My Country 'Tis of Thee: West Germany, 1968 (Four Views)
Art by Kaspar Konig

The SMS Portfolios were a collaboration between William Copley & Dmitri Petrov which they published through their Letter Edged in Black Press, working with some of the most important artists of the twentieth century. Exemplifying the community ethos of the '60s, Copley sought to produce a new form of art journal that would bypass traditional institutions to distribute the artist's work directly to its audience instead. Copley accepted contributions in almost any medium, carefully reproducing each artwork in his Upper West Side studio. All contributors, from the world-renowned to the obscure, received the same sum of $100 for their work. Presented without comment, each portfolio was mailed directly to subscribers every two months. Only six portfolios were produced, in an edition of 2000. Each portfolio contained from eleven to thirteen artist objects.

This SMS edition contains four photographs, each with a hand-drawn outline of a television screen on a vellum overlay through which is view from four angles a German housewife serving herself a slice from a Black Forest cake.

The Letter Edged in Black Press; SMS 1; 1968; 4 photographs in vellum envelopes; 6" x 6"