Assouline is a publishing house resolutely centered on “the notion of true luxury”. Founded in 1994 by Prosper and Martine Assouline, the company has produced over 1,700 titles in four main collections – Classic, Legend, Ultimate and XXL Collection – spanning art history, travel and culture. Among the artists and designers benefiting from the sumptuous Assouline treatment are René Magritte, Andy Warhol, Les Lalanne and Joaquín Sorolla.
Assouline’s next major art tome, to be released this month, focuses on Bauhaus-style. “Assouline’s book offers a more playful and subjective approach to the world of Bauhaus, which I found very relaxed as a scholar,” says Matteo Kries, author and director of the Vitra Design Museum. “I also like that the included images are large and printed in very high quality, which gives them a strong character, almost like in a museum.” We spoke to Prosper Assouline about the evolution of the company and its plans for the future.
The Art Newspaper: On the eve of your 30th birthday, how would you describe the Assouline brand?
Prosper Assouline:We produce so many things. We produce 120 books each year across four collections, so that’s a lot. It’s a pyramid scheme, working from the top, starting with our Icons collection (small format, around 60 euros), followed by our Classics collection all of which cost around €100 each, including our Journey series. Then there is the Legends collection, they cost around €250 each.
The Legends tomes are authoritative on their subjects, inspired by mythical eras, artists and high society. And at the top is the Ultimate collection, which is my favorite collection, it is a completely handmade collection, only by artisans. They are really high fashion. These are around $1,200 (€1,100) and we have a few special editions.
There is a very small triangle at the top of the pyramid for the books in our XXL series; these cost around €15,000. They can measure 2m when opened, they can be the size of a window!
Are your books only meant to be decorative?
Books can cost $60 (€54) or $15,000 (€13,800). They are meant to be an object because you have to live with them. It’s not just about what’s inside but also 80% what’s outside. Because it’s part of your life, it’s part of your decoration I want to say. All the books are made in collaboration with my wife and my son [Alexandre]; it is our cabinet of curiosities. I take care of the drawings.
I like to think that we are the customer. I want to create the books that I would like to own. And we decided to create such books because we couldn’t find what we wanted. Thus, we are first and foremost the customer.
Maison Assouline, the flagship store for publishing houses in London © Justin De Souza
How is the company structured?
Everything is done in-house at Assouline, and we like to control everything: production, editorials, designs, distribution, logistics and everything that cannot be seen. Other editors work with people from the outside, the logistics are entirely external, we do the exact opposite.
What is your approach to publishing art history texts?
What is the value for us of doing another book on Picasso? Certainly not. What we wanted was to look at Picasso from a certain point of view. So we made a beautiful book and asked his granddaughter Diana Widmaier Picasso to choose the 100 best pieces [Pablo Picasso: The Impossible Collection, 2019]. It is an excellent text, very simple. It is a success. For what? Because it’s a point of view. It’s not like we’re trying to cover everything about Picasso. That’s the only way we’re going to cover art.
Empress Pahlavi’s Book [of Iran] was also from his point of view [Tehran Modern, 2019]. Few people know about the museum [Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art] she created before she had to leave [in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution]. It was about his love for art. This was one of the most incisive releases and previews of the collection, as there really isn’t much to say about this collection.
What are your next publications?
We are preparing the second edition of The impossible art collection [October]. The first edition, published in 2010, was our first book in the Collection not possible series (part of our Ultimate collection). When I made this book 15 years ago, it was the ultimate art collection, based on the idea of saying, “If I have to die in a room full of art, it will be here.”
I said, “I’m going to find the best bits and put them in one book.” We asked [dealers] Philippe Segalot and Franck Giraud to select the 100 best pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries. The updated version to be released later this year is for the art up to the present day, selected again by Segalot
What is your digital publishing strategy?
Everything is still printed. But I will not translate our books into digital form. Never.
What does the future editorial landscape look like to you?
For us, it will be more and more luxury, we push the quality. We want to be more and more exceptional. It may be more expensive but the quality will remain impeccable.
