Skip to main content
Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Back of Page 3
Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Back of Page 3
Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Back of Page 3

Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Back of Page 3

Artist (American, born 1940)
Printer (American, 1938 - 2007)
Date1979
Mediumphotoscreenprints
ClassificationsGraphic
Credit LineGift of Betty Hahn, 2015
Object number2015.2.20
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 the verso of Hotel Chelsea letterhead, to Betty Hahn from Diane Luppi. Near the center of the composion is a horizontal band of yellow, representing a piece of yellowed tape covering a tear in the paper.

 

Text on this page of the letter reads:

“The application is due in England/by Dec 31 which shows/you just how unenthusiastic/I have been. To avoid/further delays, I have/enclosed a stamped, self-addressed accept/reject /postcard to expediate the/process which I have/procrastinated over for months./Simply check your response/and drop in the mail./I assure you I don’t give/a shit if you say no. I/don’t even think they teach art. love/Diane [underscored]/P.S. This Mable Baca [small crossed-out area] stuff/is Jan’s alias [small crossed-out area] for cab/driving. She had 21 moving/violations on her old NY liscense [sic]/and computers do not forget./PPS – sent book by book rate – will come/later” in 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.
On View
Not on view