The Arthur C. Carr Collection of Pop-Related Ephemera

Last month we uncovered two large boxes in storage, which Merrill hadn’t seen for years. Inside the boxes were some 250 pieces of ephemera assembled by the late Dr. Arthur C. Carr, a professor of Clinical Psychology at both Columbia University and Weill Cornell Medical College. The printed material includes gallery mailers, cards, and invitations; museum catalogues; and magazines and newspaper clippings. It represents the printed corollary to Carr’s activities as a collector of Pop Art and offers a glimpse into the New York art world from the late 1950s to the 1980s. Highlights include poster-sized and three dimensional mailers from galleries including Mary Boone, Leo Castelli, Dwan, Robert Elkon, Green, Pace, and Betty Parsons, and museums including The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim, and The Whitney. Artists mentioned include Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Agnes Martin, Claes Oldenberg, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Sylvia Sleigh, Ernest Trova, Andy Warhol, John Wesley, and Jack Youngerman, among others.

Born in Buffalo, New York in 1918, Carr was a trained psychiatrist and published professor with an expertise in clinical psychiatric diagnoses. In conversations with two of Carr’s former Weill Cornell colleagues, we learned that Carr lived in Washington Heights in a small, beautifully designed apartment overlooking the Hudson River. His home was filled with much of the art that composed his collection and he spent many Saturdays visiting galleries and museums throughout New York City. Carr passed away in January 2014 at the age of 95. His collection was inherited by his family and at least three paintings by Robert Indiana were sold at auction through Christie’s and Sotheby’s in 2013 and 2014.

Carr was a personal friend of Robert Indiana and owned several works by him. How and when they came to know each other is unknown, but the two men seem to have had a sustained friendship. Many items in the current collection are addressed directly from Indiana to Carr—some are simply signed, while others bear personalized, handwritten messages. This inscribed material dates between 1960 and 1986. Carr interviewed Indiana in November 1965. This unpublished interview, titled “The Reminiscences of Robert Indiana,” is among the Arthur C. Carr Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York, together with the bulk of their correspondence, and is cited frequently on Indiana’s website.

May 9, 2023