GILBERT & GEORGE IN UNDERNEATH THE ARCHES THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SCULPTURE IN THE WHOLE WORLD 1968 – 1970. SIGNED AND MAILED – A MAJOR RARITY – A VERSION NOT IN THE CATALOGUE RAISONNEE

London: s.p. – the artists 1971
A single sheet 25 x 20cm folded twice to create a 4pp leaflet announcement card. Printed offset in b/w with a self portrait of the artists and inside the text is a reprinted version of the music-hall song Underneath The Arches. One the first blank page Gilbert and George have written in red ink “Art love to Germany from George & Gilbert.” The announcement is similar to those in the catalogue raisonee of G&G mail art / ephemera but is not in that book in exactly this format. This example of mail art / announcement is very much a homemade item as the folds are off-centre and the edge of one page has been deliberately cut with deckle scissors to create a wavy edge but that has not been completed and part of the page is still straight-cut. There is one condition problem with this item – at some point an owner has stored it in a ring binder so there are two punched holes on the outer side of the paper – the punching has affected the back and front texts minorly and there is some minor grubbiness to the paper and a few soft handling creases but with the exception of the holes it is VG. Rare.