1981 VERMEER PAINTS A PICTURE DON CELENDER OK HARRIS GALLERY 12 POSTCARDS MINT

Description: For those interested in American Conceptual-art projects of the late 20th century, up for auction is a rare set of 12 postcards by the artist and educator Don Celender (1931-2005) called Vermeer Paints a Picture, still in their original shrink-wrapped packaging as issued by his long-time gallery, OK Harris Gallery in New York, in 1981. Each card measures 4-1/2 by 6 inches and, as explained on the website of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Library and Special Collections, which has a set of cards in its Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection, "depicts the same reproduced painted image of Vermeer collaged with modern works as if he were painting." The image of the artist viewed from the back repeated in all 12 cards is a detail from the Dutch master Johannes Vermeer's 1668 work The Allegory of Painting, in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. So what I'm selling is an unopened, shrink-wrapped set of Vermeer Paints a Picture, but as I've not opened the wrapping to see the cards within, I can only tell you for certain about the image you see on the front, which shows part of what I'm pretty sure is a detail of Roy Lichtenstein's 1963 Whaam!, and the one whose caption you see at the back, a Franz Kline work. However, there's a bit of a problem, mystery, or enigma here, because on their website SAIC -- one owner I found online of the complete set of cards, the other being the Arnolfini, in Bristol, England -- lists the 12 artists as follows on their set: Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Piet Mondrian, Gilbert Stuart, Don Celender, James Abbott McNeil Whistler, Ralph Goings, John Kacere, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Franz Kline. I've looked closely at a picture on the SAIC website showing all 12 cards, and I'm pretty sure I can identify details of all but one of the artists of the paintings shown. The one I can't identify is Celender's work, so I'm wondering whether there's some sort of joke here, because what almost certainly appears to be a detail from Lichtenstein's 1963 work is possibly (mis)attributed to Celender. It's just so strange that Lichtenstein's name isn't on SAIC's list! I thought at first different images might be included in different sets of Vermeer Paints a Picture, but that isn't the case, because what I thought was a Lichtenstein -- the image I've used as the main photo -- is definitely shown in the SAIC photograph, so is it a Celender imitating, honoring, or appropriating-without-crediting Lichtenstein? I'm sure the back of that postcard in my group would explain what's going on, but I still refuse to open the packet! For your information, Lichtensein's large-scale 1963 work Whaam! was painted during the early years of the Vietnam War and has been called, among other things, "a statement on the folly of war" and a "deconstruction of military heroism" from the pop artist. So, anyway, I can't tell you for certain what postcards are in the set I'm selling -- but I'm pretty sure there won't be any duplicates in the group and they're probably the same as those in the SAIC set. And of course I didn't want to open up the shrink-wrapped package to find out and thus ruin the original packaging, but I think we can be certain a complete set of 12 is included within, though they're awfully slim (the edges of the group together measure about 1/8 inch). The label at the front of the 12 cards I'm selling -- which as I mentioned above I presume all show different images -- reads:VERMEER PAINTS A PICTUREBy Don CelenderSet of 12 Postcards The back of one of the cards is what's seen at the back of the packet I'm selling (see second photo uploaded). At the top is the OK Harris Gallery logo -- a circle with "OK / HARRIS in the center in boldface type, the words and numbers "383 WEST BROADWAY N. Y. 10012 212 431-3600" above and "WORKS OF ART" below. At the bottom is the caption for one of the cards, reading: "OK 37 / DON CELENDER, 1981 / "Vermeer Paints a Picture: / New York, N.Y." (detail) / by Franz Kline." So here’s most of Wikipedia’s entry on Don Celender (unfortunately, the postcards I’m selling aren’t mentioned):Don Celender (1931 – March 3, 2005) was an American conceptual artist and professor. Celender, who began producing art in the late 1960s, used surveys extensively in his work. He would send questionnaires to members of the public, academics, artists, politicians, museum officials, and other cohorts of people, often with outlandish or tongue-in-cheek suggestions or solicitations. The responses were then exhibited at the OK Harris Gallery in Manhattan, New York, where Celender had a show annually. Celender taught at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, for over 40 years.EARLY LIFE. Don Celender was born in 1931 in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. He attended Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University, from which he graduated in 1956 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He then attended the University of Pittsburgh, where in 1963 he received a Ph.D. in Art History. CAREER. After obtaining his Ph.D., Celender worked in Washington, D.C., at the National Gallery of Art’s education department. In 1964, he moved to Minnesota, where he began teaching at Macalester College in Saint Paul. While teaching, Celender took an interest in conceptual art. As the movement was expanding in 1969, Celender began a project in which he wrote letters to various academics, politicians, philanthropists, figures in the media, and religious leaders. The letters contained impossible proposals for the addressees to implement, with the instruction that they write back to Celender explaining how they intended to realize his schemes. He received responses to some of his proposals; the Cleveland Museum of Art’s director, Sherman Lee, responded to Celender's suggestion that 1,000 of Lee's museum's pieces of Asian art be airdropped across Alabama by saying that he had "mentally performed" the feat. Other letters, such as Celender's proposal to Alabama governor George Wallace that the state's white residents be painted black, the state's black residents be painted white, and that they all pose as Greek sculptures along the state's highways, went unreturned. Celender's work began to receive critical attention in the mid-1970s. He exhibited art each year from 1974 to 2004 at the OK Harris Gallery in SoHo, Manhattan. Ivan Karp, the owner of the gallery, represented Celender. Celender's pieces often served to parody the self-seriousness and predictability of the world of fine art, and was deemed fun and witty for those reasons. In another letter-writing project, 1975's Museum Piece, he wrote to over 70 museums, soliciting photographs of their loading bays. The museums at Yale University and Princeton University would agree to the project only for a large donation while the Brooklyn Museum, described by art critic Dale Jamieson as "regard[ing] itself as besieged by the community in which it is located," turned down Celender's solicitation on the grounds of "security reasons." In 1978, Celender produced Observations, Lamentations and Protestations of Museum Guards Throughout the World, a project described by Marc Fischer as "particularly ambitious." Celender mailed 1,200 surveys, many translated from English, to museum guards to solicit their feelings about their work, the artwork in the museums they protected, and their own relationships with art. Also in 1978, Celender created Destiny of a Name, a survey dealing with the notion that a person’s name may determine their profession. Celender. Celender wrote to, among others, a psychologist with the surname Reveal, a dentist with the surname Toothman, and a colorectal surgeon named Butts. Although the responses to many of Celender's questionnaires were brief, his 1995 study Mortal Remains, a collaboration with Ricardo Bloch, resulted in lengthier responses. For Mortal Remains, Bloch and Celender asked 400 contemporary artists what they wished to happen to their bodies after death and whether they wished to bring anything with them to the resting place of their choosing. PERSONAL LIFE AND DEATH. Don Celender was married to Ivy Celender from the late 1950s through 1995, when they divorced. Celender had one daughter, Catherine. He taught at Macalester College and headed its art department until January 2005, when he learned he had pancreatic cancer. Celender died on March 3, 2005, in Pittsburgh, at the age of 73. WORKS. Max Kozloff wrote that Celender's lightheartedness as well as the straightforwardness of his projects and their messages made him "an exception in the art world." The majority of his art took the form of survey projects like Museum Piece, which Celender produced annually and exhibited at the OK Harris Gallery. The results of about half of Celender's surveys were bound into book form, printed in black and white on 8.5-by-11-inch (22 cm × 28 cm) paper, though these books are difficult for members of the public to access and are not often found in secondary markets. The archive of the Arnolfini, located in Bristol, England, contains a sizable collection of Celender's pieces. Some of Celender's 35 exhibited works are listed below, and those that were bound into book form are indicated with an asterisk (*); the collected work, put together by Marc Fischer at the Public Collectors Study Center in Chicago. · Wind and Water Chime (1968) · Artball (1971) · Political Art Movement, Religious Art Movement, Affluent Art Movement, Academic Art Movement, Corporate Art Movement, Cultural Art Movement, Mass Media Art Movement, Organizational Art Movement (1972)· The Olympics of Art (1973)· Museum Piece (1975)· Opinions of Working People Concerning the Arts (1975)· Observation and Scholarship Examination for Art Historians, Museum Directors, Artists, Dealers, and Collectors: Part 2 (1977)· Observations, Protestations and Lamentations of Museum Guards Throughout the World (1978)· Destiny of a Name (1978)· National Architects Preference Survey (1979)· Parental Attitudes Survey (1980)· Reincarnation Study (1982)· Unmatched Garage Doors (1982)· Law Enforcement Officers Art Preference Survey (1988)· Apprenticeship Study (1989)· Questions About the Arts You May Never Have Thought to Ask (1992)· Aesthetic Experiences (1992)· Mortal Remains with Ricardo Bloch (1995)· Nobel Laureates Art Preference Survey (1995)· Military Officers Art Survey (1998)· Small and Unusual Museums Survey (1999)· Labor Activists Art Preference Survey (2003)· National Prison Wardens Art Preference Survey (2003)· Censorship Survey (2003) This obituary for Celender appeared in the New York Times on March 10, 2005, and it was written by the paper's art critic Roberta Smith:Don Celender, an art professor and quirky Conceptual artist whose projects involved taking polls, died on March 3 in Pittsburgh. He was 73 and lived in St. Paul, Minn.The cause was cancer, said Ivan C. Karp of the OK Harris Gallery in SoHo, his longtime representative.Mr. Celender, who was born in Pittsburgh in 1931, earned a bachelor of fine art degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1956 and a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Pittsburgh in 1963. After working briefly in the department of education at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, he taught at Macalester College in St. Paul until he learned of his illness in January.In 1969, with Conceptual Art gaining steam, Mr. Celender began a series of letter-writing campaigns that spoofed the movement while spreading its ideas and gathering interesting information. With his Cultural Art Movement he sent outlandish proposals to 25 museum directors, suggesting for example that Sherman Lee, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, drop by parachute1,000 works of Asian art from the museum's collection, one at a time, onto the state of Alabama. Mr. Lee replied that since art was in the mind of the beholder, he had "mentally performed" Mr. Celender's idea.In subsequent works, Mr. Celender surveyed film directors, prison wardens, labor leaderss, religious figures, travel agents, celebrities and famous chefs about their art preferences. He also produced a series of baseball cards using artists' faces.Mr. Celender's work was included in many books and exhibitions surveying Conceptual Art. On a nearly annual basis, he tacked the responses to his surveys to the walls of Mr. Karp's gallery, mounting 29 exhibitions from 1970 to 2004.He is survived by his daughter, Catherine; and two sisters, Norma DePrimio and Teresa D'Amico, and two brothers, James and Joseph, all of the Pittsburgh area. And here’s some information on the OK Harris Gallery, also courtesy Wikipedia:The OK Harris Gallery was an art gallery located at 383 West Broadway in SoHo, New York City. The gallery closed in 2014. Founded by longtime art dealer Ivan Karp (1926-2012) after in 1969 leaving Leo Castelli’s gallery, where he had worked as gallery co-director for nearly ten years. Karp opened his own gallery called the OK Harris Gallery in SoHo (which at the time was one of the first galleries in the newest gallery district in New York City).Previously located at 465 West Broadway, in the early 1970s it hosted exhibits by emerging artists as well as well-known veteran artists.HISTORY. Ivan C. Carp was a co-director of Leo Castelli Gallery from 1959 to 1969. In 1969, he broke away and founded OK Harris in the SoHo district of Manhattan. Karp chose the fictitious OK Harris name as it "sounded like the name of an American riverboat gambler.” As the second gallery on West Broadway (following Paula Cooper, who had opened in SoHo in 1968), OK Harris was instrumental in the area's development as a center of fine arts. In addition to being at the forefront of the Photorealism movement in 1969, OK Harris was among the first galleries to exhibit the work of Duane Hanson, Deborah Butterfield, Manny Farber, Richard Pettibone, Robert Cottingham, Robert Bechtle, Marilyn Levine, Nancy Rubins, Malcolm Morley, Luis Jiminez, Jake Berthot, Jack Goldstein, Porfirio DiDonna, Al Souza, and Gregory Perkel.OK Harris exhibited contemporary art and photography, and on occasion mounted shows of antiques and collectibles. In its capacious 8,000-square-foot space, it was able to mount up to five one-person shows simultaneously and had multiple such exhibitions in the course of a year. The gallery maintained a complete photographic archive on its exhibitions from the time of its inception, freely available to students and scholars for research.During the early 1970s, it hosted exhibits by Alan Vega, some of which were advertised as "Punk Music" -- predating the later Punk rock by some years. Finally, a web page from the Public Collectors Study Center in Chicago has this about Celender, from its inaugural 2009 exhibition (I think the Study Center is still in Chicago):Starting on December 9th, 2009, the Public Collectors Study Center will open in Chicago.Now don't envision some kind of monolithic, money-sucking structure that uses expensive corporate parties to fund its daily operations! The Study Center is small. How small? Is it bigger than a bread box? Yes, but not too many bread boxes. Located in the corner of a basement, with a floor-plan measuring just over fifty square feet, the Public Collectors Study Center seeks to create intimate and focused experiences.The first exhibition begins on December 9th:DON CELENDER: 11 BooksWhen Don Celender died in 2005, he left behind an unusually focused and accessible body of work that is ripe for rediscovery. Many younger audiences and those who did not see his solo exhibitions (almost all presented in New York), or have yet to encounter his books (mostly self-published and hard to find), are unfamiliar with this underrated Conceptual artist. Celender lived most of his life in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he taught Art History and chaired the Art department at Macalester College for over forty years. Celender's books and exhibits most frequently took the form of collected results from surveys. These surveys, often printed on official Macalester College stationery, were primarily conducted through the mail. Despite a great deal of writing about social practices and participatory artworks in recent years, mentions of Don Celender’s many survey projects, all dependent on the voices and participation of others, are absent from this critical discourse. Rather than taking his Ph.D. and retreating into the most obscure recesses of research and academia, Celender often used his deep knowledge of art history and his concern with art’s place in society to create a playful and humorous engagement with art and culture that could be accessible to a broad range of readers. This is the first survey of Celender's work to be presented in Chicago.Some of the books included in the exhibit:OPINIONS OF WORKING PEOPLE CONCERNING THE ARTS (1975) MUSEUM PIECE (1975) DESTINY OF A NAME (1978) OBSERVATIONS, PROTESTATIONS AND LAMENTATIONS OF MUSEUM GUARDS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD (1978) NATIONAL ARCHITECTS PREFERENCE SURVEY (1979) REINCARNATION STUDY (1982) MORTAL REMAINS (1995)Visitors to the exhibit will be able to pick up a free limited edition folio with materials on Celender published by Public Collectors.Exhibition hours are from 5 - 8 PM on Wednesdays, starting on December 9, 2009 until February 10, 2010.Additional hours can be scheduled by appointment. Call 773-395-4587 to plan a visit at another time.Address: [listed publicly during exhibition dates]Note that due to its very small size, the Study Center does not have opening receptions.You do not need to make an appointment to visit during regular Wednesday hours. Press: Don Celender and Public Collectors Study Center on Proximity Magazine’s blog. The overall condition of this shrink-wrapped, unopened, but like new 42-year-old set of "12 Postcards," as it reads on the front of the backet, is excellent, as far as I can tell. There's no bumping, spotting, or other damage seen anywhere under the plastic, and the cards have neither a musty nor smoky odor. This set of 12 Don Celender postcard, entitled Vermeer Paints a Picture, is being sold AS IS, AS DESCRIBED ABOVE AND PICTURED WITHIN. I am setting what I feel is an extremely reasonable starting price for the auction, and there is NO RESERVE. I am also including a Buy It Now price. Please note that I will not be lowering the price again after this reduction. Note that I've not been able to locate another set of these Celender postcards for sale or having been sold on eBay or elsewhere on the online marketplace, but there is a single card now being offered on eBay for $14.95. I've seen other sets of cards and publications by Celender being offered (but not sold) for well over $200, but an Italian vendor recently sold one of Celender's playing-card sets, depicting artists as sports figures, and though its condition wasn't great, it still seemed to be a bargain (going for under $100, including postage). Shipping and handling for these 12 Celender postcards, which will be sent in a rigid mailer or padded envelope with rigid backing within: $5 to U.S. addresses (via Media Mail). Note that eBay has now instituted a shipping program whereby bidders from outside the U.S. can bid on or buy all sellers' items, and the seller sends everything to an eBay facility in the US for shipping. So far, this seems to be working out well (though one item bought by someone in China never made it to its destination, though eBay very quickly refunded the buyer). If you want this set of 12 Don Celender postcards sent more quickly to you (e.g., via Priority Mail in the U.S.), you must request this asap after winning or purchasing them (or beforehand, if possible), and I will adjust the amount accordingly. I will do my best to send the postcard set out to you no more than 2-3 business days following receipt of payment (that is, when eBay informs me that your payment has been posted to or otherwise cleared in my account). If you are the winner or buyer of these postcards, PAYMENT IS EXPECTED WITHIN ONE WEEK (7 DAYS) FROM THE PURCHASE DATE. If you cannot pay within this time frame, PLEASE contact me asap so we can work something out. I'm very flexible and understanding, but I would appreciate communication from you one way or another. PLEASE NOTE THAT RETURNS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED NOR REFUNDS MADE FOR THESE POSTCARDS, SO PLEASE READ MY DESCRIPTION CAREFULLY. AND IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON THE SET THAT MAY CLEAR UP SOME OF MY CONFUSION AS TO THE IMAGE ON ONE OF THE CARDS, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH ME -- AND I'LL TRY TO ADD THE INFORMATION TO THE DESCRIPTION. Thanks for looking, and please don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions about this fascinating, and quite wonderful, set of postcards, Vermeer Paints a Picture, a 1981 work of art by the Conceptual artist Don Celender. PLEASE NOTE THAT I WILL HAPPILY ADJUST SHIPPING CHARGES FOR MULTIPLE PURCHASES!!! THIS DOES NOT, HOWEVER, APPLY TO PURCHASES MADE BY THOSE OUTSIDE THE U.S. USING eBAY'S GLOBAL SHIPPING PROGRAM. ALSO, PLEASE NOTE THAT, IF APPLICABLE, eBAY WILL ADD ANY APPROPRIATE STATE SALES TAX TO THE INVOICE.

Price: 24.99 USD

Location: Middletown, Connecticut

End Time: 2025-01-12T20:46:10.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5 USD