Art ephemera recently acquired from the Estate of Art Critic Edit DeAk.
Gallery 98 is excited with the recent acquisition of two large boxes of announcement cards, posters and other art ephemera from the estate of art critic Edit DeAk (1948-2017). As a co-founder of the influential DIY newsprint magazine ART-RITE, and as a writer for Artforum and other periodicals, DeAk was at the heart of downtown action. This collection of ephemera includes many treasures. Here is a small sampling for holiday shopping.
Palladium, Jean-Paul Gautier, Paper Mask / Invitation, 1987
Palladium, Jean-Paul Gautier, paper mask / invitation, February 18, 1987.
Size: 9.25 x 10 inches.
Fashion designer Gaultier organized this evening of events at the Palladium featuring a Gaultier look-alike contest with the winner flown to Paris to model in a Gaultier fashion show. Some may remember a similar mask of Gaultier associate Grace Jones from a 1980 event at Studio 54.
Danceteria, Sade Adu, Folded Card, 1983
Danceteria, Sade Adu, folded card, May 12, 1983.
Size: 5.5 x 8.5 inches
This elegant card announces Sade’s debut performance in America. The inside includes a long list of the downtown notables that made Danceteria one of the best nightclubs in the 1980s.
Town Hall, Suzanne Vega, Philip Glass, Martha Graham, Design by Stephen Sprouse, Folded Card, 1989
Town Hall, Suzanne Vega, Philip Glass, a concert for Martha Graham, design by Stephen Sprouse, folded card, May 21, 1989.
Size: 8.75 x 5.5 inches.
Dance legend Martha Graham was alive and working at age 95 at the time of this benefit. The goal was to raise money for a new piece for which Leonard Bernstein agreed to write a score. Singer Suzanne Vega and composer Philip Glass performed. Fashion designer Stephen Sprouse designed the announcement card using his distinctive lettering and graphic style.
Martha Rosler, Still from the Video “Semiotics of the Kitchen,” Holiday Card, c. 1975
Martha Rosler, grater scene from the video “Semiotics of the Kitchen,” holiday card, signed with rubber stamp on back, c. 1975
Size: 6.75 x 3.5
Martha Rosler’s pioneering video “Semiotics of the Kitchen” was a feminist parody of television cooking shows. Here Rosler takes her irony a step further by using an image from the tape on a commercially produced season’s greeting card. Her name is rubber stamped on the back.
Sonnabend Gallery, Piero Manzoni, Card, 1972
Sonnabend Gallery, Piero Manzoni, card, 1972.
Size: 7 x 5.5 inches.
The radical conceptualist Piero Manzoni died at the age of 29 nearly a decade before this exhibition, the first full-scale retrospective of his work in the United States. Manzoni is best known for creating small cans containing his feces. The photograph shows Manzoni with one of his inflatable sculptures containing “The Artist’s Breath.”
Memorial Mass for Andy Warhol, with Portrait Postcard by Christopher Makos, Invitation Package, 1989.
Memorial Mass for Andy Warhol, an invitation package created by Brigid Berlin, postcard portrait by Christopher Makos, card, invitation and envelope (addressed to John Lurie and Evan Lurie), 1989.
Envelope size: 7.25 5.25 inches; invitation size: 7 x 5.25 inches; postcard size: 6 x 4.25 inches; card size: 4.75 x 3.25 inches
Over 2000 people crowded into St. Patrick’s Cathedral for a memorial mass honoring Warhol who had died the previous month. Brigid Berlin prepared the memorial announcement with a postcard portrait of Warhol by Christopher Makos and a small insert. The invitation comes with its original envelope addressed to “John and Evan Lurie c/o Edit DeAk.”
