81

Ray Johnson

1927-1995

NOV. 13TH CONSTRUCTION. 1959.

Found mixed media
Signed and dated November 13th in ink, lower edge.
6 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (16.5 x 16.5 cm.)

  • Provenance: Gift directly from the artist.
    Private collection, New York.

    Johnson is primarily known for his works that abstract and repurpose elements of correspondence, referred to as "Mail Art." He was a pioneer of the Readymade and Neo-Dada movements and started his New York Correspondence School in the late 1950s. He mailed notes, collages, and other paper items to friends and fellow artists, asking them to forward them on to other individuals and add some items, or return them to Johnson with added items. The New York Correspondence School blossomed in the 1960s, and in 1970 the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, organized the first exhibition of Johnson's mailings.
  • Condition:
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