Front and back of a flyer for the premiere screening of Empire, by Andy Warhol and John Palmer. New York, 1965
The Museum of Modern Art Library houses several collections of files containing assorted printed ephemera, such as announcement cards, press clippings, posters, and flyers, which illustrate an elaborate range of artistic activities. Drawing on this material, this two-part exhibition traces ways in which artists, designers, and gallerists have used invitation cards and other printed announcements in the staging of artworks, performances, talks, and screenings. The selection explores the various, surprising ways in which we have been invited to experience art, from the early 1960s to today.
These materials are important research documents. They provide descriptive evidence of particular moments in art history, evoking the setting and spirit of artists' practices and illuminating networks of artists, spaces, and ideas. The invitations reflect, disguise, or reconstitute artworks and can act as mechanisms that direct the audience's experience of the work, and some are also artworks themselves. They give clues about MoMA librarians' and curators' involvement with particular artists or scenes in New York and abroad, and part of their story is the various traces of the hands they have passed through on their way into the collection. As an introduction to the Library's collection of ephemera, the exhibition presents invitations relating to early projects by now-iconic artists, artists' groups, and exhibition spaces. It also highlights some notable artists' interventions within the format. The show itself is also an invitation, addressed to researchers, to use the Library's collection and to seek out our ephemera files and documents that are waiting to be explored.
This exhibition is organized by David Senior, Bibliographer, MoMA Library.
This site illustrates some materials included in the exhibition and also contains a checklist of the entire contents of the show. Library and Archives exhibitions can be reached through the second-floor corridor that connects the Research and Education Building to the Museum galleries. Our exhibitions can also be accessed without museum admission by entering the Education Building entrance at 4 West 54 Street.
All materials were assembled from the MoMA Library Collection.
Claes Oldenburg. New York: Judson Gallery, 1959
Poster and ticket for 18 Happenings in 6 Parts, by Allan Kaprow. New York: Reuben Gallery, 1959
Program for RAY-GUN, by Claes Oldenburg and Jim Dine. New York: Judson Gallery, 1960
The Street, by Claes Oldenburg. New York :Reuben Gallery, 1960
The Store, by Claes Oldenburg. New York, 1961
Below Zero. New York: Reuben Gallery, 1960
4 Evenings. New York: Reuben Gallery, 1960
The Courtyard, by Allan Kaprow. New York: Smolin Gallery, 1962
Extension Paintings, by Red Grooms. New York: Tibor de Nagy, 1962
Andy Warhol announcement. New York: Stable Gallery, 1962
Warhol's 1962 Campbell's Soup Cans were the source of much debate among Lawrence Alloway's students at Bennington College that year. One student, Suzy Stanton, wrote a term paper titled "On Warhol's Campbell's Soup Can." The paper creates the fictional scenario of a studio visit with Warhol, including hypothetical conversations between 16 students and Warhol about his work and his relationship with soup. Alloway sent the paper to Warhol, who, according to Alloway, "was enthusiastic about it and reproduced it photostatically for use as an exhibition announcement put out by the Stable Gallery." The only identification of the work as an exhibition announcement is a gallery stamp with the dates of the show and Warhol's name on the back of the last page.
Roy Lichtenstein. Los Angeles: Ferus Gallery, 1963
The Personality of the Artist, by Andy Warhol. New York: Stable Gallery, 1964
Front and foldout poster for the Grand Opening of The American Supermarket. New York: Bianchini Gallery, 1964
Vitesse Pure et Stabilité Monochrome, by Jean Tinguely and Yves Klein. Paris: Iris Clert, 1958
Detail from the broadside published in conjunction with Homage to New York, by Jean Tinguely. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1960
Invitation card for Consumption of Art by the Art-Devouring Public, by Piero Manzoni. Milan: Azimuth, 1960
Festival of Misfits. London, 1961
Christo. Cologne: Galerie Haro Lauhus, 1961
Daniel Spoerri invitation/menu. Restaurant de la Galerie J. Paris, Galerie J, March 2–13, 1963
In conjunction with his exhibition of kitchen utensils at Galerie J, Daniel Spoerri turned the gallery space into a restaurant, where he prepared the meals that are described on the invitation. As part of the performance, several notable writers and art critics, including Nouveau Réalisme founder Pierre Restany, poet and artist Alain Jouffroy, and poet John Ashberry, are listed as servers on the menu. There are several reference to other artists, including a "Menu-Hommage à Raymond Hains," which started with a "Potage lettriste" and "Coquilles St-Jacques au gratin, Mahé de la Villeglé."
Manifesto for the artists' group ZERO from the flyer for their exhibition, Zero: der neue Idealismus. Berlin: Galerie Diogenes, 1963
"Zero is silence. Zero is the beginning. Zero is round. Zero turns. Zero is the moon. The sun is zero. Zero is white. The desert Zero. The sky over Zero. The night-. Zero flows. The Zero eye. Navel. Mouth. Kiss. The milk is round. The Zero flower the bird. Silently. Floating. I eat Zero, I drink Zero, I sleep Zero, I wake Zero, I love Zero. Zero is beautiful. dynamo dynamo dynamo. The trees in the spring, the snow, fire, water, sea. Red orange yellow green blue indigo violet Zero Zero rainbow. 1 2 3 4 Zero. Gold and silver, noise and smoke wandering circus Zero. Zero is silence. Zero is the beginning. Zero is round. Zero is zero."
Front and back of the flyer for the 2nd Annual New York Avant Garde Festival. New York: Judson Hall, 1964
A Concert of Dance Nos. 14, 15, 16, by Robert Morris. New York: Judson Dance Theater, 1964
Meatjoy, by Carolee Schneeman. New York: Judson Memorial Church, 1964
Robot Opera, by Nam June Paik. New York, 1964
Edward Ruscha. Los Angeles: Ferus Gallery, 1965
Nine Evenings: Theater and Engineering. New York: Experiments in Art and Technology, 1966
Elaine Sturtevant. Postcard invitation for The Store. New York, 1967
Sturtevant directly appropriated Claes Oldenburg's poster design for the announcement card for her re-creation of Oldenburg's 1961 The Store installation in April 1967. Sturtevant's Store was installed in a space she rented at 623 East Ninth Street, in the East Village. She had first gained notoriety for her 1965 solo show at Bianchini Gallery, New York, where she had re-created Pop works by Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenburg, and Jim Dine, among others.
Michelangelo Pistoletto. Turin: Galleria Sperone, 1967
"With this exhibition I have freed my studio, to make it open to accommodate young people who would like to present their work, do some things, and to meet."
Ecologic Art. New York: John Gibson, 1969
Front and back of Untitled, by Jan Dibbets. New York: Seth Siegelaub, 1969
Daniel Buren. New York. 1970
To Be with Art is All We Ask, by George & Gilbert. London: Nigel Greenwood, 1970
Robert Barry. Closed Gallery. Amsterdam: Art & Project, December 17–31, 1969, and Turin: Galleria Sperone, December 30, 1969
Robert Barry flyer. Invitation piece. Amsterdam: Art & Project, 1972
These Robert Barry invitations are parts of works in which the announcement was the decisive element in the work. For Closed Gallery, the announcement communicates that for the run of the exhibition the gallery will be closed. This was staged three times through the post in 1969, through an announcement by the Los Angeles gallery, Eugenia Butler, and through these announcements by Art & Project and Galleria Sperone. The second work, Invitation piece, involved the coordination of eight galleries: Paul Maenz, Art & Project, Jack Wendler Gallery, Leo Castelli, Yvon Lambert, galerie MTL, Galerie Toselli, and Galleria Sperone. In each invitation, the gallery invited the audience to attend a Robert Barry show at another gallery. In the example here, Art & Projects invites you to Jack Wendler Gallery. The piece extended over the course of the 1972–73 gallery season.
Two invitations for the traveling exhibition Library Science, by Eleanor Antin. Halifax: NSCASD; Valencia, CA: Cal Arts, 1972
Front and back of a flyer for Torture of Women, by Nancy Spero, with text by Lucy Lippard. New York: A.I.R. Gallery, 1976
The Juniper Tree: A Performance for Children, by Joan Jonas. New York: The Kitchen, 1976
For Instants: Part 5, by Laurie Anderson. Amsterdam: De Appel, 1977
Self-published flyer for Merce Cunningham at BAM, new titles by Jonathan Williams' Jargon Society and Cy Twombly at the Stable Gallery, by Ray Johnson. New York, [1956]
Vitesse Pure et Stabilité Monochrome, by Jean Tinguely and Yves Klein. Paris: Iris Clert, 1958
Drawings Sculptures Poems, by Claes Oldenburg. New York: Judson Gallery, 1959
Judson Group. New York: Judson Gallery, 1959
Poster and ticket for 18 Happenings in 6 Parts, by Allan Kaprow. New York: Reuben Gallery, 1959
Pass for the premiere screening of Pull My Daisy, by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie, and the second version of Shadows, by John Cassavetes. New York: Cinema 16, 1959
Invitation card for Bodies of Air, by Piero Manzoni. Milan: Azimuth, 1960
Invitation card for Consumption of Art by the Art-Devouring Public, by Piero Manzoni. Milan: Azimuth, 1960
Jim Dine, New York: Reuben Gallery, 1960
The Street, by Claes Oldenburg. New York: Reuben Gallery, 1960
Below Zero. New York: Reuben Gallery, 1960
Invitation card for 4 Evenings. New York: Reuben Gallery, 1960
Broadside for Homage to New York, by Jean Tinguely. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1960
Flyer for a group exhibition at the Green Gallery. New York: Green Gallery, 1960
Program for RAY-GUN, by Claes Oldenburg and Jim Dine. New York: Judson Gallery, 1960
CPLY: Paintings. New York: Iolas Gallery, 1960
Inivtation card for The Store, by Claes Oldenburg. New York: Green Gallery, 1961
Claes Oldenburg. Aileen Passloff Dance Company flyer. New York: Fashion Institute of Technology, 1961
Festival of Misfits. London, 1961
Auto-Destructive Art Demonstration, by Gustav Metzger. London, 1961
Fontana. New York: Martha Jackson Gallery, 1961
Christo. Cologne: Galerie Haro Lauhus, 1961
Niki De Saint Phalle. Paris: Iolas Gallery, 1962
Extension Paintings, by Red Grooms. New York: Tibor de Nagy, 1962
The Courtyard, by Allan Kaprow. New York: Smolin Gallery, 1962
Happening (Mushroom Caves), by Allan Kaprow. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 1962
The Great American Nude, by Tom Wesselman. New York: Tananger Gallery, 1962
Mimmo Rotella. Venice: Galleria de Leone, 1962
Films Made from Happenings by Claes Oldenburg. New York: Richard Feigen Gallery, 1963
Walter De Maria. New York: 9 Great Jones St., 1963
Roy Lichtenstein. Group show invitation card. New York: Leo Castelli, 1963
Zero: Der Neuer Idealismus. Berlin Galerie Diogenes, 1963
Christo. Milan: Galleria Apollinaire, 1963
Roy Lichtenstein. Los Angeles: Ferus Gallery, 1963
Program for the Yam Festival, by George Brecht and Robert Watts. New York: Smolin Gallery, 1963
Eat: An Environment by Allan Kaprow. New York: Smolin Gallery, 1964
Grand Opening of The American Supermarket. New York: Bianchini Gallery, 1964
The Personality of the Artist, by Andy Warhol. New York: Stable Gallery, 1964
Llyn Foulkes. Los Angeles: Rolf Nelsen Gallery, 1964
Richard Hamilton: Paintings etc. '56–64. London: Hanover Gallery, 1964
Neodada Pop Decollage Kapit. Realismus. Berlin: Galerie Rene Block, 1964
Gerd Richter: Bilder des Kapitalistischen Realismus. Berlin: Galerie Rene Block, 1964
Robert Morris. A Concert of Dance Nos. 14, 15, 16.New York: Judson Dance Theater, 1964
Meatjoy, by Carolee Schneeman. New York: Judson Memorial Church, 1964
Robert Watts and George Brecht. Herman Fine presents Monday Night Letter. New York: Cafe Au Go Go, 1964
Robot Opera, by Nam June Paik. New York, 1964
Oyvind Fahlstrom. New York: Cordier & Ekstrom, 1964
2nd Annual New York Avant Garde Festival. New York: Judson Hall, 1964
Robert Morris. Dusseldorf: Galerie Schmela, 1964
'On the Move: an exhibition of kinetic sculpture. New York: Howard Wise, 1964
Agnes Martin. New York, Robert Elkon Gallery, 1965
Edward Ruscha. Los Angeles: Ferus Gallery, 1965
Flyer for the premiere screening of Empire, by Andy Warhol and John Palmer. New York, 1965
Computer-Generated Pictures. New York: Howard Wise Gallery, 1965
Yvonne Rainer and Robert Morris. New York: Judson Dance Theater, 1965
Invitation to the press briefing for Nine Evenings: Theater and Engineering. New York, Experiments in Art and Technology, 1966
Nine Evenings: Theater and Engineering. New York: Experiments in Art and Technology, 1966
Quid pro Quo’ Exchange, by Arman. New York: Allan Stone, 1966
Robert Smithson. New York: Dwan Gallery, 1966
Inaugural show invitation. Los Angeles: Irving Blum Gallery, 1967
Michael Snow. Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery, 1967
Martial Raysse. Paris: Alexander Iolas Gallery, 1967
Haupstrom und Fettraum, by Joseph Beuys. Darmstadt: Franz Dahlem, 1967
Michelangelo Pistoletto. Turin: Galleria Sperone, 1967
Gina Pane. Paris: Galerie Simone Heller, 1968
Robert Smithson: Nonsite (Ruhr_district). Dusseldorf: Konrad Fischer, 1968
Earth Works. New York: Dwan Gallery, 1968
Edward Ruscha: Fire Paintings. Los Angeles: Irving Blum Gallery, 1968
Paradis Fantastique, by Niki De Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely. New York, 1968
Benefit for the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War In Vietnam. New York: Paula Cooper, 1968
Art Workers Coalition Benefit, compiled by Lucy Lippard. New York, 1969
Ecologic Art. New York: John Gibson, 1969
TV as Creative Medium. New York: Howard Wise Gallery, 1969
Untitled, by Jan Dibbets. New York: Seth Siegelaub, 1969
Robert Irvin: Acrylic Disks. New York: Pace Gallery, 1969
This Is the Ghost of James Lee Byars Calling. Los Angeles: Eugenia Butler Gallery, 1969
Don Judd. Cologne: Rudolph Zwirner, 1969
Bruce Nauman: Holograms, Videotapes and Other Works. New York: Leo Castelli, 1969
Fluorescent Light, , by Dan Flavin. Dusseldorf: Konrad Fischer, 1969
Four Monuments for V. Tatlin 1964–69, by Dan Flavin. New York: Leo Castelli, 1970
Flyer for a performance by Joseph Beuys and Heinning Chriatiansen at Strategy: Get Arts. Edinburgh: Edinburg International Festival, 1970
Least Event, by John Latham. London: Lisson Gallery, 1970
Richard Long. New York: Dwan Gallery, 1970
Judy Chicago. Del Mar, CA: California State Fullerton, 1970
The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends Is the Highest Form of Art, by Tom Marioni. Oakland: Oakland Museum, 1970
Singing Sculpture, by George & Gilbert. London: Nigel Greenwood, 1970
To Be with Art Is All We Ask, by George & Gilbert. London: Nigel Greenwood, 1970
You Are Invited to Read This as a Guide to What Can Be Seen.by Daniel Buren. New York, 1970
Bus Benches, by Daniel Buren. Los Angeles: 1970
Vito Acconci. Washington, DC: Protetch-Rivkin, 1971
John Baldessari. Halifax: Nova Scotia School of Art and Design, 1971
Gina Pane. Paris: Galerie Rive Droite, 1972
Library Science by Eleanor Antin. Glendale, CA: Brand Library Art Center; Halifax: NSCASD; Valencia, CA: Cal Arts; Clarksville, TN: Austin Peay State University, 1971–72
Lawrence Weiner. New York: Leo Castelli, 1972
Open Air: A.I.R. artists invite 20 women artists. New York: A.I.R. Gallery, 1972
18 Carat Solid Gold Chewing Gum by Les Levine. New York: Fischbach Gallery, 1972
The Paintings (with Us in the Nature), by Gilbert and George. Lucerne: Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1972
Nancy Holt. New York: Lo Guidice, 1972
Alice Aycock. Halifax: Nova Scotia School of Art and Design, 1972
Paintings on Bulletin Boards, by Daniel Buren. Valencia, CA: California Institute of Arts, 1972
Edward Ruscha. San Francisco: John Berggruen Gallery, 1973
Hamish Fulton. Milan: Galleria Toselli, 1973
Transparence (Blanc et Jaune) une travail de Daniel Buren and Six Pieces de Cadere. Paris: Galerie des Locataires, 1973
Lynda Benglis. New York: The Clocktower, 1973
Lawrence Weiner. Antwerp: Wide White Space, 1973
A.I.R. Invitational: C. 7,500: An exhibition organized by Lucy Lippard. New York: A.I.R. Gallery, 1973
One Year's Production, by On Kawara. Bern: Kunsthalle Bern, 1974
Richard Long. London: Lisson Gallery, 1974
River avon Driftwood by Richard Long. Dusseldorf: Konrad Fischer, 1974. Image of "A thousand stones added to the footpath marker"
Driftwood by Richard Long. Antwerp: Wide White Space, 1975
Dearreader: a film/talk, by Laurie Anderson. New York: Holly Solomon Gallery, 1974
In Search of the Miraculous, by Bas Jan Ader. Bremerhaven: Kabinett fur Aktuelle Kunst, 1974
Hamish Fulton. Dusseldorf: Konrad Fischer, 1974. Front text: "A camping place for one night by Lake Huaypo Peru 1974"
In Search of the Miraculous, by Bas Jan Ader. Los Angeles: Claire Copley, 1975
Camera Three television program by Nam June Paik with F. Barzyk, Charlotte Moorman, R. Connor. New York: CBS, 1975
Jacki Apple, Alice Aycock, Rita Myers and Martha Wilson. New York: 112 Greene St., 1975
Dreaming Under Water, by Rebecca Horn. New York: Rene Block Gallery, 1975
The Juniper Tree: A Performance for Children, by Joan Jonas. New York: The Kitchen, 1976
Torture of Women, by Nancy Spero, with text by Lucy Lippard. New York: A.I.R. Gallery, 1976
Ana Mendieta. New York: 112 Greene St., 1976
Politics, Nature...and Some Things in Between, organized by Lucy Lippard. New York: 112 Greene St., 1977
For Instants: Part 5, by Laurie Anderson. Amsterdam: De Appel, 1977
Time and Space Concepts IV: In Environmental Art. New York: Pleiades Gallery, 1977
Lightning Field, by Walter De Maria. New York: Dia Art Foundation, 1978
Louise Lawler, Adrian Piper and Cindy Sherman have agreed to participate in an exhibition organized by Janelle Reiring. New York: Artists' Space, 1978
Ana Mendieta. New York: AIR Gallery, 1979
Flyer for The Ballad of Sexual Dependency Slide Show, by Nan Goldin. New York, [1981]
Many thanks to Sara Bodinson and Rebecca Roberts for editorial guidance and Chiara Bernasconi and Sara Dayton in the Digital Media Department. Special thanks to Milan Hughston for his support of the project. Thanks to the Library staff for working around the stacks of files that I created while digging through the collection. A very big thank you to Aaron Flint Jamison for producing a bound volume of reproduced posters from the Library collection. These materials would have otherwise been excluded from the exhibition due to space limitations. Rene Smith was my partner in installing the show.
"Steve Leiber will let me know what this is." From a MoMA Librarian, found on a file folder in the collection
MoMA Library would like to recognize the work of Steven Leiber (1957–2012). Aside from being an esteemed scholar and dealer of artists' ephemera, Leiber also assisted in the organization of our Special Collections Artists' Files during his research in support of his important exhibition and publication, Extra Art: A Survey of Artists' Ephemera, 1960–1999 (2001). His expertise aided in the preservation of many of the works included in this show.