EXPLORE OUR INVENTORY BY HISTORIC STYLES –
5,000 Gallery Cards, Posters and Catalogs, 1970s – 90s

PERFORMANCE ART

Tehching (Sam) Hsieh, “One Year Performance (Time Clock Piece),” Poster, 1980-81. Size:  17 x 11 inches.

From 1978 to 1984 Hsieh executed in quick succession four grueling one-year performances.  The “Time Clock” performance was the second in this series and possibly the most difficult.  For one year Hsieh punched a time clock every hour on the hour which disrupted his sleep and his ability to leave his house except for short durations. This poster, designed and printed by the artist, was sent to friends, and marks the days when they could witness the performance at his studio loft. Posters for “Time Clock” are exceedingly rare especially when compared to the many posters Hsieh produced for his later one-year “Outdoor” performance (1981-82).

ENVIRONMENTAL ART

Stein Gladstone Gallery, James Turrell, Folded Card, 1990.  Size: 5 x 7 inches.

The photograph on the front of this card shows Turrell’s skyscape “Meeting” originally commissioned for the opening of the art space P.S.1 in 1976 but not completed until 1980.  It consists of a precisely cut opening in the ceiling that isolates and frames a section of the sky.  Turrell has modified the work in later years with the addition of colored lights.  In 2019 “Meeting” was temporarily closed when scaffolding from nearby construction intruded into the view of the sky.

PICTURES GENERATION

Paula Cooper Gallery, Tenth Anniversary Benefit for the Kitchen, Card, 1981.  Size: 4 x 6 inches.

This invitation for a benefit exhibition features a drawing by Robert Longo from his “Men in the Cities” series.  Longo is one of the prominent names of the Pictures Generation, a loose grouping of artists interested in mass media who often found new meanings by isolating and re-contextualizing images.  The Kitchen founded in Soho in 1971 was a pioneering venue for performance art.

NEO-EXPRESSIONISM

Sperone Westwater Gallery and Mary Boone Gallery, Francesco Clemente, Oversize Card, 1983, Size: 12 ¼ x 9 ¼.

Francesco Clemente was one of the leaders of the international revival of painting in the 1980s that was called the Transavantgardia in Italy, the Neue Wilden (New Wild Ones) in Germany, and is now generally referred to as Neo-expressionism.  This large-size card printed on textured paper announced the heavily promoted two-gallery exhibition that helped establish Clemente’s reputation in America.  As the image shows, Clemente’s roots are as much in Surrealism as in Expressionism.