Richard Saltoun

Presentation Details
Richard Saltoun Gallery’s solo booth focuses on Eleanor Antin’s seminal mail-art project, 100 Boots (1971–73). Critiquing America’s participation in the Vietnam War, Antin documented the staged travels of 100 black rubber army boots from California to New York City. The work comprised 51 photographic postcards mailed to around 1,000 artists, writers, institutions, and others via the US postal service. Initially engaged in everyday activities such as going to church or the bank, the boots later trespassed on private property, announcing their solidarity with the anti-war movement. The series culminated in an exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1973, shortly after the end of the war. The presentation at Independent, which also includes drawings from Antin’s Death and the Maiden series (1974–75), marks 50 years since the peace accords.

About the Gallery
Richard Saltoun Gallery was established in 2012 and is currently based on Dover Street in Mayfair, London. The gallery supports contemporary artists, with a special emphasis on Feminist, Conceptual and Performance artists from the 1960s onwards. The gallery is guided by its focus on rediscovering the work of important yet underrepresented artists. Active on both the primary and secondary market, Richard Saltoun Gallery has established a leading reputation for promoting and exhibiting the work of female artists, including Helena Almeida, Eleanor Antin, Renate Bertlmann, Lili Dujourie, Rose English, Valie Export, Friedl Kubelka, Gina Pane, Penny Slinger, Annegret Soltau and Greta Schödl, amongst others. Additionally, the gallery supports and exhibits artists who have contributed to the fields of Conceptual and Performance art, including Victor Burgin, Bob Law, John Hilliard, (Dom) Sylvester Houédard, Edgardo Antonio Vigo, Ulay, Shelagh Wakely, Marie Yates and more. Until recently, many of these innovative and experimental artists were largely ignored by the broader international art world.

The gallery is dedicated to preserving the legacy of artists through its representation of artist estates, including Helen Chadwick, Henri Chopin, David Hall, Ed Herring, Nigel Henderson, Alexis Hunter, Bob Law, Bice Lazzari, Tony Morgan, Jo Spence, and Shelagh Wakely.