Finding aid for the Barbara T. Smith
Coffin series and related material, 1966-1967 2013.M.23
Isabella Zuralski
Special Collections
2013
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
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.
Processing History
Isabella Zuralski processed the collection and wrote the finding aid.
Preferred Citation
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
Publication Rights
Access
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.
Arrangement
Arranged in two series: Series I.
Coffin books, 1966-1967; Series II. Related works and working material, 1966-1967.
Acquisition Information
The collection was acquired in 2013.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Artists books -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Sketchbooks -- California -- 20th century
Coffin books,
Series I.
1966-1967
Physical Description:
10 Linear Feet
(12 boxes)
Arrangement
The books are listed alphabetically by title.
Scope and Contents
The first series comprises twenty-five artists' books from the
Coffin series, made by Smith between 1966 and 1967. All are hand-bound in embossed black covers. Most bindings are spiral, but a
few are accordion fold.
box 2
Coffin: An Awakening
Scope and Contents
10.75" x 14.5" closed, 22" x 14.5" open. Inv# BS10255-23.
box 1
Coffin: Broken Heart
Coffin: Broken Heart (digitized version)
Scope and Contents
122 pages. Case binding. 8.75" x 11" closed, 17" x 11" open. Inv# BS10255-11.
box 3
Coffin: Chaotic Attractor
Scope and Contents
24 pages. Quarter bound. 10.25" x 14.25" closed, 21.75" x 14.25" open. Inv# BS10255-8.
box 4
Coffin: Coming Out Party
Scope and Contents
56 pages. Spiral bound. 10.25" x 14.25" closed, 19.75" x 14.25" open. Inv# BS10255-9.
box 5
Coffin: Die Cut, Barbara Hard-Bound
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 9" x 11.25" closed, 17.75" x 11.25" open. Inv# BS10255-15.
box 5
Coffin: Die Cut, Julie Hard-Bound
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 9" x 11.25" closed, 17.75" x 11.25" open. Inv# BS10255-16.
box 5
Coffin: Die Cut, Katie Hard-Bound
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 9" x 11.25" closed, 17.75" x 11.25" open. Inv# BS10255-16.
box 5
Coffin: Die Cut, Rick Hard-Bound
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 9" x 11.25" closed, 17.75" x 11.25"open. Inv# BS10255-17.
box 3
Coffin: Do Nut Tuch!
Coffin: Do Nut Tuch! (digitized version)
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 10" x 14.5" closed, 18.75" x 14.5" open. Inv# BS10255-20.
box 2
Coffin: Document Carrier and Screen
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 10" x 14.5" closed, 18.75" x 14.5" open. Inv# BS10255-18.
box 6
Coffin: Entheos
Scope and Contents
10" x 14.25" closed, 19" x 14.25" open. Inv# BS10255-14.
box 7
Coffin: Hokusai's Wave
Scope and Contents
Accordion fold, 20 pages. 9.5" x 11.75" closed. 11.75" x 101.5" open. Inv# BS10255-2.
box 8
Coffin: Listen!
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 9.75" x 14.25" closed, 18.75" x 14.25" open. Inv# BS10255-19.
box 4
Coffin: Nuclear Family
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 18 pages. 9.5" x 14.25" closed. 18.75" x 14.25" open. Inv# BS10255-1.
box 9
Coffin: Oh! Those Leopard Skin Bikinis
Scope and Contents
Accordion fold. 9.25" x 14.75" closed, 108.25" x 14.75" open. Inv# BS10255-13.
box 11
Coffin: Rose Bowl
Scope and Contents
Spiral Bound. 20 pages. 9.75" x 13.25" closed, 18.5" x 13.25" open.
box 10
Coffin: Set Theory
Scope and Contents
Drawings 13" x 11.5" closed, 27" x 11.5" open. Inv# BS10255-14.
box 7
Coffin: Sign Language
Scope and Contents
Case binding. 190 pages. 8.75" x 11.25" closed, 17.5" x 11.25" open. Inv# BS10255-10.
box 8
Coffin: Split Initiative
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 9.75" x 14.5 " closed, 18.75" x 14.5" open. Inv# BS10255-22.
box 11
Coffin: Time Piece, Fuschia Rose
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 16 pages. 9.5" x 14.25" closed, 18.5" x 14.25" open. Inv# BS10255-6.
box 11
Coffin: Time Piece, Pink Rose
Scope and Contents
Spiral Bound. 17 pages. 9.5" x 14.25" closed, 18.5" x 14.25" open. Inv# BS10255-5.
box 11
Coffin: Time Piece, Yellow Rose
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 20 pages. 9.75" x 13.25" closed, 18.5" x 13.25" open. Inv# BS10255-7.
box 11
Coffin: Time Piece, Yellow Rose
Scope and Contents
Accordion fold. 12 pages. 14.25" x 9.25" closed, 14.25" x 63" open. Inv# BS10255-3.
box 12
Coffin: Where Did You Get That Polka-Dot Blouse?
Coffin: Where Did You Get That Polka-Dot Blouse?
Scope and Contents
Accordion fold. 9.25" x 14.75" closed, 91.25" x 14.75" open. Inv# BS10255-21.
Related material, Series II.
1966-1967
Physical Description:
2.26 Linear Feet
(4 boxes)
Scope and Contents
Included are seven additional
Coffin artists' books. They are finished works but do not have the embossed black covers of the twenty-five books in the main
Coffin series. Also present are five sets of prints called
Poetry, and Smith's sketchbook called
Xerox Journal that documents both, her ideas throughout the process of producing the
Coffin series as well as the source imagery for the series.
Arrangement
The material in this series in divided into three groups: other
Coffin books which are not in black embossed bindings, sets of loose prints called
Poetry, and the sketchbook.
Other
Coffin books,
1966-1967
Scope and Contents
The artists' books, which are not from the main
Coffin series are Xerox prints, unbound or spiral bound in clear plastic covers, except for the artists' book
Coffin: Printed Matter (Xerox Book) which is made of plexiglass plates and printed mylar string bound.
box 16
Remnant, 813 Reduction,
Remnant, 813 Reduction, 1965-1966
Scope and Contents
8.5" x 11". Loose leaves held by two metal rings. Inv# BS10358.
box 13
Coffin: Printed Matter (Xerox Book)
Scope and Contents
12 1/2" x 10" X 1 1/8". String bound loose plexiglass and printed mylar. Inv# BS8908.
box 14, folder 1
Coffin: In Self Defense
Scope and Contents
12 loose leaves. 14" x 8 1/2". Inv# BS10351.
box 14, folder 2
Coffin: Important / First Class (Julie)
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 13 leaves. 11 1/4" x 9" x 1/4". Inv# BS8918.
box 14, folder 3
Coffin: American Standard (Katie)
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 13 leaves. 11 1/4" x 9 1/8" x 1/2". Inv# BS8919.
box 14, folder 4
Coffin: Mellon National Bank and Trust
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 16 leaves. 11 1/4" x 9" x 5/8". Inv# BS8920.
box 14, folder 5
Coffin: First Class Mail
Scope and Contents
Spiral bound. 13 leaves. 14 3/8" x 9" x 1/8". Inv# BS8914.
Poetry sets,
1966-1967
Scope and Contents
The
Poetry sets are loose leaf Xerox prints in folders.
box 14, folder 6
Poetry: Rebellion
Scope and Contents
12 loose leaves. 14" x 8 1/2", leaves; 14 1/4' x 9, folder. Inv# BS10354.
box 14, folder 7
Poetry: Sorrow
Scope and Contents
13 loose leaves. 14" x 8 1/2", leaves; 14 3/8" x 9", folder. Inv# BS10355.
box 14, folder 8
Poetry: Child Voice
Scope and Contents
15 loose leaves. 14" x 8 1/2", leaves; 14 3/8" x 9", folder.
box 14, folder 9
Poetry: Joy
Scope and Contents
11 loose leaves. 14" x 8 1/2", leaves; 14 3/8" x 9 1/8", folder. Inv# BS10353.
box 14, folder 10
Poetry: The Mystery
Scope and Contents
10 loose leaves. 14" x 8 3/8", leaves; 14 3/8" x 9 1/8", folder. Inv# BS10356.
box 15
Xerox Journal,
1966-1967
Scope and Contents
Bound sketchbook. 12 1/2" x 9 7/8" x 2". Inv# BS8885. Paper label on spine: Xerox '66-1967 #1. The
Xerox Journal includes handwritten and typed notes, drawings, pasted in press clippings, several black and white photographs, including
one of the artist, four color polaroids (faded); and numerous inserts, such as notes, printed matter, and drawings.
