James Lee Byars, three handwritten letters to Rudi Fuchs Documenta 7, ca. 1982

Three handmade round black paper envelopes, diameter 25 cm, with handwritten text in gold. All postmarked and addressed to 'The Beautiful Documenta Fuchs' in Kassel Germany, and sent by the artist from Cologne (Werner) and Bern. (1) Unopened envelope, but there is something inside. (2) The envelope from Bern contains 8 sheets of handmade Chinese paper, 20 x 16 cm, featuring silkscreened orange and gold-leave squares with handwritten text and drawings in black. One sheet reads 'write a letter to Bern Yrs JLB (decorated with stars)'. The sheets are folded once as issued to fit the envelope.

(3) Contains 2 folded sheets of black tissue paper, folding out to a circle of 49 cm diameter. The gold handwritten text is hard to decipher but probably has to do with Documenta, 'please do give out..my small 7..with request to wear white suits'. Provenance from the collection of Rudi Fuchs (1942) who was curator of Documenta 7 in Kassel (1982) and director of the Van Abbemuseum (1975-1987) when these letters were sent. Byars had worked with Fuchs before and participated in Documenta 7, though he was critical of the organization's Western-centric perspective. (total 3)