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Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Page 3
Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Page 3
Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Page 3

Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Page 3

Artist (American, born 1940)
Printer (American, 1938 - 2007)
Date1979
Mediumphotoscreenprints
ClassificationsGraphic
Credit LineGift of Betty Hahn, 2015
Object number2015.2.19
DescriptionPrint of handwritten letter on Chelsea Hotel stationery against blue background.
Text Entries

The prints in this portfolio are five-color (blue, grey, black, tan, and orange) printed on Arches 88 paper, bon a tirer, in an edition of seven, each including 7 photo silkscreens, a portfolio case, a T-shirt (unlimited edition), and a print of a blank sheet of Hotel Chelsea stationery (edition of 10). The edition was printed by Jim Kraft at Unified Arts, Albuquerque, New Mexico. See “Betty Hahn, Photography or Maybe Not,” (UNM Press, 1995), p. 188.

 

The text in the images are from a letter written from the Chelsea Hotel in New York City by Diane Luppi, a former student of Betty Hahn’s at the University of New Mexico.

 

This image shows a blue background with an image of a handwritten letter on Hotel Chelsea letterhead, to Betty Hahn from Diane Luppi.

 

Letterhead reads: “ ‘A LANDMARK OF N.Y.C.’ / HOTEL CHELSEA/New York/

AT SEVENTH AVENUE/WEST TWENTY THIRD STREET/NEW YORK, N.Y. 10011/CABLE ADDRESS.HOCHELSEA.NEW YORK/TELEPHONE CHELSEA 3-3700” with image of hotel and clouds above it at top, and at bottom: “LARGE and SOUND-PROOF ROOMS”.

 

Text of letter reads: “3// will entail your coming/to Oxford to break up the/fight. What it does not/seem to entail is a/written recommendation./I am not very enthusiastic/about the whole thing./UNM was far enough behind/the times for me. Going to/a school that was established/in 1292 isn’t exactly my/idea of an innovative, progressive/[small crossed-out area] or socially challenging/environment. However it/might be fun bringing/them into the 20th century./I do enjoy a good fight./I could probably learn the/language in a couple of months.” In the handwriting of Diane Luppi.
Using a letter she received from a former student, Diane Luppi, as a starting point, Betty Hahn created prints that reproduce each handwritten page and the envelope in which the letter was mailed. Each sheet bears the prominent logo of the Hotel Chelsea in New York City, the historic home of many well-known artists, actors, writers, and musicians -- and thus a pilgrimage site for their fans and admirers. The letter offers a vivid verbal snapshot of Luppi’s visit to New York in the late 1970s.
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