report she is a “poet in the space between photographs.” In 2014 the Van Abbemuseum exhibited Elisabeth Tonnard Artists’ Books 2003-2014. In 2015 she was awarded a residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin. In 2017 two poetry books in Dutch were published: De wolk, en Voor het ideaal, lees de schaal. The latter was nominated for the C. Buddingh’ award 2018. In 2018 she did a residency at the Jan Michalski Foundation for Writing and Literature in Montricher, Switzerland. Tonnard is a 2017-2021 recipient of the Stipendium for Established Artists by the Mondriaan Fund.
© Fondation Jan Michalski, Tonatiuh Ambrosetti
Elisabeth Tonnard 