MULTIPLES, INC.: Artists & Photographs

The idea of the “multiple,” an artwork produced in a limited edition, was very much in the air at the time. In New York, there were already several publishers of multiples, but no spaces for showing them. The aim of the Multiples Gallery, which opened in 1965, was not only to make these works known, but also to exhibit them, sell them, and distribute them. The procedure of the multiple opened up new sales circuits: affordable objects brought contemporary art within reach of a wider public. New materials and production techniques replaced the more traditional methods of painting and bronze casts. Numerous multiples in the form of boxes could easily be kept on shelves. Multiples, Inc. commissioned works from artists associated with Op Art and Pop Art, and also went on to work with lesser-known artists such as Sol LeWitt, Dennis Oppenheim, and Robert Smithson. 

The new generation of artists were looking for an alternative way of showing their work. In response to this need, Multiples, Inc. offered its 1970 Artists & Photographs edition, in which the works of nineteen American and European artists were brought together in a single box. These artists worked with photography, not as a traditional medium, but in order to document their art processes and conceptual works. Among them were LeWitt and Smithson, but also Jan Dibbets, Dan Graham, Bruce Nauman, and Edward Ruscha, to name but a few. In lieu of objects, the box contained artists’ books, brochures, leaflets, and folders in various formats done in black-and-white offset. Despite its considerable print run of 1,200, this edition was not a commercial success at the time; today, however, its contents are in high demand.

The extensively illustrated catalogue includes a new essay by Dieter Schwarz, and original texts by Harold Rosenberg and Samuel J. Wagstaff Jr. The catalogue includes a historically complete list of all the Multiples, Inc. editions, as well as many documents illustrating its wide-spanned history. It was published on the occasion of the historical exhibition at the Marian Goodman Gallery New York (12 January – 27 February 2021), which gathered for the first time a selection of over 150 editions published by Multiples, Inc. in collaboration with over 70 artists.

**This item is available for purchase in our Online Shop and at Librairie Marian Goodman, Paris **

The exhibition is accompanied by an Online Viewing Room with additional works spanning from 1966 to 1992.