Harvard Art Museums > M26247.B: Flux Stationery: Hand in Glove (envelope) Prints Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Flux Stationery: Hand in Glove (envelope) (George Maciunas)(Published by Fluxus) , M26247.B,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 22, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/51983. This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number M26247.B People George Maciunas, American (Kaunas, Lithuania 1931 - 1978 Boston, MA) Published by Fluxus, American Title Flux Stationery: Hand in Glove (envelope) Classification Prints Work Type print Date 1972-1973 Culture American Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/51983 Physical Descriptions Medium Offset photolithograph Technique Photolithograph Dimensions 26.4 x 11.3 cm (10 3/8 x 4 7/16 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Peter Soriano, New York, New York, gift; to the Harvard University Art Museums, December 16, 2004. State, Edition, Standard Reference Number Standard Reference Number Silverman 284, ff. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Peter Soriano Copyright © George Maciunas Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Accession Year 2004 Object Number M26247.B Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Maciunas designed and printed the Flux Stationery for inclusion in "Fluxpack 3", distributed by Multipla in Milan. The stationery was also distributed by Maciunas himself, and by "Wooster Enterprises Edition, New York City." In a 1978 interview with Larry Miller, Maciunas discusses the Flux Stationery in terms of his conception of functionalism, which he describes as "when the piece that you are doing has an inherent connection to the form." After discussing his Venus de Milo apron, Maciunas notes that "the envelopes were like gloves and the letters were like hands. Now, again, the function is now...an envelope and a glove...same function: the glove encloses the hand...an envelope encloses the hand. Now, a non-functional envelope would be an envelope showing let's say lots of flowers...And the letterhead may be wheat or something. So the one has no connection with the other, and the fact that why flowers have to be on an envelope, they could be on a carpet, too...Now that's the difference." The stationery certainly stands among the most "functional" of Maciunas's creations, many of which (such as the one-card Flux-deck, Flux-postage, or the variously modified table-tennis rackets) are specifically designed to thwart any attempt to use them for their ostensible purpose. Like the Venus de Milo apron (the idea of which has since become a mainstay in novelty shops the world over), the stationery serves as a rare example of a commercially possible (even viable) extension of Fluxus practice. -Jacob Proctor Exhibition History 32Q: 1100 60’s Experiment, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/07/2017 - 09/27/2017 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
