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Smith (Barbara T.) Coffin series and related material, 1966-1967
2013.M.23
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Barbara T. Smith Coffin series and related material
Creator:
Smith, Barbara Turner, 1931-
Identifier/Call Number: 2013.M.23
Physical Description:
12.26 Linear Feet
(16 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1966-1967
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Abstract: The collection comprises
Coffin, a unique set of twenty-five hand-bound artist's books documenting Barbara T. Smith's experiments with an early Xerox 914
copy machine, and a set of working materials and other works related to the
Coffin series.
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection comprises
Coffin, a unique set of twenty-five hand-bound artists' books documenting Barbara T. Smith's experiments with an early Xerox 914
copy machine, seven additional artists' books called
Coffin, five sets of prints called
Poetry, and a sketchbook called
Xerox Journal which contains working materials related to the
Coffin series.
Twenty-five artists' books from the
Coffin series comprise Series I. Series II includes seven additional artists' books called
Coffin, five sets of prints called
Poetry, and the artist's sketchbook.
Isabella Zuralski processed the collection and wrote the finding aid.
Barbara T. Smith
Coffin series, and related material, 1966-1967, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2013.M.23.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2013m23
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Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Biographical / Historical Note
Barbara T. Smith, a pioneer in performance and body art, was born in Pasadena, California in 1931. She studied painting, art
history and religion at Pomona College, graduating in 1953. In 1965, she began to study at the Chouinard Art Institute in
Los Angeles, and in 1971, she received her MFA from the University of California, Irvine. While attending UC Irvine, she founded,
together with Nancy Buchanan and Chris Burden, the student-run experimental art gallery F-Space. It was at F-Space during
the late 1960s where Smith launched her career as an artist at the forefront of feminist, body, and performance art.
In 1966, shortly before turning to performance and body art, Smith experimented with a photocopy machine. She leased a 914
Xerox copier, placed it in her home for several months and began to explore its artistic potential. Between 1966 and 1967
she produced an extensive body of prints which she used to make artists' books called
Coffin, sets of prints called
Poetry, and other works.
Smith used the process of photocopying as a means of formal experimentation to create both abstract and figurative imagery
and to explore non-textual narrative and serialized conceptual processes. She experimented with the imaging process by putting
common household items, such as food and magazine clippings, flowers, photographs of her husband and children, and even her
own body in various states of undress on the photocopier. She was interested in how images can be manipulated and how technical
shifts, such as toner and paper style affect texture, tone, and shadows.
Made by means of personal mental and physical engagement with a machine, the
Coffin artists' books and other Xerox works anticipate Smith's performance art that developed just a few years later, including
Ritual Meal in 1969,
Celebration of the Holy Squash in 1971, and the iconic
Feed Me in 1973.
A retrospective exhibition of Smith's work was held in 2005 at Pomona College Museum of Art, and later travelled to the Kennedy
Museum of Art at Ohio University. In 2008, the Orange County Museum of Art included her
Trunk Piece, along with video footage from past performances, in the show
Art Since the 1960s: California Experiments. Also in 2008, Smith's
Field Piece was shown at The Box gallery in Los Angeles. In 2013,The Box gallery exhibited works Smith created between 1965 and 1966
using the photocopy machine, including the
Coffin series.
Arranged in two series: Series I.
Coffin books, 1966-1967; Series II. Related works and working material, 1966-1967.
The collection was acquired in 2013.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Artists books -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Sketchbooks -- California -- 20th century