John Held Papers
Dublin Core
Title
John Held Papers
Subject
Mail Art
Description
The papers of San Francisco-based mail artist and fine arts librarian, John Held, can be found at the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. In the papers, researchers can find biographical material on Held, including information about and examples of his rubberstamps, artistamps, mailed collages, performances, publications and exhibitions. Furthermore, the papers included mail art received by Held from "networkers" around the world. This extensive collections of mail art shows the global scope of the movement with artists from approximately 50 countries represented.
Creator
John Held
Source
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Publisher
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/john-held-papers-relating-to-mail-art-6273
Date
1973-2013
Contributor
[no text]
Rights
[no text]
Relation
[no text]
Format
[no text]
Language
[no text]
Type
[no text]
Identifier
[no text]
Coverage
[no text]
Collection Items
“Leonhard Frank Duch Mail Art to John Held”
Leonhard Frank Duch, who currently works and resides in Berlin, has been involved in mail art since 1975. A primary aim of mail art is to dissociate itself from institutions. Many artists value openness, allowing participants to contribute freely in…
Gerard Barbot mail art to John Held, 1988
This piece of correspondence art, created in 1988 by Gerard Barbot, combines a rainbow gradient with a dull brown reminiscent of very old newspapers. Placed onto a stark black background, the overall effect is neat and orderly in color, the clippings…
Elizabeth Was mail art to John Held
In a movement as broad and amorphous as the practice of mail art, finding and agreeing upon a set of themes is no easy task. Of the seemingly countless artifacts that make up the John Held mail art collection, this work offers us a surprisingly…
Official Art?
Official Art? is a brochure created by Russian artist Serge Segay (1947-2014) specifically for the first mail art exhibition in the USSR which took place in Yeysk in 1989. The brochure served as an exhibition advertising. The visual aesthetic and a…
Mail Art is Disposable Art
Carol Schneck’s Mail Art is Disposable Art (c. 1988) is a standard-size black and white postcard collage in the John Held Papers at the Archives of American Art. A photocopied picture of New York’s iconic Whitney Museum is pictured protruding out of…
What About Politics? Gonzopost: Anarchy, Pornography, Homosexuality
John C. “Jack” Palmer, aka Rudi Rubberoid, was a mail artist who became involved with the international mail art community in the early 1980’s. Palmer owned and operated a postcard and stationary store in Bellingham, Washington called Postcard…
Carl Andre postcard to John Held, 1986 Mar. 25
Andre congratulates Held on his collection of mail art, though Andre specifies that he does not consider himself a mail artist. Front of postcard features a cartoon signed "Willy Smacks" which depicts policemen at the Tate Gallery following the theft…
Mail Art to Lucy Lippard
Lucy Lippard stated that she was “roped into” mail art in the late 1960s when Johnson sent out a mandate for NYCS members to “Send Slips to Lucy Lippard.” Johnson sent her several mail art items during their correspondence, including Mail art to Lucy…
Southwest USA Decentralized Mail Art Congress Dallas
Southwest USA Decentralized Mail Art Congress_ Dallas features ten stamps by an anonymous artist that are put together to create one piece of mail art. Mail art centers around the idea of escaping the gallery and museum art scene where artists are…
Mail Art to John Held Jr.
Elizabeth Pearl Was–Nasaw, also known as Lyx Ish, sent this envelope to John Held to illustrate that art is not equal to money. Elizabeth Was–Nasaw was a musician, poet and the co-founder of Xexoxial Endarchy. X.E. is a non-profit artist-run…