Richard Anuszkiewicz,Celebrate New York/Ed Koch (hand signed and inscribed by Richard Anuszkiewicz), 1974

Richard Anuszkiewicz

Celebrate New York/Ed Koch (hand signed and inscribed by Richard Anuszkiewicz), 1974

Silkscreen on wove paper

39 × 25 inches

Hand-signed by artist, signed, dated and inscribed "to Lowell" on the front

This vintage 1974 Anuszkiewicz silkscreen is a rare collectible when hand signed, as the present work. It was created to celebrate legendary New York politician Ed Koch. Most New Yorkers remember Koch as the colorful, flamboyant and outspoken three-term mayor of the city. But before Koch became mayor he was in fact a two term member of the House of Representatives for New York. And in 1973 when Anuszkiewicz created this silkscreen, and 1974 when he signed it, Koch was still a Congressman. (He did not become mayor until 1978). Koch was an old-style Jewish politician with a classic, borscht belt type humor that helped to make him a beloved and at times controversial institution in the city. What many people don't know is that when Koch died in 2013, he chose to put the last words of the murdered journalist Daniel Pearl on his tombstone: "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish."