Alison Knowles — A Finger Book (Prints & Video), Galerie J & J Donguy, Paris, 1988

21 × 10.5 cm. Offset lithograph on card stock. Printed by Suisse Imprimerie, Paris. Blank verso. Very good vintage condition with light age toning and minor handling wear consistent with age.

Original exhibition invitation issued for Alison Knowles’ A Finger Book (Prints & Video) at Galerie J & J Donguy, Paris, 21 June – 9 July 1988. Opening reception: Tuesday 21 June, 18:00–21:00. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 14:30–19:00.

The exhibition centred on Knowles’ long-running Finger Book project, a tactile and participatory work that grew from her Fluxus investigations into touch, language, books, and everyday experience. The invitation itself reproduces the playful graphic vocabulary associated with the project — loose gestural drawings of book-like forms annotated in Knowles’ hand with the titles A Finger Book, Un Livre Tactile, and prints & video / by Alison Knowles — functioning as an extension of the exhibition rather than simply an announcement.

By 1988, Alison Knowles had already established herself as one of the central figures of the Fluxus movement alongside George Brecht, Dick Higgins, Nam June Paik, and Yoko Ono. Her practice consistently dissolved distinctions between performance, publishing, sculpture, poetry, and daily life. Books were never merely containers for text but tactile objects to be handled, activated, and experienced. The Finger Book series belongs to this broader investigation into participation and sensory perception, making this invitation an especially direct reflection of the work it promoted.

Galerie J & J Donguy occupied an important position within the Parisian avant-garde of the 1980s, championing visual poetry, Fluxus, concrete poetry, artists’ books, and experimental publishing at a moment when much of this material remained outside mainstream institutional attention. Invitations from the gallery were typically produced in modest quantities for mailing lists, collectors, artists, and collaborators, meaning relatively few survive decades later in well-preserved condition.

Today, cards such as this have become increasingly appreciated as primary documents of late Fluxus activity. Unlike catalogues, they were intended for immediate circulation and disposal, making surviving examples considerably less common than the exhibitions they announced. They preserve not only exhibition history but also the graphic language, publishing culture, and informal networks through which Fluxus continued to operate during the 1980s.

Shipping and handling included in the listed price.