Out of My Head - The Imaginary Creatures of Josep Baque

Out of My Head - The Imaginary Creatures of Josep Baqué / ISBN 9781683966814 / 480-page hardback, published 2023 by Fantagraphics / small bit of rubbing to cover (universal to this print run)

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Out of My Head: The Imaginary Creatures of Josep Baqué tells the unbelievable story of a World War II-era police officer in Barcelona who in his private time created 1500 imaginary creatures and told not a soul about them.

In this first-ever critical biography of Baqué, art historian, author, and curator Brian Chidester reflects the artist and his creation through the prism of 20th century art, the Franco dictatorship in Spain (1939–75), and the few correlative records in Baqué’s personal archive.

Yet the book doubles as a manual of sorts on the creative process, and most fascinatingly, speaks to the deeper role the imagination plays in overcoming oppression through wonder.

Full-color illustrations throughout