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Notes: Jack Smith was a performance artist and film-maker best known for his erotic high jinks, which influenced artworld figures as diverse as John Water, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Charles Ludlam, and Richard Foreman. The images in this lot were originally made for Jonas Mekas, editor of the journal "Film Culture." Mekas apparently rejected the 4-part montages, after which time Smith decided to present them as single images in "The Beautiful Book" (New York: Dead Language Press, 1962).
The lot includes photographs of Smith, Marian Zazeela and other Boho luminaries of the late 1950s who are either outlandlishly garbed (Smith was an avowed, but totally unconvincing, transvestite) or fully nude. There's also an auto-portrait of Smith, who's neatly attired in a sports jacket and tie.