Elisabetta Gut
Born in 1934.
Elisabetta Gut is distinguished by a practice centred on book-objects, object-poems, and artists’ books, genres through which she gives visual form to poetry, music, and the fragility of life. She frequently incorporates organic materials—leaves, seeds, wood—which she describes as “ancient alphabets”.
During the Second World War, her parents sent her to Switzerland for her protection; according to the source, the trauma of this separation may have had psychological consequences that made communication difficult after her return to Rome in 1945.
In 1964, she created her first book-object, Diario, presented as an assemblage. Her works include L'Uccello di fuoco (Da Stravinsky) / The Firebird (1985), an artists’ book in cut paper and collage held by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The NMWA also programmed exhibitions connected with her work, notably Hard Copy: Book as Sculpture (2009–10) and Books Without Words: The Visual Poetry of Elisabetta Gut (2010–11).