Diego Cortez Mudd Club Collection

Collection

Identifier: 8117

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The collection features material focused on Cortez's activities as co-founder and manager of the Mudd Club, 1977-1979, with items by or relating to artists with whom he collaborated, such as Jimmy de Sana, Arto Lindsay, Kathy Acker, James Nares and Boris Policeband, and Diego's original artwork for the seminal "No New York" (1978) LP. There are 7 black and white photographs (5x7) by Digne Meller Marcovicz taken around Diego's film "Grutzi Elvis" shot in Germany (1978), 11 black and white silver gelatin photographs by Jimmy de Sana, 8 Polaroids by Diego Cortez, two notebooks relating to the band Boris Policeband, 26 flyers and zines (including some original paste-ups) and 3, 7" 45rpm records in picture sleeves for the bands DNA, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, and Boris Policeband.

Dates

circa 1977-1979.

Creator

Cortez, Diego (Collector, Person)

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

Restrictions on Use:

Due to the fragility and potential degradation of moving image and sound recordings, viewing and listening is limited to items that have been digitized. If an item is in another media format, you may request to have the item digitized for access. Information on ordering access copies may be found on our Reproductions and Permissions page.

Conditions Governing Use

Sound recordings may be viewed but not played.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Born James Allen Curtis in Geneva, Illinois in 1946, Curtis moved to New York City in 1973 and assumed the name Diego Cortez. He became well-known as an artist, club manager, promoter, and independent curator, co-founding the influential NYC nightspot The Mudd Club, which offered an eclectic mix of art, music and cultural events that combined both modernist and punk aesthetics. The Mudd Club operated at 77 White Street in downtown Manhattan between 1978 and 1983. In 1981, Cortez curated the groundbreaking exhibition "New York, No Wave" at a defunct elementary school in Long Island City, Queens called P.S. 1. The exhibition featured the work of David Byrne, Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Kenny Scharf, among many others.

Extent

.1 cubic feet. (.1 cubic feet.)

Additional Description

Abstract

Physical Description

Printed materials, photographs, newspapers, audio recordings.

General

Contact Information:: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections 2B Carl A. Kroch Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3530 Fax: (607) 255-9524rareref@cornell.edu http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
Compiled by:: RMC Staff
Date completed:: September 2017
EAD encoding:: Jude Corina, September 2017