Hatje Cantz, Sachbücher, Bohemia (Englisch, Russell Ferguson, Kunsthalle Praha, Studio Najbrt, 2023)

From its origins in mid-nineteenth-century Paris, the idea of bohemia has been a powerful and persistent component of artistic identity. While artists have always in part had a reputation for living outside societal norms, it was here that such a way of life was first codified and romanticized. The concept of bohemia quickly achieved an international currency, and after the Second World War it emerged in many different places around the world.Bohemia: History of an Idea, 1950–2000 looks at the differences and the continuities in a variety of these scenes. It concludes at the end of the twenty-first century, when commodity culture began to erode a way of life predicated on its refusal. The bohemian idea nevertheless still offers an alternative to conformity, and for that reason still exerts a fascination. Even from out of the past, it still beckons with ways of living that continue to galvanize and inspire.Published to accompany a major exhibition at the Kunsthalle Praha, this book includes discussion of important works by a diverse range of artists, including Stan Douglas, Ed van der Elsken, Nan Goldin, Tomislav Gotovac, Peter Hujar, Libuše Jarcovjáková, Alice Neel, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Zhang Huan, among many others.The publication accompanies the exhibition Bohemia: History of an Idea, 1950–2000, which examines the historical persistence of the idea of bohemia. From its origins in mid nineteenth-century Paris, the idea of bohemia has been a powerful component of what it means to be an artist. While artists have always in part had a reputation for living outside societal norms, it was here that such a way of life was first codified.The exhibition curator and editor of the publication Russell Ferguson, Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, will look at the world of bohemia from the end of the Second World War until the end of the century, when the culture of the commodity began to erode even a way of life predicated on its refusal.