The terms “figure” and “ground” became central to art history and visual theory over the twentieth century. But are they really the right framework for thinking about premodern art and artifacts? Between Figure and Ground: Seeing in Premodernity takes a fresh look at how we see and understand these relationships, expanding art-historical language and challenging our lingering ties to modernist ideas.

At 652 pages, this is the thickest book we’ve designed so far. Yet the design revolves around one simple concept: merging figure and page numbers into a single system. This subtle typographic move creates a dialogue between image and text, figure and ground—reflecting the book’s theoretical questions through its physical form.