Mail Art Archivist Chronicles Global Network and Institutional Placement Efforts
Ray Johnson pioneered mail art at Black Mountain College in the late 1940s, distributing moticos via postal networks. By 1962, he gained recognition with the New York Correspondence School. A librarian and archivist engaged with mail art since 1971, they moved to Dallas in 1981, opening a gallery featuring artists like Johnson and Anna Banana. They participated in Art Libraries Society of North America conferences and moved to San Francisco in 1995 to work at the Stamp Art Gallery. By the millennium, they inventoried 1,600 mail art exhibition documents from 54 countries. In 2001, they cataloged 3,711 mail art periodicals from 34 countries, proposing acquisition to the Museum of Modern Art, which later included mail art in the 2015 exhibition Transmissions.
Key facts
- Ray Johnson studied at Black Mountain College in the late 1940s and founded the New York Correspondence School by 1962.
- The author earned an Information Studies degree from Syracuse University in 1971 and worked at the Oneida Community Historical Society.
- The author relocated to Dallas, Texas in 1981 and opened a gallery featuring mail artists like Ray Johnson, Anna Banana, and Monty Cantsin.
- The author inventoried 1,600 mail art exhibition documents from 54 countries, including the 1970 Whitney Museum exhibition organized by Ray Johnson and Marcia Tucker.
- The Getty Research Institute acquired the mail art collection as a complement to the Jean Brown Archive.
- The author cataloged 3,711 mail art periodicals from 34 countries spanning 1972-2001.
- The Museum of Modern Art included mail art in its 2015 exhibition Transmissions: Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America, 1960-1980.
- Jon Hendricks, a Fluxus archivist and MoMA library trustee, consulted on the acquisition of the mail art periodicals collection.
Entities
Artists
- Ray Johnson
- Anna Banana
- Monty Cantsin
- Joseph Raphael
- Marcia Tucker
- William S. Wilson
- Kynaston L. McShine
- David Mayor
- Robin Crozier
- Clemente Padin
- Felipe Ehrenberg
- Terry Wright
- Terry Reid
- Ken Friedman
- Davi Det Hompson
- Robert Filliou
- George Brecht
- Bern Porter
- Guillermo Deisler
- Lowell Darling
- Jiri Valoch
- Edgardo-Antonio Vigo
- Wolf Vostell
- Paulo Bruscky
- Ulises Carrión
- Clemente Padín
- Pawel Petasz
- Edgardo Antonio Vigo
- Michael Morris
- Vincent Trasov
- Judith Hoffberg
- Bill Gaglione
- Jon Hendricks
- Donna De Salvo
- Catherine Gudis
- Kate Craig
Institutions
- Black Mountain College
- Syracuse University
- Oneida Community Historical Society
- Dallas Public Library
- Art Libraries Society of North America
- Stamp Art Gallery
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Museum of Modern Art
- Getty Research Institute
- Sacramento State College
- Beau Geste Press
- Bede Gallery
- Galeria U
- Anderson Gallery
- Virginia Commonwealth University
- Joslyn Art Museum
- Auckland University
- Gallery U
- Scarecrow Press
- SFAQ & NYAQ Publications
- Western Front Publication
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Dallas
- Texas
- San Francisco
- California
- Syracuse
- Upstate New York
- Oneida Community
- Europe
- Latin America
- Soviet Union
- Japan
- England
- Exeter
- Falmouth
- Croydon
- Oxford
- Cardiff
- Nottingham
- Backburn
- Hastings
- Cullompton
- Jarrow
- Uruguay
- Montevideo
- New Zealand
- Auckland
- Richmond
- Virginia
- Omaha
- Nebraska
- London
- Vancouver
- Canada
- Switzerland
Sources
- SFAQ —