Up for bid is a very nice WILLIAM COPLEY multiple entitled THE BARBER'S SHOP from the legendary subscription based art journal S.M.S. (Shit Must Stop). Please see below for more information about these six very collectible portfolios. The William Copley contribution comes from the #5 portfolio and consists of an elaborately produced dossier of offset lithographs, postcards, booklet and photocopied newspaper articles; all housed in a day-glo orange screenprinted folder. The project documents a Chicago barber's legal battle to reproduce images of a Picasso sculpture the artist donated to the city of Chicago. The silkscreen folder is in excellent vintage condition with very light black staining as shown (extremely common). All contents are complete and in fine condition. The closed folder measures 10" x 6.75"
I will eventually be listing all 73 art works from the 6 different portfolios. If you are interested in any particular piece, portfolio cover, or original shipping box, do not hesitate to contact me with questions or offers. Please note all images with a white background are taken by me and represent the actual piece that you are buying. Any photography with a black background are images that have been taken from the internet. This item will be packed very well and shipped via USPS priority mail, and I am happy to combine shipping for multiple purchases. All overseas buyers should contact for an accurate shipping quote (the ebay calculator is not always accurate)
"Founded in New York City by artist, collector and dealer William Copley, S.M.S.
was an art collection in a box, filled with small-scale, often
whimsical, artworks available by subscription. Delivering art through
the post offered Copley, and his collaborator Dmitri Petrov, a way to
circumvent the art market and make contemporary art accessible to nearly
anyone. Inspired by Copley’s mentor and friend Marcel Duchamp’s Boîte-en-valise, S.M.S.
was conceived as an inter-media and intergenerational publication that
would present artworks by prominent and unknown artists side by side.
The magazine gathered an impressive range including the Surrealist
luminaries Man Ray and Meret Oppenheim, Pop artists Richard Hamilton and
Roy Lichtenstein, composers Lamont Young and Terry Riley, and an
up-and-coming generation of conceptual and post-studio artists such as
Joseph Kosuth and Bruce Nauman. Regardless of stature, each was paid
$100 for their contribution. This egalitarian spirit extended to the
communal atmosphere of Copley’s upper west side Letter Edged in Black
Press loft which functioned as an unofficial hangout for many of the
participants.
The six issues of S.M.S. are composed of “original
reproductions”—luxurious, exacting replicas of each artist’s work in an
edition of approximately 2,000. The magazine spared no expense, seeking
out, and even inventing, varied and obscure production methods including
Lil Picard’s labor intensive Burned Bow Tie—each of which
needed to be individually singed. The enormous edition size—and the
affordable price of $125 per subscription—enabled a much broader swath
of the public to collect the internationally recognized artists
contained in the portfolios. Ultimately short-lived, S.M.S.
portfolios were mailed bi-monthly between February and December of 1968
directly to subscribers, with each portfolio containing approximately a
dozen works of art."