NEW ST. MARKS BATHS (ca. 1979) Poster by Boris Vallejo

Vintage original 41 x 27″ (104 x 68.5 cm.) one sheet poster, USA. On linen, with pinholes conserved in blank corners, just about fine.

The St. Marks Baths originally opened at 6 St. Marks Place in the East Village of Manhattan in 1913. For the next 40 years, it was a Turkish bath catering to immigrants living nearby. As of the 1950s, it began to have a gay clientele.

In 1979 the place was totally refurbished and, when reopened, asserted itself the largest gay bath house in the world. It was a tremendous success in its early days, but as the AIDS epidemic ensued, in late 1985, the City of New York began the process of shutting down all gay bath houses in an effort to tamp down high risk sexual activity.

The poster has artwork by Boris Vallejo,  famous for his stylized sci-fi and fantasy paintings. Here, his style is put to an unusual use.