100 Boots 1971-73

100 Boots, triumphant, marched into New York’s Museum of Modern Art in May 1973, the culmination of a remarkable work that embodied the spirit of a generation and changed the meaning of art. Celebrating this extraordinary and innovative postcard series, here is a collection of all 51 installments of artist Eleanor Antin’s epic visual narrative.
Full of discerning social commentary, 100 Boots powerfully evokes the America of the Vietnam era. The boots begin innocently enough, engaging in everyday suburban activities–going to the market, church, and drive-in-movies. Later, disillusioned, they trespass on private property, symbolically announcing their solidarity with the thousands of Americans participating in the antiwar movement. Unable to avoid the draft, 100 Boots too go to war. By the time these legendary heroes arrive in New York, they have become cultural icons, representatives of the new American experience.
Like all good art, Antin’s ongoing letter to America – whether spilling out of mailboxes or collected in book form – continues to provoke a response.
“Somehow it came to me in a dream. There! Black boots! Big black boots. I got them at the Army-Navy Surplus then I printed them up on postcards. Over the course of it — finally two and a half years — fifty-one cards were mailed out to about a thousand people around the world. Now it is a piece that I see as a kind of pictorial novel that was sent through the mail, came unannounced, unasked for. It came in the middle of people’s lives.”

Erna Hécey Gallery is pleased to present the complete series of the original photographs of the 100 Boots postcards, currently on display at the “Los Angeles - Paris” exhibition at the Centre Pompidou. The show at Erna Hécey is part of our parallel exhibitions and events program.