In the 1960s he chose an antique book in a junk shop. The Novel was called the Human Document an obscure Victorian work by WH Mallock in 1892. Phillips set himself the challenge of turning each page in a painting, a work of art. But to make it a collaboration between himself and Mallock, Phillips randomly ringed words on a page then painted out the rest. Leaving the words as fragments and a kind of poem he then created a painting around the words. The result was often enigmatic, with the words creating a poem and a work of art with the painting.
The resulting paintings were exhibited in 1972 and as the project became famous Phillips produced a book titled the Humument (fragments of Human Document).
Tom Phillips revisited the concept in 2012 and created 82 new pages
Page from Victorian Novel
Same Page from Humument 1972
Same Page in 2012 version
