SAFFA ET SEITA. 1964. IMPORTANT NOUVELLE REALISTE EXHIBITION.

Venice: Galleria Del Leone, 1964
12 x 18cm, 4pp. Announcement card for a very early and important nouvelle realists show by Hains where he created the two fictional characters “Saffa” and “Seita”, which derived from the names of the Italian national company for matches and the French equivalent for tobacco, exhibiting oversized versions of the matchbooks and matchboxes commercialised by the two firms. The artist presented himself as the two fictional artists’ agent, both a mentor and a parasite, caricaturing the use of objects by the New Realists as well as the monopoly of their distribution on the art market. The card has two b/w photographic images of the artist on the front and back. This card has some contemporary writings in pencil on it and has probably been used for a printed reproduction somewhere given the measurements – but this writing is not that distracting. There is a small 1 x 0.4cm paper scuff on the back but else this is a rare item.