Quick Facts
Biography
Elisabeth Tonnard (1973) is a Dutch artist and poet working in artists' books, photography and literature.
She has published thirty-two books that are exhibited widely and held in numerous private and public collections including the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Brooklyn Museum, Centre Pompidou, Columbia University, International Center for Photography, 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 poetry, and creating photographic visual narratives. The works range in scale and method from a book that is completely invisible, to a book containing a short story that swallowed a novel, to a book that is a swimming pool. The work has won several awards, most recently the Kleine Hans (Little Hans) Award 2013. According to the jury report she is a "poet in the space between photographs."
Tonnard received an MA in literature from the Radboud University in The Netherlands, where she also taught comparative literature, and an MFA in Visual Studies from Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York.
The Van Abbe Museum in The Netherlands is currently exhibiting Elisabeth Tonnard Artists' Books 2003–2014.