Ben Morea and Aldo Tambellini Art Papers
Call Number
Dates
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Painter Ben Morea, and artist and sculptor Aldo Tambellini were both anarchists active in the artistic and political counterculture in New York City in the 1960s and 1970s. Aldo Tambellini edited and published a newsletter called The Screw with its slogan "Artists in an Anonymous Generation Arise." In 1966 Ben Morea and the poet Dan Georgakas founded a Dada-influenced art group called Black Mask. In May 1968, Black Mask changed its name to Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers. The Motherfuckers (often referred to as simply "the Motherfuckers", or UAW/MF) were an anarchist affinity group based in New York City's Lower East Side. They contributed to New York City's counterculture by setting up crash pads, serving free food, starting a free store, and helping radicals connect with doctors and lawyers. They used direct action to stage various political-artistic events and demonstrations, and are thought to have inspired members of the Weather Underground and the Yippies. This collection contains clippings, fliers, graphic art, periodicals, posters, photographs, programs and other printed ephemera that document Morea and Tambellini's activities both during and before the founding of Black Mask, and the activity of the Motherfuckers. There is also correspondence and other material relating to the Situationist International, several annotated issues of the Rebel Worker (Industrial Workers of the World), and correspondence and other materials created or collected by donor Max Blechman that also pertain to anarchism and its relationship to the arts.
Historical/Biographical Note
Painter Ben Morea, and artist and sculptor Aldo Tambellini were both anarchists active in the artistic and political counterculture in New York City in the 1960s and 1970s. Aldo Tambellini edited and published a newsletter called The Screw with its slogan "Artists in an Anonymous Generation Arise." In 1966 Ben Morea and the poet Dan Georgakas founded a Dada-influenced art group called Black Mask along with elements of another group called Angry Arts. Black Mask produced a broadside of the same name and declared that revolutionary art should be "an integral part of life, as in primitive society, and not an appendage to wealth." In May 1968, Black Mask changed its name and went underground. Their new name, Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers, came from a poem by Amiri Baraka. Often referred to as simply "the Motherfuckers", or UAW/MF, they were an anarchist affinity group based in New York City's Lower East Side. They contributed to New York City's counterculture by setting up crash pads, serving free food, starting a free store, and helping radicals connect with doctors and lawyers. This "street gang with analysis" was known for its direct actions in the fields of politics and the arts, and is said to have inspired members of the Weather Underground and the Yippies.They were opposed to and resisted on principle any attempt to impose order on the political demonstrations they participated in. Among other things, the Motherfuckers instigated brawls with Maoist groups such as the Progressive Labor Party.
Arrangement
Organized into eight series: I, Aldo Tambelini and Ben Morea in the pre-Black Mask Period; II, Black Mask, 1966-1968; II, Up Against the Wall Motherfucker, 1968-1971; IV, Publications of groups in NY and London connected or relevant to Ben Morea and the Up Against the Wall Motherfucker "affinity groups," 1968-1971; V, Situationist International Correspondence; VI, Rebel Worker (Annotated Issues); VII, Max Blechman: Other Anarchy Related Materials; VIII, Oversize Materials.
Each series is arranged alphabetically, except for series V and VI, which are arranged chronologically.
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains clippings, fliers, graphic art, periodicals, posters, photographs, programs and other printed ephemera that document Morea and Tambellini's activities both during and before the founding of Black Mask, and the activity of the Motherfuckers. There is also correspondence and other material relating to the Situationist International, several annotated issues of the Rebel Worker (Industrial Workers of the World), and correspondence and other materials created or collected by donor Max Blechman that also pertain to anarchism and its relationship to the arts.
Subjects
Organizations
People
Topics
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Max Blechman were transferred to New York University in 2010 by Max Blechman. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu. Copyright (and related rights to publicity and privacy) to materials in this collection created by Ben Morea and Aldo Tambellini. . Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Ben Morea and Aldo Tambellini Papers; TAM 530; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Max Blechman in 2010. The accession numbers associated with this gift are 2010.028 and 2010.089.
About this Guide
Processing Information
The often-lengthy folder titles were closely adopted from a detailed inventory provided by Max Blechman.
Repository
Series I: Aldo Tambellini and Ben Morea in the pre-Black Mask Period, 1961-1973 (bulk 1962-1965, inclusive; 1962-1965, bulk
Scope and Content Note
This series contains fliers, programs and other printed ephemera and photographs documenting the countercultural artistic endeavors, principally of Aldo Tambellini (there is also a biographical sketch) in the early-mid 1960s. Undertakings documented include the Black Gate Theatre, the arts project "Black Zero," "The Bridge," a downtown performance venue on St. Marks Place, fliers and a statement of purpose for "The Center" (another arts project), movie and gallery openings. The photographs includ images of Tambellini and his paintings and sculpture.
Arts Canada #113 (Devoted to the Theme of "Black"), Oct 1967, inclusive
Beck, Julian and Judith Malina in an Open Discussion: Revolution as an Alternative ("Center" flier featuring a photograph of a street kid in front of an Aldo Tambellini sculpture), ca. 1964, inclusive
Black Gate Theatre (2 photographs): Entrance (announcing Underground Cinema); Lobby (seated Kusuma Joe Jones), ca 1967, inclusive
Black 2 fliers for a "Centrefugue Event" at "The Bridge" featuring Morea, Tambellini, et al., ca 1965, inclusive
Black Zero: "Expanded Cinema" at the Bridge (4 St. Mark's Pl.) "For Immediate Release", Nov 23, 1965, inclusive
Black Zero: Fliers (with sperm graphic), Program for Bridge Theater, Dec 15-16, 1965 (Featuring works of Ben Morea, Aldo Tambellini, Ron Hahne, Bill Dixon, Alan Silva, Calvin C. Hernton), 1965, inclusive
Black Zero: Photograph (woman seated in front of poster "Aldo Tambellini: Intermedia, Electromedia, Theater and Film"), undated
Bridge Theater Program Featuring Weegee Film Festival, the Fugs, etc., ca 1965, inclusive
The "Center" Flier, with a Calendar of Events ("The Center is an idea for the future, the artist must once again become the vision, we are the primitives of a new era."), ca 1962, inclusive
"Center" Flier: Statement of Purpose with the Center Logo (Black circle with one black dot in the center), ca 1963-ca 1964, inclusive
"Center" Flier: "Subscribe for the Creative Mind to Find Physical Space to Exchange Ideas", ca. 1963, inclusive
Expanded Cinema chapter, "Technoanarchy: The Open Empire", undated
Group Center article by David Bourdon, Village Voice (photograph of original), Jan 14, 1965, inclusive
Morea, Ben: Xerox of Photograph, undated
Painted Black , Pen Sketch, undated
Photograph, Aldo Tambellini's "Center" Group (Ben Morea, Ron Hahne, Aldo Tambellini, and three unidentified members), 1962-1963, inclusive
Photograph of El Diaro de Nueva York, front page with a photograph of Aldo Tambellini, caption about Tambellini's costume creations, Jul 13, 1962, inclusive
Photoprint Strips: A.M. Sachs Gallery, undated
Poster for opening of Centrefugues (A series of events in the Arts featuring the work of Jackie Cassen, Jeriann Hilderley, Eileen Larue, Aldo Tambellini, Peter Martinez, undated
Quantum II Press Release for A.M. Sachs Gallery (Including an explanation of the event and biographies of the participating artists), Jan 5, 196?
"Rebellion in Art Form-Tambellini's "Black 2" (New York Herald Tribune, photoprint), Jun 13, 1965, inclusive
"The Screw card, signed by Tambellini, Reads: You are cordially invited to witness the event of the screw, in which a highly significant award will be presented to the Museum of Modern Art...[yellow cardboard 6x8], Jul 12, 1962, inclusive
Sleeps with His Work, Fights Critics: Sculptor [Aldo Tambellini] Hunts Junk for Fierce Forms by Don Ross (New York Herald Tribune Clipping; Includes a photograph of Tambellini in his studio at 217 East 2nd St., with odd figure he cast), Nov 9, 1961, inclusive
Tambellini, Aldo (biographical flier), 1967, inclusive
Tambellini, Aldo: Biographical Listing in Tamburine/919, undated
Tambellini film/electromedia performance/television creations list (1965-1980; annotated by Tambellini, 4pp., undated
"Underground" Benefit Bash Flier for "The Bridge" Performances (Including Tambellini's Black Zero and "Light," a film by Ben Morea, ca 1965, inclusive
Views and Comments of the Libertarian League no. 46 [cover by Dick Tyler], Spring 1964, inclusive
"Zero" (selections re; from Art and the Future by Douglas Davis, 1973, inclusive
Series II: Black Mask, 1966-1969, inclusive
Scope and Content Note
This small series (1966-1969) includes fliers from the group's 1966 symbolic attempt to close the Museum of Modern Art, and a picture of the Black Mask group, selected poetry and essays, fliers from the 1967 "Levitate the Pentagon" anti-war demonstration, and a single issue of Ikon that includes pictures of the Black Mask group.
Black Mask Circular "The Assault against the Black Community...", Jun 23, 1967, inclusive
Black Mask in WIN magazine (photocopies), 1967, inclusive
Flier: "For Immediate Release: ON Monday October 10 [1966] at 12:30pm we will close the Museum of Modern Art. This Symbolic action is taken at a time when America is on a path of total destruction, and signals the opening of another front in the worldwide struggle against suppression. We seek a total revolution, cultural as well as social and political---LET THE STRUGGLE BEGIN." Signed Black Mask., 1966, inclusive
Flier "Museum Closed": recto, in oversize bold letters: MUSEUM CLOSED; verso: "A new spirit is rising. Like the street of Watts we burn with revolution. We assault your Gods--We sing of your death. Destroy the Museums--our struggle cannot be hung on walls. Let the past fall under the blows of revolt. The guerilla, the blacks, the men of the future, we are at your heels...[etc.]" Signed Black Mask: Ben Morea, Ron Hahne, Everett Shapiro., 1966, inclusive
Ikon (#7 Jan-Feb 1969) includes picture of Black Mask Group, 1969, inclusive
Pentagon Demo fliers, 1967, inclusive
Selected Essays and Poetry, some by Black Mask, undated
"Whirlpool" [flier], undated
Your Government Has Fallen (Flier issued by Black Mask), undated
Series III: Up Against the Wall Motherfucker, ca. 1967-1970, inclusive
Scope and Content Note
This series (1967-1970) contains printed ephemera (much of graphic interest), including fliers, clippings, leaflets, press releases, newsletters, and several photographs. There are files on the UAW/MF campaign to get Bill Graham and the Fillmore East to hold free concerts, on an action to bring garbage to Lincoln Center, files on student movements, including the 1968 occupation of Columbia University, various critiques of education, a single issue of Cerberus (NYU), a typescript by Ben Morea "The Issue Is not the Issue," materials critical of the Old and New Lefts, and a sexually graphic flier "Elecctions are Obscene."
ACID (Action Committee for Immediate Defense), undated
Armed Love/Love Armed...[flier with graphic of Geronimo], undated
Cerberus (vol 1, no. 9) New York University (2 l.), undated
Clippings, Miscellaneous, undated
Columbia University Uprising: 3 fliers, 1968, inclusive
"Continuum..." [flier, organization?], undated
Elections are Obscene [sexually graphic flier by the Berkeley Commune], 1968, inclusive
From the Book of the Motherfucker [Flier with Comic Strip in Medieval style], undated
Fuck Alienated social Science, Fuck Boredom (students of Life), Mar 14, 1968, inclusive
Graham, Bill; Fillmore East/West; "Free Theatre", 1968, undated, inclusive
Hippies Launch Spring Offensive" UAWMF Flier, undated
International Werewolf Conspiracy Flier "You must destroy the student in you", undated
Long Live the King, or the First Fuck of John Harvard (signed "appr. les engages), ca. 1968, inclusive
Morea, Ben "The Issue os Not the Issue", 1968, inclusive
Motherfuckers (pp. 311-3) Year of the Barricades / David Caute, 1988, inclusive
Original Fliers Concerning Huey Newton's Arrest, titled "Life in Destruction", undated
Open Press (flier, East Side Service Organization), ca 1967-ca 1970, inclusive
Photographs (10) and negatives: Made by Newsreel Films from the film realized on the occasion of the Lincoln Center Action, Feb 1968, inclusive
The Remnants of the Anti War Movement Gather for Yet Another March" [flier], undated
"Survival is not Enough" [flier], undated
"This is the Last Act of Masturbation: Let the Fucking Begin," Obscene Anarchist International, ca. 1968, inclusive
Up Against the Wall Theatre, undated
We Propose a Cultural Exchange (Assemble to collect garbage then march to Lincoln Center), Feb 12, 1968, inclusive
Up Against the Wall Motherfucker Magazine, 1968, inclusive
Series IV: Publications of groups in NY and London connected or relevant to Ben Morea and Up Against the Wall Motherfucker., 1965-1968, 1992, inclusive; 1965-1968, bulk
Scope and Content Note
This series contains publications of groups in NY and London connected or relevant to Ben Morea and Up Against the Wall Motherfucker, including cartoonns, clippings, manifestos, pamphlets and other ephemera, including several related to New York City public school student movements, and a typescript, "Root and Branch: A Radical Sixties Odyssey," by Jonathan Leake (91 pp)
Address to New York City Public School Students (4pp comic book;New York Section, SI), Nov 12, 1968, inclusive
"Affinity Groups" [leaflet, 4pp], undated
Anarchos #1, Feb 1968, inclusive
Cartoon "Grain Assault"
Collection of Oversize cartoons,...rejected by the Committee of Public Safety...L.S.E...Signed King Mob / The Black Hand Gang, undated
Comment: The Newest School Buildings are Indistinguishable from the Newest Prison or the Newest Industrial Complexes, Sep 22, 1968, inclusive
Leake, Jonathan, Notes on cardboard, undated
Leake, Jonathan; Root and Branch: A Radical Sixties Odyssey (ts. 91 pp), 1992, inclusive
Lewin, Roland: Erich Muehsam, 1879-1934, 1968, inclusive
Lifechants/Songs of Revolution, 1967?, inclusive
Mattafesto (from), undated
New York Federation of Anarchists (641 East 9th Street): The Legacy of Domination (2 pp.), undated
Provisional Committee to Reconstitute the First International (flier), undated
"Resurgence", May 25, 1966, inclusive
Thutch 666/Jonathan Leake, undated
Untitled Critique (#.) re: Women's Liberation, undated
Watts 1965...[leaflet], undated
We Are All Undesirables: A Little Treatise on Dying [flier], 1968, inclusive
Winter Solstice Saturday December 21 [graphic flier; San Francisco], ca 1968, inclusive
Series V: Situationist International Correspondence, Documents, History, 1967-1974, inclusive
Scope and Content Note
This series contains photocopies of correspondence of the Situationist International (SI), in English and French, including letters from SI leader Guy DeBord, and one letter addressed to American anarchist Murray Bookchin; writings by members of the SI, and writings about the history of the SI.
Situationist Correspondence (New york: "Dear Murray [Bookchin];" 1 letter, unsigned), Sep 12, 1967, inclusive
Situationist Correspondence (London, Paris; in French and English), Nov 25, 1962-Nov 28, 1967, inclusive
Situationist Correspondence (London, Paris; in French and English), Dec 1967, inclusive
A Field Study in the Dwindling Force of Cognition, where It is the Least Expected: A Critique of the Situationist International as Revolutionary Organization by Robert Chasse and Bruce Ellwell (46 pp.), Feb/Mar 1970, inclusive
Gray, Christopher; The Incomplete Work of the Situationist International (apparently selected portions, including a list of members), 1974, inclusive
Situationist "Point of Clarification", undated
Situationist International: Photocopies of Several Sections of a [published?] Typescript [title not given] 46 pp [possibly complete but lacking title page], undated
Series VI: Rebel Worker (Annotated Issues), 1964-1966, inclusive
Scope and Content Note
This series contains several annotated issues of the Rebel Worker, the publication of the Industrial Workers of the World, a syndicalist group with anarchist influences.
Rebel Worker: Dear Max [Blechman] letter from Franklin [Rosemont], 7/27/1993; Rebel Worker Pamphlets, 1964-1966, 1993, inclusive
Rebel Worker (#1; 1A), undated
Rebel Worker (#3), undated
Rebel Worker (#4), 1965, inclusive
Rebel Worker (#5), undated
Rebel Worker (#6), undated
Rebel Worker (#7), undated
Series VII: Max Blechman: Other Anarchy Related Materials, 1968-2010, inclusive
Scope and Content Note
This series contains correspondence, including on various aspects of anarchism, a notebook by Ben Morea describing the events and people (Aldo Tambellini in particular) covered in series I through V, materials on the anarchist/punk music scence in Great Britain, a memo regarding Murray Bookchin, a single issue of HEAD, and doodles.
Blechman, Max: Correspondence, 1992-1996, inclusive
Communes: Reprints, Undated
Doodles, Undated
The End of Music (Glasgsow): Includes "The Revolution of Everyday Alienation," "Rebel Music and State Morality," usic All Day Helps You Work and Play.", ca. 1968, inclusive
HEAD (Healthier Environmental Attitudes Desired), Sep 1968, inclusive
Morea, Ben: Notebook: Black Mask / UAWMF/King Mob/ S.I., ca. 1969-1970, inclusive
Radcliffe, Charles: Memo re Murray Bookchin, covering ca. 1966-1970, 2010, inclusive
Series VIII: Oversize Materials, 1962-1969, inclusive
Scope and Content Note
This series contains oversized clippings, periodicals and posters separated from series one through four, and arranged in four corresponding subseries.
