11By 1965 an explosion of interest in the multiple format had occurred throughout Western Europe and the United States. Capitalizing on the frenzied climate in which Edition MAT was participating, Daniel Spoerri and Karl Gerstner marketed the final collection as a showcase of the latest art world trends, a “panorama of contemporary art,” as stated in their press release. New to this third iteration of Edition MAT were works by artists associated with the Paris-based Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (Group for Research in the Visual Arts, or GRAV), the Milan-based Gruppo T, American Pop art, and the international group of artists known as Fluxus. Edition MAT made its US debut this same year; it was exhibited at museums and galleries across the country and distributed by the recently established New York–based gallery Multiples Inc., one of the first galleries devoted solely to the sale of multiples. The increase in commercial art galleries selling editioned works—Galerie Der Spiegel in Cologne, Edition Block in Berlin, and Galerie Denise René–Rive Gauche in Paris, among others—marked a turning point in the history of the multiple; it began to be employed more and more as a means not only of reaching new audiences but also of generating a new category of buyers.
Installation Views
Top: Julio Le Parc (Argentine, b. 1928), detail of Untitled, 1965. Metal mirrors and 4 double-sided printed paper cards in painted wood box, 53/100, 14 3/4 x 23 5/8 x 14 7/16 in. (37.5 x 60 x 36.7 cm). Published by Edition MAT / Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne. Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, University purchase with funds from Aurelia Gerhard Schlapp, by exchange, 2013. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
Installation photography by Joshua White / JWPictures.com