Arlene Lind Gallery (McManus, James W.)

Original Exhibition Poster: James McManus (Feb 4-28, 1969)

San Francisco, CA: Arlene Lind Gallery, 1969. First Edition. Single Sheet. James W. Mcmanus is Emeritus Professor of Art History at California State University, Chico, and his specialty is Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol along with the Fluxus movement in general. Fluxus was a 1960s international art movement that focused on experimental art and challenged the limitations and rules of traditional art. Mcmanus was one of the founders of the California State University Summer Arts Program which has grown and produced several famous musicians, artists, writers, and actors. This invitation/poster (appx. 17 1/2” x 22 1/2”) promotes an exhibition at the Arlene Lind Gallery during February 5th to the 28th of 1969. The gallery was still very new at the time having opened in 1968 in the heart of San Francisco. Mcmanus’ art was described as “drawings, serigraphs and other graphic and mixed-media works” as well as “polymer-media painted wall plaques” by Palmer D. French in Art Forum magazine at the time of this exhibition (Art Forum Vol. 7, No. 9, May 1969). French further elaborates on the style of his plaques: “[they] resembled large, flat, ingeniously conceived cutouts, while their surfaces provided the grounds for dynamic geometric designs in automobile paints and lacquers, exploiting in novel and inventive ways tensions generated by optical counterpoint with the complex edge-shapes or two-dimensional ‘silhouettes’ of the plaques.” His pieces frequently featured some variant of an optical illusion, tricking the eye with visual paradoxes of two-dimensially-represented three-dimensional figures. The obscure nature of this exhibition during the early years of both the gallery’s history and Mcmanus’ career makes it amazing that this print survived over fifty years. This is thanks to the influential American glass artist Marvin Lipofsky (1938-2016) from whose collection we obtained this print. It was originally folded and mailed as an announcement or invitation with Lipofsky’s address typewritten on the verso along with a postmark stamp. His collection of posters and promotional materials of the local art scene in San Francisco during the late 1960s through the 1970s has preserved art history that would have otherwise been forgotten. Single sheet: first edition, presumed first-&-only printing, as was usual for event posters of the era. In relatively fine condition with a horizontal crease across the center and two vertical creases where it was folded to approximately 11” x 6” for mailing; mild-to-moderate bumping to the fine edges and corners; moderate creasing/dimpling throughout. Fine. [Item #7316]

Price: $60.00 save 20% $48.00