From our newsletter archives — Originally published May 12, 2022.
Timothy Greenfield Sanders, Art World: 700 Portraits, Mary Boone Gallery, 1999. From left to right: Cindy Sherman, Leo Castelli, Alex Katz, David Hammons, Elaine de Kooning, Nicholas Serota, Meyer Schapiro, Agnes Martin, Douglas Cramer. Folded card.
Size: 7 x 7 Inches
If you want to own just one item of art ephemera, a good choice might be a gallery invitation featuring a portrait of your favorite artist. This type of card has long been used as a way to advertise exhibitions, especially if the artist is well-known or has a distinctive look. On occasion, portraits of gallery owners are also found on invitations. Much rarer are the cards featuring a group portrait of all the artists represented by a particular gallery.
Gallery 98 has a special page of art ephemera featuring artist portraits. We are spotlighting here a small selection of items, most of which are new to our inventory. All items are for sale.
Timothy Greenfield Sanders is a photographer who made a specialty of art-world portraiture and the card above is for an exhibition of 700 of these pictures. All the cards below depict famous artists; many were also created by well-known artists including Andy Warhol, Annie Liebovitz, Marcia Resnick and Robert Mapplethorpe.
Emmanuelle and Jérôme de Noirmont and the gallery wish you the best for 2005, folded holiday card
Jérôme and Emmanuelle de Noirmont with the artists of the gallery on November 24, 2004 during the gallery’s 10th birthday celebration. Left to right: David Mach, Bernar Venet, Jérôme de Noirmont, Peter McGough, Shirin Neshat, Bettina Rheims, Jeff Koons, Anh Duong, Brigitte Nahon, Pierre, Emmanuelle de Noirmont, Gilles, David McDermott, Adele, A.R. Penck, Eva, George Condo. Folded holiday card. Size: 8.75 x 6 Inches — Available
This special New Year’s card from the Jérôme de Noirmont Gallery in 2005, features a group portrait of gallery artists that includes Sherin Neshat, Jeff Koons, George Condo and others. Leo Castelli Gallery, Mary Boone Gallery, and Hal Bromm Gallery are among those that created similar cards with group portraits.
James Nares (now Jamie Nares), Desirium Probe, photo by Marcia Resnick, card, The Kitchen, 1978
James Nares (now Jamie Nares), Desirium Probe, photo by Marcia Resnick, card, The Kitchen, 1978. Size: 8.5 x 5.75 — Available
In Desirium Probe, a 1978 performance at The Kitchen, James (now Jamie) Nares transformed himself into an erratic, channel-switching TV set. The portrait of Nares, a well-known painter and filmmaker, is from photographer Marcia Resnick’s contemporaneous series, Bad Boys.
Sarah Lucas, Self Portraits 1990-98, card, Tomio Koyama Gallery (Tokyo), 2000
Sarah Lucas, Self Portraits 1990-98, card, Tomio Koyama Gallery (Tokyo), 2000.
Size: 4 x 6 Inches — Available
This card is for an exhibition of twelve self-portraits by Sarah Lucas who emerged in the 1990s as part of the provocative Young British Artist group. The self-portraits explore her life as an artist and a woman, and often express a defiant femininity with a combination of macho and female gestures.
Keith Haring, photo by Annie Leibovitz, card, Lucien Durand Gallery (Paris), 1997
Keith Haring, photo by Annie Leibovitz, card, Lucien Durand Gallery, (Paris), 1997.
Size: 6 x 8.5 Inches
The card for this Keith Haring exhibition features a rarely seen portrait of the artist originally taken in 1986 by Annie Liebovitz for a magazine that folded before the photo could be published. Leibovitz has written, “It’s hard to paint yourself. Keith did only the front. I loved the way he painted his penis. It was so witty, with an elongated line.”
Pat Hearn, portrait by Andy Warhol, card for emergency art sale to benefit Pat Hearn, 1998
Pat Hearn, portrait by Andy Warhol, card for emergency art sale to benefit Pat Hearn, Pat Hearn Gallery, 1998. Size: 5 x 6 Inches
Pat Hearn was one of the most successful art dealers to emerge from the East Village in the 1980s. Her life was tragically cut short by liver cancer in 2000. This card promotes an emergency benefit auction to help with medical expenses. It features a Polaroid portrait of Hearn taken by Andy Warhol in 1985. Another Warhol portrait from that session was used on a card promoting the 2001 Armory Show which was dedicated to Hearn, one of the art fair’s original founders.
Maya Lin & Daniel Wolf, from photographer Mariana Cook’s exhibition Couples, folded card, Mitchell-Inness & Nash Gallery, 2001
Maya Lin & Daniel Wolf, from photographer Mariana Cook’s exhibition Couples, folded card, Mitchell-Inness & Nash Gallery, 2001. Size: 6.75 x 7.25 Inches
Unlike the other cards here, this one is not for an exhibition of the artist depicted, but rather for the photographer who took the portrait. Mariana Cook has singled out her photograph of artist Maya Lin and her husband photography dealer Daniel Wolf for the announcement card that promoted Couples, her book and the related exhibition.
Ellen Gallagher, photo by Hugo Glendinning, folded card, Anthony d’Offay Gallery (London), 1996
Ellen Gallagher, photo by Hugo Glendinning, folded card, Anthony d’Offay Gallery (London), 1996. Size: 6 x 7.5 Inches — Available
This portrait of artist Ellen Gallagher silhouetted against a painting with a grid emphasizes her braided hair. It effectively echoes Gallagher’s art which often makes subtle references to race in combination with formal concerns. This 1996 card for a Gallagher exhibition at one of Britain’s most prestigious galleries marks her rapid rise after her success at the 1995 Whitney Biennial. The photo is by Hugo Glendinning, a British photographer who often worked with artists.
Alice Neel, photo by Robert Mapplethorpe, folded card, Ron Judish Fine Arts Gallery (Colorado), 2001
Alice Neel, Photo by Robert Mapplethorpe, Folded Card and Insert, Ron Judish Fine Arts Gallery (Colorado), 2001. Size: 5.75 x 8.5 Inches — Available
This is believed to be the last portrait of Alice Neel, taken only a week or so before her death from cancer in October 1984. At age eighty-four Neel made the trip to Robert Mapplethorpe’s studio as evidenced by the familiar brick wall behind her. The portrait, with closed eyes and open mouth, recalls a death mask but there is also something erotic, not surprising for a Mapplethorpe photograph.
