Jimmy De Sana Papers
Call Number
Dates
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The Jimmy De Sana papers provide documentation of De Sana's career as an artist and commercial photographer. The collection consists of photographic prints, slides, negatives, clippings, posters, reviews, and photographic equipment and other objects. The bulk of the material covers 1977-1990, although the collection spans the mid 1950s-1997.
Biographical Note
Jimmy De Sana was born in Detroit on November 12, 1949, where he lived until his family relocated to Atlanta in 1955. De Sana studied art in high school and at the University of Georgia in Atlanta. In 1972, before moving to New York City, he published 101 Nudes, a lithographic portfolio. This first mature work, comprised of nude photographs of himself and his friends in suburban settings, introduced themes that remained important throughout his career.
De Sana's first exhibition took place in 1979 at the Stefanotti Gallery on West 57th Street. A visible figure in the East Village art scene of the 1970s and 1980s, he participated in the "Times Square Show", "New York/New Wave" and was a frequent contributor to FILE Magazine, SoHo News, the Village Voice, Bomb and New York Rocker. He self-published a book of photographs, Submission, in 1980, which includes an introduction by William S. Burroughs. Though his career lasted less than two decades, De Sana produced work in a variety of styles. He used unconventional processes and techniques including negative prints, double exposures, and vividly colored lighting.
At the time of his death, De Sana was working on a book of photographic collages, made largely in the darkroom, constructed of images of mundane household objects. The book, Salvation, remains incomplete. De Sana was represented by Pat Hearn Gallery from 1987 (posthumously) through 1997. De Sana died of AIDS in New York City in 1990. He was forty years old. His work continues to be shown internationally.
Sources:
Bourdon, David. "Jimmy De Sana at Pat Hearn." Art in America, November, 1995
Arrangement note
The collection has been arranged into 15 series. Series III through VIII (slides and negatives) are currently unavailable to researchers.
Series I:Photographic Prints organized by project
Subseries A: Silver gelatin prints from "101 Nudes"
Subseries B: Silver gelatin prints associated with the 1980 book Submission.
Subseries C: Cibachrome and color c-prints from the "Early Sex" project
Subseries D: Photographic prints from the "$bfat" project
Subseries E: Photographic prints from the "$dobjects" project
Subseries F: Photographic prints from the "Auto-Portraits" project
Subseries G: Photographic prints from the Salvation book project
Series II: Photographic Prints organized by theme
Subseries A: Photographic prints from Early Work theme
Subseries B: Photographic prints from Events theme
Subseries C: Photographic prints from Landscape theme
Subseries D: Photographic prints from the Paper Collage theme
Subseries E: Photographic prints from the Portrait theme
Subseries F: Photographic prints from the Miscellaneous theme
Subseries G: Photographic prints from Other Artists' Work theme
Series III: Color Transparency Slides organized by project
Subseries A: Slides from the Submission project
Subseries B: Slides from the "Early Sex" project
Subseries C: Slides from the "$bfat" project
Subseries D: Slides from the "$dobjects" project
Subseries E: Slides from the "Auto-Portrait" project
Subseries F: Slides from the "Cut Up" project
Subseries G: Slides from the Salvation project
Series IV:Color Transparency Slides organized by theme
Subseries A: Slides from the Documentation theme
Subseries B: Slides from the Events theme
Subseries C: Slides from the Landscape theme
Subseries D: Slides from the Miscellaneous theme
Subseries E: Slides shot from the film "O'Hara's Wife"
Subseries F: Slides from the Paper Collage theme
Subseries G: Slides from the Portrait theme
Subseries H: Slides from the Travel theme
Series V: Silver Gelatin Negative Film organized by project
Subseries A: Negatives from the "101 Nudes" project
Subseries B: Negatives from the Submission project
Subseries C: Negatives from the "Early Sex" project
Subseries D: Negatives from the "$bfat" project
Subseries E: Negatives from the "$dobjects" project
Subseries F: Negatives from the "Cut Up" project
Subseries G: Negatives from the "Auto-Portrait" project
Series VI:Silver Gelatin Negative Film organized by themeSubseries A: Negatives from the Documentation theme
Subseries B: Negatives from the Early Work theme
Subseries C: Negatives from the Events theme
Subseries D: Negatives from the Landscape theme
Subseries E: Negatives from the Miscellaneous theme
Subseries F: Negatives from the Nudes theme
Subseries G: Negatives from the Paper Collage theme
Subseries H: Negatives from the Portraits theme
Subseries I: Negatives from the Reproductions of Other Artists' Work theme
Subseries J: Negatives from the Travel theme
Subseries K: Medium-format Negatives
Sub-subseries i: Negatives from the Documentation theme
Sub-subseries ii: Negatives from the Miscellaneous theme
Sub-subseries iii: Negatives from the Portrait theme
Sub-subseries iv: Negatives from the Reproductions of Other Artists' Work theme
Series VII: Color Negative Film organized by project
Subseries A: Negatives from the Submission project
Subseries B: Negatives from the "Early Sex" project
Series VIII: Color Negative Film organized by theme
Subseries A: Negatives from the Landscape theme
Subseries B: Negatives from the Miscellaneous theme
Subseries C: Negatives from the Reproductions of Other Artists' Work theme
Subseries D: Negatives from the Portraits theme
Series IX: Half-tone triplicate reproductions organized by project
Subseries A: Half-tone 8 X 10s from the Salvation project
Series X:Silver Gelatin Contact Sheets organized by project
Subseries A: Contact sheets from the "101 Nudes" project
Subseries B: Contact sheets from the Submission project
Subseries C: Contact sheets from the "$bfat" project
Subseries D: Contact sheets from the "$dobjects" project
Subseries E : Contact sheets from the "Auto-Portrait" project
Subseries F: Contact sheets from the "Cut Up" project
Subseries G: Contact sheets from the Salvation project
Series XI: Silver Gelatin Contact Sheets organized by theme
Subseries A: Contact sheets from the Events theme
Subseries B: Contact sheets from the Landscape theme
Subseries C: Contact sheets from the Miscellaneous theme
Subseries D: Contact sheets from the Portrait theme
Subseries E: Contact sheets from the Reproductions of Other Artists' Work theme
Subseries F: Contact sheets from the Travel theme
Series XII:Pat Hearn Materials
Subseries A: Color Transparency Slides documentation of projects and installations
Subseries B: Papers and clippings collected by Pat Hearn Gallery
Series XIII: Ephemera
Subseries A: Papers and clippings found throughout the Jimmy De Sana estate
Subseries B: Papers and clippings compiled by Jimmy De Sana
Series XIV: Objects
Series XV: Media
Subseries A: Access Copies
Subseries B: Originals
Subseries C: VHS tapes
Oversize Series II: Oversize Photographic Prints organized by theme
Subseries E: Portrait
Subseries F: Miscellaneous
Oversize Series XIII: Ephemera
Subseries A: Papers and clippings found throughout the Jimmy De Sana estate
Subseries B: Papers and clippings compiled by Jimmy De Sana
Series Arrangement
- Series I: Prints by Project
- Series II: Prints by Theme
- Series III: Slides by Project
- Series IV: Slides by Theme
- Series V: Negative by Project
- Series VI: Negatives by Theme
- Series VII: Color Negative by Project
- Series VIII: Color Negatives by Theme
- Series IX: Half-tone Triplicate Redproductions by Project
- Series X: Silver Gelatin Contact Sheets by Project
- Series XI: Silver Gelatin Contact Sheets by Theme
- Series XII: Pat Hearn Materials
- Series XIII: Ephemera
- Series XIV: Objects
- Series XV: Media
- Oversize - Series II: Photographic Prints by Theme
- Oversize - Series XIII: Ephemera; Clippings, Reproductions, Advertisements
Scope and Content Note
The Jimmy De Sana Papers, which exceeds 25,000 items, consist of comprehensive documentation of Jimmy De Sana's career as an artist and commercial photographer. Materials include photographic prints, slides, negatives, clippings, posters, reviews, and photographic equipment and other objects. The materials span the mid 1950s–1997 with the bulk of the material covering 1977–1990.
The bulk of the collection is made up of photographic materials, which have been separated into eleven series according to type (prints, color transparency slides, silver gelatin negative film, color negative film, half-tone reproductions, and silver gelatin contact sheets) and project or theme. What constitutes a "project" was based on exhibition records and documentation in the press.
Project Titles and Dates:
101 Nudes, 1972
Submission circa 1978-1980
Early Sex, circa 1979 – 1983 (Also labeled by Jimmy DeSana "Greenwich Sex" and "Sex")
$bfat, circa 1983 – 1984 (also labeled by Jimmy DeSana "Fat")
$dobjects, circa 1984 – 1987 (Also labeled by Jimmy DeSana " Early Collage" and "Early Abstract")
Auto-Portraits, circa 1984 – 1985
Cut Ups, circa 1985 – 1986
Salvation, circa 1986 - 1991
When there are no materials corresponding to a particular project in a given series, that project is skipped in the sequence.
"Themes" have been identified by labels existing within the estate or by visual similarity. Annotations or labels that were written by Jimmy De Sana are indicated in the item descriptions by his initials(JDS). When there are no materials corresponding to a particular theme in a given series, that theme is skipped in the sequence.
Theme Titles:
Documentation
Early Work
Events
Landscape
Miscellaneous
Nudes
"O'Hara's Wife"
Paper Collage
Portrait
Reproductions of Other Artists' Work
Travel
Series VI Subseries K contains medium format negatives which could not be integrated into the storage binders with the rest of the material because of size. Subseries K is stored separately, but organized into sub-subseries which match themes elsewhere in Series VI and should be considered of a piece with them.
When an item is listed in the finding aid with a box number, but no folder number, it indicates that the item is stored in an archival photo binder box. Throughout the collection, for materials housed in binders, a labeled sheet of paper has been inserted to indicate when a new subseries begins. Works not titled by Jimmy De Sana himself appear as "Title:______" in the finding aid.
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
People
Topics
Access Restrictions
Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
As of 23 February 2010, Series III - VIII are on loan and unavailable for research.
Use Restrictions
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); Jimmy De Sana Papers; MSS 202; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
The Jimmy De Sana Papers were donated to the Fales Library by Laurie Simmons, executor of the Jimmy De Sana Trust, in 2008.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Access to audiovisual materials in this collection is available through digitized access copies. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room.
Separated Materials
Negatives and slides (Series III,IV,V,VI,VII,VIII) have been termporarily removed from the collection for use by the donor.
