The Life Library of Susanne Kessler
The “life library” of the artist Susanne Kessler, which has grown to this day to 38 books with an entire content of 2860 pages, is a ‘work in progress’. The preciousness of these books is expressed in the leather covers in which the “Life Library” is stacked. The contents of the hidden books are important and intimate, often it is exhibited only in these protecting covers.
The books have accompanied Susanne Kessler’s artistic work since 1982. Many times she experimented in them with new forms of expression, anticipating topics that will later be taken up and further developed. Some books are a kind of artistic diary, in which profound personal experience are reflected.
The volumes she works in, are in general alienated: Most are hand-written account books of the years 1933-1940. The format and extent to which each topic can develop and mature is in this way predetermined.
The artist understands the double pages as units, as diptychs.
