TBW Books is pleased to present A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai) by Jeff Wall. The original, a transparency in a lightbox in the permanent collection at Tate Modern, London, is not simply a photograph, and in a similar way, this scale reproduction is not simply a book. Nearly a decade in the making, this collaboration between the artist and publisher responds to the challenge of how Wall’s work, characterized by its synthesis of materiality and scale, could be rendered uniquely into a new book form.

TBW Books’ A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai) reproduces the image printed from the artist’s original digital montage file on 98 unbound lightweight sheets of paper. Collectors can assemble them to create a full size version. Once installed, the sheets’ gentle movements, created by local airflow, echo the fly-away energy of the papers in the original picture. This version of the work creates a new relationship between the image and the atmosphere that it has become renowned for evoking.

With tremendous attention to design, reproduction, and quality of materials – from the crafted orange folder that houses the pages, echoing the one appearing in Wall’s original, to the foil-stamped clamshell signed and numbered by the artist – this edition of only 300 copies is a conceptual achievement guided by the highest standards of bookmaking. 

Note: To join the waitlist for this title, please email info@tbwbooks.com with the subject line "Jeff Wall"

Foil stamped clamshell housed in slipcase with tip-on
Signed and numbered by the artist
Edition of 300
98 unbound color plates
35.5 x 30 cm
229 x 377 cm when assembled