Catalogue Bohemia EN – A History of an Idea

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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 continuities across a variety of these scenes. It concludes at the end of the twentieth 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 continues to beckon with ways of living that galvanize and inspire.

Published to accompany a major exhibition at 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, Zhang Huan, and many others.

The author, Russell Ferguson, a research professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, has written widely about postwar and contemporary art. His books include In Memory of My Feelings: Frank O’Hara and American Art (1999) and, with Kerry Brougher, Damage Control: Art and Destruction since 1950 (2013).