Portraits of Artists: Gagosian Invitation Cards, 1992 – 1993

The Gagosian Gallery—now with nineteen locations around the world—has always been serious about promotional materials. It’s founder Larry Gagosian began his art career selling posters, and today the gallery maintains its own publishing division with an inventory of 600 titles in addition to a quarterly magazine. The invitation cards and posters produced by the gallery have always been of the highest quantity as previously noted in our newsletter Luxury Art Ephemera.

The cards featured here date from the early 1990s soon after Gagosian added a second uptown New York space on Madison Avenue. During these years the gallery featured older established male artists, and was only just beginning to add younger ones to its roster. These 1992 cards feature striking black and white photographs of artists in their studios, that focus on their fame, and the drama and romance of art making.

Because the Gagosian Gallery has represented so many important artists over the years, and has put so much emphasis on the quality of its promotional material, invitations and posters from the gallery are particularly popular among collectors of art ephemera. See more on our Gagosian Gallery page.

Jasper Johns

James Rosenquist

Philip Taaffe

Mark Di Suvero

Yves Klein