December 7, 2023
Last Call Before Christmas: Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980
Selling Polaroids is a picture book for many audiences. Drinkers and dive-bar aficionados will certainly be pleased. But it is also for fans of Amsterdam and the libertine spirit that the city continues to embody today. Mostly though, it is a book celebrating the freewheeling lifestyle that artists enjoyed in the late 1970s and early 80s, a…
November 29, 2023
Alice Denney (1922 – 2023): Shaking Things Up in Boring Old Washington, D.C.
Alice Denney enjoyed nothing more than causing a ruckus by exhibiting challenging new art in “boring old Washington.” We first met in 1974 when I moved to Washington for a year, and art-world acquaintances suggested I contact her. Alice loved action — giving parties, collecting art by young artists, and…
November 28, 2023
Photocopy Machines: Xerox Flyers, Zines, and Other Art Ephemera
Last week’s opening of the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines (closing March 31, 2024) is a reminder of the important role that the photocopy machine played in the creation of new modes of art and art ephemera. While the technology used in copy machines dates back to…
November 16, 2023
ODDS AND ENDS: Art Ephemera From Our Inventory
This week’s newsletter features an eclectic group of items. The artists created in a range of styles — expressionism, pop, no wave, cartoon satire, and photo journalism. There is also a wide range in what we identify as art ephemera, including familiar formats like announcement cards and press releases, as well as artist books, artist-designed advertisements, an…
November 2, 2023
A Collection of Ephemera From The Texas Gallery: Houston as a Center for New Art in the 1970s and 80s
Thanks in part to our new high-visibility website, Gallery 98 is increasingly being approached by artists and galleries who want their history to be part of our ever-expanding collection of art ephemera. Recently, we were fortunate to obtain a large collection of announcement cards from the Texas Gallery, courtesy of its principal owner Fredericka…
October 26, 2023
Four Stories in Art Ephemera
There is no shortage of treasures buried in Gallery 98’s extensive inventory of close to 7,000 items. Each one of these four items captures a different moment and direction in art. All have stories to tell. Richard Lippold, Sculpture for Four Seasons Restaurant, Signed Card, 1961 Richard Lippold, The Four Seasons,…
October 20, 2023
A Collectible for Art History Buffs
Whether you’re interested in a specific artist, an art movement like graffiti, or how art reflects political and social issues, you can quickly find what you are looking for on Gallery 98’s swift new website. Our inventory of art ephemera keeps growing — currently there are 6,961 items posted, and we…
October 12, 2023
Jenny Holzer & The Artist Group COLAB, 1978 – 1983: Posters, Stickers, and The Black Book
Gallery 98 is fortunate to have recently acquired a collection of early Jenny Holzer items from 1979-82, a fertile period when Holzer first developed important aspects of her art. These were also the years when Holzer was an active participant in Collaborative Projects Inc. (COLAB), an artist’s group, that like Holzer, shared an interest in…
October 6, 2023
Rediscover Art Through Vintage Ephemera: Over 6,800 Items Posted – More Items Posted Daily
For those interested in the history of art, the cards, posters and catalogs created in conjunction with past exhibitions provide a way to relive the art experience as it originally unfolded. These vintage collectibles not only provide documentation of specific art-world events, they also contextualize art in the social and commercial structure that gives art its fullest…
September 28, 2023
AREA The Legendary Nightclub: Cards and Invitations, 1983 – 1987
New York’s nightclub scene in the 1970s and 1980s is legendary today for its creativity, as well, its hedonism and debauchery. Studio 54 (1977), the Mudd Club (1978), Club 57 (1979), Danceteria (1979), and the Limelight (1983) were the early clubs that set the tone. AREA opened in September 1983 and was part of a second wave, yet…
September 21, 2023
Jean-Michel Basquiat & AREA Nightclub: Invitations Capture the Connection, 1985
Jean-Michel Basquiat and AREA owner Eric Goode from the book Area: 1983–1987 authored by Eric Goode & Jennifer Goode, photograph by Valerie Shaff, published by Abrams, 2013 For the talented and prolific Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1985 shaped up to be a banner year. In February, his portrait was on the cover of The…
September 14, 2023
Exciting News: Our New Website
Gallery 98 is happy to announce the launch of our new website. It has been obvious for quite a while that vintage art ephemera is a growing market, and that people enjoy looking through our vast collection of old cards and posters. It has also been clear that websites grow…
September 6, 2023
A Public Sculpture/An Easy Target: Richard Serra & David Hammons
Every example of art ephemera tells a story, and sometimes, when two items connect, the story can get very interesting. That’s certainly the case with two items currently in Gallery 98’s inventory: a poster featuring a photo of Richard Serra’s public sculpture TWU (the initials for the Transit Workers Union), and a copy of Franklin Furnaces’ magazine Flue with…
August 25, 2023
Three Tasteful Vintage Posters
Expanding our inventory of vintage posters by top artists from the last decades of the 20th Century is an ongoing process here at Gallery 98. We are currently photographing and processing a large collection of posters. As a taste of what is to come, here are three favorites. Each is…
August 18, 2023
Psychedelic Solution: A Counterculture Fine Arts Gallery, 1986–1995
During its ten-year run as a gallery from 1986–1995, Psychedelic Solution provided a populist alternative to art styles found in other galleries. It specialized in works by Rick Griffin, Robert Williams, Robert Crumb and the many other accomplished artists who can be credited with pioneering what is now known as psychedelic…
August 9, 2023
Fashion Moda: A South Bronx Outpost
When Stefan Eins opened the art space Fashion Moda in the South Bronx in 1978, he hoped that the unlikely setting, one of the country’s most devastated neighborhoods, would stir the creativity of his Downtown peers.
August 2, 2023
“Art Gangster” Unmasked
For several years, Gallery 98 has been puzzled by a piece of mail art in our inventory, originally sent to the offices of Artforum in 1974. The piece consists of the front page of the LA Times of February 28, 1974, with a lead story on Tony Shafrazi’s vandalism of Pablo Picasso’s…
July 26, 2023
Dubbed in Glamour: Creative Women of Downtown NYC, 1980
Some art ephemera ages especially well. One example is this vintage 1980 poster for “Dubbed in Glamour” advertising three nights of performances at the Kitchen in Soho.
July 20, 2023
Revisiting Some of Gallery 98’s Earliest Online Exhibitions
As Gallery 98 continues creating new online exhibitions, our old exhibitions remain online for viewing. From our newsletter archive we have resurrected here an August 9, 2017 newsletter promoting the most popular of our early online exhibitions.
July 12, 2023
“Primitivism” in 20th Century Art: Press Packet for a 1984 MoMA Exhibition
MoMA’s 1984 blockbuster exhibition “Primitivism” in 20th Century Art proudly boasted that the exhibition was the first to “juxtapose modern and tribal objects in the light of informed art history.” While the organizers thought of themselves as being scholarly and objective, the fact that they put quotation marks around the…
July 6, 2023
T-Shirts From The Fashion Moda Store at Documenta 7, 1982
In 1982 the idea of the DIY artist store went mainstream when the upscale German exhibition documenta 7 asked Stefan Eins & Jenny Holzer to create a Fashion Moda Store.
June 29, 2023
Front Page News in the Netherlands
“Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980” a book of photographs by Bettie Ringma and Gallery 98’s Marc H Miller had a successful launch last week in Amsterdam.
June 21, 2023
Toyo’s Rivington School Sculpture Garden Portfolio, 1985–87
Gallery 98 presents Toyo Tsuchiya’s Rivington School Sculpture Garden portfolio. The portfolio includes a panoramic view of the now destroyed sculpture garden, as well as eleven additional prints signed and annotated by Toyo.
June 15, 2023
The Vanitas Still-Life Paintings of Audrey Flack, 1976–78
Vintage art ephemera by Audrey Flack, including hand-signed offset prints of her vanitas still-life paintings, available for purchase at Gallery 98.
June 8, 2023
Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980: Book Launch at the Amsterdam City Archives
The Amsterdam City Archives will host the launch of “Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980” on June 15th. Copies can be purchased directly from Lecturis NL.
June 1, 2023
Beats, Yippies, Panthers: Counterculture Ephemera
This newsletter showcases counterculture ephemera from the 1960s, including items related to Jimi Hendrix, Woodstock, the Black Panther Party, the Chicago Eight trial, Abbie Hoffman, Allen Ginsberg, Tuli Kupferberg, and the Cannabis Cup.
May 25, 2023
The New York Phonebook as Raw Material: Two Fluxus Artists—Jean Dupuy and William Stone
Works by Fluxus artists Jean Dupuy and William Stone using old New York Phonebooks showcase the movement’s freedom, experimentation, recycling, and humor.
May 18, 2023
The Magazine As Artwork: Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Jenny Holzer
Gallery 98 showcases selected issues of Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) magazine from the 1990s, featuring cover designs and picture spreads created by artists Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, and Richard Prince.
May 11, 2023
Experiments in Art and Technology: The Catalog for 9 Evenings, 1966
A rare catalog for 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, a 1966 performance series organized by Billy Kluver that combined art and technology, and featured artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Yvonne Rainer, and John Cage.
May 4, 2023
Artist Spotlight: Vito Acconci (1940–2017)
Acconci’s work was influential in the art world, opening the way for performance and video art, and reconfiguring conceptual art into something more personal and expressive.
April 27, 2023
Hip-Hop (1984) & Art After Midnight (1986): Two Rare Books Signed by Steven Hager
Hager’s books document the early history of hip-hop culture and the intersection of nightlife and art in the East Village scene, featuring interviews with key artists.
April 20, 2023
Vintage Art Posters: Rauschenberg, Lady Pink, Goldin, Parrino, Kiefer
Highlights include a rare collection of collaborative posters from COLAB’s Talk is Cheap exhibition and Lady Pink’s poster from Your House is Mine. Visit Gallery 98’s Poster Page for additional items.
April 13, 2023
Art Posters, 1970s–80s: Warhol, Beuys, Haring, Basquiat
Vintage art posters from the 1970s and 80s, including iconic works by Warhol, Basquiat, Haring, and the Guerrilla Girls, now available at Gallery 98.
April 6, 2023
Leonard Abrams (1954–2023): Remembering the Publisher of the East Village Eye
Leonard Abrams, founder of East Village Eye, has died unexpectedly. He started the Eye in 1979 and it remains a primary resource for 1980s culture.
March 29, 2023
Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980: Final Week for Our Crowdfunding Campaign
Celebrate Amsterdam’s vibrant nightlife with the book “Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980.” Support the crowdfunding campaign and receive a copy of the book.
March 23, 2023
Marlene Dumas: Fifty Years of Art Ephemera
Marlene Dumas: Fifty Years of Art Ephemera is an online exhibition showcasing a collection of gallery cards, brochures, posters, and other promotional materials tracking Dumas’s long career.
March 16, 2023
Tin Pan Alley: A Times Square Bar, 1980s. Welcoming Downtown Women Artists
The Times Square bar Tin Pan Alley, was a popular hangout for downtown women artists. It was also the inspiration for the fictional bar in the recent television serial “The Deuce.”…
March 9, 2023
Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980 Bettie Ringma & Marc H Miller
With over 200 photos and scholarly essays by Mark Bergsma and Leonor Faber-Jonker, “Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam, 1980” captures both the city’s nightlife and it’s changing demographics.
March 3, 2023
Rising Up Against the Odds: Krasner, Schapiro, Spero, Holzer, Sherman, Goldin
In honor of Women’s History Month, Gallery 98 showcases six women artists who have overcome the odds and risen to the top of the art world.
February 23, 2023
Search by Themes: Portraits of Artists—Performance Art—Nudes & Pinups
Gallery 98 highlights three popular categories of art ephemera: Artist Portraits, Performance Art, and Nudes & Pinups.
February 20, 2023
Marcel Duchamp: Homages, Variations, Imitations
This collection of art ephemera showcases Duchamp’s influence on artists such as Mike Bidlo, Hannah Wilke, Elaine Sturtevant, and others.
February 9, 2023
A Pictorial Map and Walking Tour of Harlem, 2001
The map and walking tour booklet highlight various sites associated with notable figures in Harlem’s history, including artists, writers, musicians, athletes, and political activists such as Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, and Malcolm X.
February 2, 2023
Deitch Projects: Dan & Dash, Swoon, LaChapelle, Basquiat, Haring
Gallery 98 has recently acquired a collection of announcement cards and posters from the iconic gallery Deitch Projects, which ran from 1996–2010. Artists include Dash Snow, Dan Colen, Swoon, and others.
January 26, 2023
New York Nightclubs 1980s: When Art and Nightlife Mixed
In the 1980s, New York’s nightclub scene was not just about music, but also art exhibitions, performance art, and experimental film. We offer here nightclub invitations connected to Studio 54, Mudd Club, Club 57, Danceteria, AREA, Limelight, Palladium, Cat Club, and Tunnel.
January 19, 2023
The Guerrilla Girls and Fanny Adams (A British Women’s Art Collective)
Fanny Adams, active from 1992–1993, took inspiration from the Guerrilla Girls. Both of these women’s art collectives used poster campaigns to highlight gender discrimination in the art world.
January 13, 2023
Basquiat’s Signature, Address, and Phone Number: A Sheet of Paper Tells a Story
This piece of paper with Jean-Michel Basquiat’s signature, address, and phone number from 1983 tells the story of his collaboration with artist Franc Palaia.
January 5, 2023
Three Signed Originals: Anthony Haden-Guest, Kiki Smith, Linus Coraggio
An ink-on-paper cartoon by Anthony Haden-Guest, a silkscreen on cloth by Kiki Smith, and a scrapbook page by Linus Coraggio capture the cultural history of downtown New York from the 1970s to 90s.
December 29, 2022
Gallery 98 Looks Back at its Own Advertising
Gallery 98 reflects on its own advertising history, showcasing postcards used to promote early online exhibitions by Neke Carson, Colette, Christy Rupp, Cara Perlman, and Stefan Eins.