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Original 1999 Nicole Eisenman “CHOP SHOP” limited-edition exhibition poster/print produced for her June 1999 exhibition at Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco.
This is particularly desirable because it is hand-signed in pencil “N. Eisenman 99” at the lower right and individually numbered 132/300 at the lower left. The pencil markings are visibly distinct from the printed design.
The poster features a halftone studio photograph showing what appears to be a disassembled sculptural horse laid out across the floor of an artist’s workshop. The imagery plays directly into the exhibition’s provocative “CHOP SHOP” title. Large lavender typography, kraft-colored stock and the stark black-and-white studio photograph give the piece a distinctive late-1990s contemporary-art graphic aesthetic.
The lower panel identifies:
CHOP SHOP – JUNE 1999 – GALLERY PAULE ANGLIM – 14 GEARY – SAN FRANCISCO CA
The reverse is blank.
Gallery Paule Anglim
Gallery Paule Anglim was an important San Francisco contemporary-art gallery founded in the early 1970s. It became particularly associated with experimental California and Bay Area art, representing and exhibiting artists connected with conceptual, performance and postwar West Coast movements.
The gallery’s history continues today through Anglim/Trimble, making this poster an interesting artifact of both Nicole Eisenman’s career and San Francisco’s contemporary-art scene of the 1990s.
Nicole Eisenman
Nicole Eisenman is one of the most significant American contemporary figurative artists to emerge during the 1990s. Working in painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture, Eisenman became known for combining traditional figurative art with satire, social commentary, art-historical references and irreverent humor.
Eisenman’s reputation has grown dramatically since this poster was issued in 1999. Major recognition has included the Carnegie Prize and a MacArthur Fellowship, and Eisenman’s work has appeared repeatedly in major museum exhibitions and entered important institutional collections.
That later recognition makes an artist-signed exhibition piece from this relatively early period especially interesting. The poster documents Eisenman’s career well before the artist reached today’s level of international museum and sale-market recognition.
Why Collect It?
This is considerably more interesting than an unsigned gallery announcement. The combination of the 1999 date, Gallery Paule Anglim provenance, Chop Shop exhibition, hand signature and numbered edition of only 300 places it at the intersection of gallery ephemera and collectible limited-edition contemporary art.
It would fit particularly well in a collection devoted to Nicole Eisenman, contemporary art, LGBTQ/queer art history, feminist art, 1990s art, San Francisco galleries, Bay Area art, exhibition posters, artist-signed prints or contemporary sculpture.
Condition: Very good vintage condition overall as shown. There is some light edge and corner wear and minor surface/handling wear consistent with age. The pencil edition number and artist signature remain clearly visible. Reverse is clean overall with minor age-related marks. Please examine all photographs carefully for condition.
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Market Value
This one deserves a higher valuation than an ordinary exhibition poster because it is both signed and numbered. Eisenman’s unique works on paper now trade in the thousands of dollars, while signed limited-edition prints occupy a substantially lower but still established collecting category.
I could not locate a recent public sale of this exact 1999 Chop Shop edition, so I would not claim a precise comparable value. Based on Eisenman’s current market and the nature of this piece as a signed, numbered early-career gallery edition, I would estimate approximately $300–$600.
