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Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Blank Page
Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Blank Page
Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Blank Page

Letter from the Hotel Chelsea Blank Page

Artist (American, born 1940)
Printer (American, 1938 - 2007)
Date1979
Mediumphotoscreenprints
DimensionsSupport: 30 1/4 × 21 1/4 in. (76.8 × 54 cm)
ClassificationsGraphic
Credit LineGift of Betty Hahn, 2015
Object number2015.2.23
DescriptionPrint of blank white stationery with Hotel Chelsea logo against blue background.
Text Entries
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.

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 an envelope with the Hotel Chelsea letterhead that is addressed to Betty Hahn with a return address from Diane Luppi, with orange U.S. postage stamp that is celcelled and postmarked.

 

Letterhead reads: “HOTEL CHELSEA/WEST TWENTY THIRD STREET/AT SEVENTH AVENUE/NEW YORK, N.Y. 10011/”A LANDMARK OF N.Y.C.” with image of hotel and clouds above it.

 

Return address reads: “luppi/ c/o Mable Baca/Chelsea Hotel #628/222 W.23rd St/NY 10011” in handwriting of Diane Luppi. According to the back of page 3 of the letter, “Mable Baca” was an alias that Jan was using in her job as a cab driver, apparently to avoid paying parking tickets accrured under her given name.

 

Address reads: “Betty Hahn/1511 Kit CARSON SW/Albuq. NM/87104” in handwriting of Diane Luppi.

 

Postmark reads: “NEW YORK, NY 10001 [?]/1978/PM” inscribed in circle. Stamp is orange with white borders and white eagle and text: “A/US Postage” cancelled with wavy black lines.

 

While other prints in this portfolio are from the fourth of seven editions, the fourth edition print of the envelope image was damaged and therefore the artist has substituted 5/7 to complete this set.

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