JOHNSON, Ray.

2 3/8 x 2 1/2 inches, 3 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches.

1959. A framed collage (wooden frame: 270 x 255 mm.), mounted paperboard with square blue paperboard affixed by string, both with the artist’s ms. measurements, reverse of frame stamped. [New York: “Mar. 1959”].

A rare 1950’s collage by Ray Johnson (1927-96), it was received in 1959 by the gallerist and early New York Correspondence School adherent Robert Buecker (1935-2024). Buecker attended first Johnson’s Nothings — events staged as a dig at Allan Kaprow’s Happenings — which began in July 1961 at George Maciunas’s AG Gallery, alongside the work of Henry Flynt and Walter De Maria. This collage predates Johnson’s first solo gallery show, which occurred in the spring of 1965 at the Willard Gallery in New York, run by Marian Willard and Dan Johnson. Up to that point, the artist had staged ephemeral public exhibitions and contributed a few works to group shows in American galleries and museums.

In his characteristic hand, with a blue colored pencil, Johnson has written out the measurements for the two portions of paperboard (off-white and light blue) that constitute the work. Buecker received this, recorded the month it arrived, and eventually had it framed for display at his gallery, Buecker & Harpsichords. Johnson was part of six group exhibitions at the gallery in the ’70s and ’80s. On the frame’s reverse, Buecker has written in two layers of colored pencil the artist’s name, and the month he received the work from Johnson “Mar. 1959.” Buecker’s gallery’s rubberstamp has also been applied.

Correspondence artist Edward M. Plunkett (1922-2011), who claims to have been the originator of the New York Correspondence School name, recalled in a 1977 feature: “Through Ray’s meeting I was to meet numerous artists and characters. I recall that Ad Reinhardt was at the early Nothing, as was Robert Buecker. A number of these people were as yet unappreciated underground movers of the avant-guard [sic.] of those days.”–”Send Letters, Postcards, Drawings, and Objects…”, Art Journal, XXXVI/3, p. 234.

“(Prior to 1965, Johnson shunned gallery affiliation, concentrating on his New York Correspondence School, a worldwide postal ‘performance’ lasting many years, during which he sent mailed out many thousands of business-size envelopes filled with mini-collages, clippings, newsphotos, all cryptically or obviously related to the recipient…)”–David Bourdon, “Ray Johnson Collages: Valentines/Snakes/Movie Stars,” Works by Ray Johnson (1984), p. 11.

An early Johnson collage, prefiguring his works more tailored for gallery shows and collectors.

|| Ray Johnson Estate website “Timeline” and “Exhibitions” pages (accessed 7 August 2026).

Ellen Levy’s A Book About Ray (2024) provides essential background information on Johnson’s personal relationships and protean artistic practice.