Ray Johnson
1927–1995
Introduction
Raymond Edward "Ray" Johnson (October 16, 1927 – January 13, 1995) was an American artist. Known primarily as a collagist and correspondence artist, he was a seminal figure in the history of Neo-Dada and early Pop art and was described as "New York's most famous unknown artist". Johnson also staged and participated in early performance art events as the founder of a far-ranging mail art network – the New York Correspondence School – which picked up momentum in the 1960s and is still active today. He is occasionally associated with members of the Fluxus movement but was never a member. He lived in New York City from 1949 to 1968, when he moved to a small town in Long Island and remained there until his suicide.
Wikidata identifier
Q178040
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed July 21, 2025.
Introduction
Studied at the Art Students League in New York 1944-1945, and at Black Mountain College, North Carolina from 1945-1948 under Josef Albers. At Black Mountain he met and associated with John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and Richard Lippold. His work involved collage, found objects, and elements of performance, including mail or correspondence art. He circulated art through the postal service under the names "New York Correspondance School" and "Buddha University." He committed suicide under mysterious circumstances that he may have considered a final work of art.
Country of birth
United States
Roles
Artist, collagist, painter, performance artist, photographer, sculptor
ULAN identifier
500006906
Names
Ray Johnson, Raymond Johnson, Raymond Edward Johnson
Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed July 21, 2025.
