Correspondence: An Exhibition of the Letters of Ray Johnson

Ray Johnson

Correspondence: An Exhibition of the Letters of Ray Johnson

Raleigh, USA: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1976

498 pp., 29.21 x 24.13 cm., loose leaves

Edition size unknown

Richard Craven (often simply known as Richard C.) and Ray Johnson maintained a voluminous correspondence, beginning in the late 1960s and unbroken until Johnson’s suicide in 1995. 

Craven organized the exhibition Correspondence: An Exhibition of the Letters of Ray Johnson, which ran from October 31st to December 5th, 1976, at the North Carolina Museum of Art. It featured works loaned by a hundred recipients of Johnson’s Mail Art.

This exhibition catalogue - now valued at between $600 and $1000, depending on condition - consists of unbound photocopied sheets housed in a large laminated folder. 

 

"It is generally and correctly understood among those who participated in the crest of the mail art movement in the late sixties and early seventies that Ray Johnson was the founder of the New York Correspondence School and foremost proponent of mailing activity. And while there have been a few exhibitions enthusiastically supported by growing numbers of mail artists, there has not been proper emphasis credited to Johnson as a communication artist. It is overwhelming to conceive of the amount of material that Ray Johnson has sent through the mail over the years and of the numbers of individuals with which he has made contact and continues to amuse, entertain, irritate, and educate. 

This exhibition represents only a sampling of his communication efforts despite the fact that it is the largest assemblage ever of his work. Over 1,000 items were submitted for consideration in the exhibition by more than 100 lenders from across the country and abroad. 

As we view and read these unique missives, let us keep in mind that we are in a sense reading over the lender’s shoulder, being let in on a one-sided conversation, and what we see may very well be mysterious and obscure for that reason. As suggested by one of our lenders, Lillian Kiesler, it would be nice if the letters show stimulated the art of letter writing in its most inventive sense, as Ray Johnson has done."

 - Moussa M. Domit, introduction