Richard Corman, Madonna NYC 83, 2013

Richard Corman

Madonna NYC 83, 2013

Offset lithograph poster on high quality thin card paper (hand signed by the photographer)

Hand signed by Richard Corman on the lower left front

32 × 24 inches

This gorgeous offset lithograph poster was printed by Manhattan's renowned Duggal printshop on the occasion of a elegantly curated 2013 exhibition of Richard Corman's iconic photographs of Madonna from the early 1980s at the Milk Gallery near Chelsea's High Line. More than 50 images were on display in Milk Gallery New York from November 15 through December 15, 2013. This poster is boldly signed in silver sharpie by the photographer. It was designed by Corman himself, and it features one of his iconic Madonna photographs in Prada pink -- to match the color of the cover of the limited edition book of polaroids Corman took of Madonna in 1983. The letters NYC 83 are also creatively designed to look like the instantly recognizable New York City subway lettering - matching the design of the spine of the monograph "Madonna NYC 83" published by Damiani around the same time. This pink poster is not numbered but according to Corman, not that many were printed, and he hand signed only about a dozen.

More information about the exhibition from the Milk Gallery's original promotional materials:
Madonna NYC83 is an era-defining collection of images from Richard Corman’s photo shoots with the ‘material girl’ in 1983 as she released her first studio album. Corman shared with Milk Gallery his thoughts on the 1980s New York creative scene, when fashion, art and music collided. “It was original, it was unique and it was on fire,” Corman said. Madonna and the budding photographer first met at her East Village apartment and “for the next several hours, the pair walked the streets of New York City as she turned nursing homes, rooftops and building rubble into her own personal photo studio,” Milk says. Richard Corman Photography and Madonna met for their first photo shoot in New York City in 1983.

"Early in May of 1983, I got a call from my mother, Cis Corman. She was casting Scorsese’s new film, The Last Temptation of Christ and said she’d just auditioned a woman I really had to photograph. “She’s an original! I’ve never met anyone like her!” I was just beginning my career, and I was always looking for charismatic subjects, so I agreed. The woman was Madonna, and the part she’d auditioned for was the Virgin Mary." Richard Corman

Sadly, Milk Gallery has shuttered, so this poster is now a collector's item.

More information on Milk Gallery - before it closed:
The Milk Gallery is a contemporary gallery and cultural space specializing in photography as well as publishing, curatorial services, and archival management for collections and estates. The Gallery presents projects and retrospectives in portraiture, reportage and now moving images and installations from legendary photographers such as Burt Glinn, Thomas Hoepker, Dennis Stock, and Billy Name, as well as contemporary photographers such as Platon, Danny Clinch, Diego Uchitel, Hunter Barnes, and Andrew Thomas Huang.
Provenance:

Signed by the artist for the Milk Gallery exhibition
Published by Milk Gallery, New York and printed by Duggal