Greetings Card
late 20th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Many artists, designers, photographers and other creative workers make their own Christmas cards for private use in which their investigations of self, gender, the body, death and the sacred may be seen in concentrated form. Helen Chadwick's abiding concern with gender and sexuality is given a playfully subversive twist in this image. In the exuberent style of Rococco engraved ornament, a frame of ejaculating penises surrounds a radiating central vagina, which is only fully revealed when the artfully positioned ribbon is lifted.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Photocopy on paper with staples and silk ribbon |
| Brief description | Christmas card by Helen Chadwick |
| Physical description | 2 folded sheets of A4 paper, one stapled inside the other as a lining. Outer sheet marbled pale pink and cream, inner sheet deeper pink. Photocopied image of engraved ornamental cartouche composed of human genitalia on the front with coral pink satin ribbon stapled to inside front falling across the centre of the image. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Limited edition |
| Marks and inscriptions | Mark & Chris / Seasons Greetings / with love / Helen / x (Inside, hand-written in black ink) |
| Gallery label | Meaning
Is a greeting card anything made - be it a wooden plaque or a paper lantern - to convey a message or greeting or to mark an event or occasion? Is it a particular format - something that opens and closes, an object type - something disposable made of ephemeral materials, or a medium of communication - including performing telegrams and virtual cards sent by e-mail? Artists in various media have begun to address the greetings card phenomenon for a variety of reasons - with some intriguing results. Every Christmas, the fine art handling company, Momart, commissions an artist to create a limited edition gift which it sends out as its corporate greeting. Meanwhile, many artists, designers, photographers and other creative workers make their own Christmas cards in which their investigations of self, gender, the body, death and the sacred may be seen in concentrated form.(15-6-2000) |
| Credit line | Given by Mark Haworth-Booth |
| Production | Reason For Production: Private |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Many artists, designers, photographers and other creative workers make their own Christmas cards for private use in which their investigations of self, gender, the body, death and the sacred may be seen in concentrated form. Helen Chadwick's abiding concern with gender and sexuality is given a playfully subversive twist in this image. In the exuberent style of Rococco engraved ornament, a frame of ejaculating penises surrounds a radiating central vagina, which is only fully revealed when the artfully positioned ribbon is lifted. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.170-2000 |
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| Record created | March 28, 2000 |
| Record URL |
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