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Ray (Edward) Johnson

Ray (Edward) Johnson (1927 - 1995) was active/lived in New York, Michigan.  Ray Johnson is known for Collage, mail art, assemblage.

Ray Johnson was a collagist but is best known as the progenitor of mail art with his New York Correspondence School, which he started in the l950s but which bloomed in the early 1960s.

Johnson was born in Michigan and went to Black Mountain College from l946 to l949, where he studied under Josef Albers. When he left to move to New York, he met painter/photographer Norman Solomon, with whom he started walking the streets at night, collecting bits and pieces from the streets.

Norman used his collections to nail to the walls as collages; Ray used his to cut up and mail to his friends. And soon he was asking his friends to mail items to other friends by writing "Please send to". Some of the mailings were forwarded, some were returned and some discarded.

Through these means he was able to build up a whole network of artists adding to his original mailings and forwarding them to one another.

In l970 the Whitney Museum showed the first exhibition of Johnson's ma   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 5644 characters.]  Artist bio

Artist auction records

.  askART's database currently holds 248 auction lots for Ray (Edward) Johnson (of which 182 auction records sold and 0 are upcoming at auction.)

Artist artworks for sale and wanted

.  There are 0 artworks for sale on our website by galleries and art dealers . There are 2 galleries and art dealers listing works of art by Ray (Edward) Johnson as either "Wanted" or "For Sale" .

Research resources

.  askART lists Ray (Edward) Johnson in 0 of its research Essays. Ray (Edward) Johnson has 5 artist signature examples available in our database.

Similar artists

.  There are 24 similar (related) artists for Ray (Edward) Johnson available:    Lyman Kipp,  Franz West,  Lucas Samaras,  Lynda Benglis,  Anne Dean Truitt,  Jack Goldstein,  Jack Youngerman,  Roger Brown,  Alfred Julio Jensen,  Peter Saul,  Guenther Uecker,  Donald Clarence Judd,  Ruth Lanier Asawa,  Richard Howard Hunt,  Carroll Dunham,  Hans Hartung,  Jake Berthot,  George Condo,  Al Held,  Peter Halley,  Jannis Kounellis,  Luis Tomasello,  Alexander Semeonovitch Liberman,  Milton Resnick



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Facts about Ray (Edward) Johnson

   Ray (Edward) Johnson  Born:  1927 - Detroit, Michigan
Died:   1995 - Sag Harbor, New York
Known for:  Collage, mail art, assemblage

Ray Johnson was a collagist but is best known as the progenitor of mail art with his New York Correspondence School, which he started in the l950s but which bloomed in the early 1960s.

Johnson was born in Michigan and went to Black Mountain College from l946 to l949, where he studied under Josef Albers. When he left to move to New York, he met painter/photographer Norman Solomon, with whom he started walking the streets at night, collecting bits and pieces from the streets.

Norman used his collections to nail to the walls as collages; Ray used his to cut up and mail to his friends. And soon he was asking his friends to mail items to other friends by writing "Please send to". Some of the mailings were forwarded, some were retu  ...  Displaying 750 of 5644 characters.

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