Lot 228

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Umbrella.

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Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Umbrella.

Estimate: $600 - $900

Starting Bid: $450

(0 Bids)

by Swann Auction Galleries
August 13, 2026 10:30 AM EDT
Live Auction
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY, US 10010



The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Parasol.
Cloth parasol with painted text and fringe.
Sister Vicious Power Hungry Bitch was one of the original founders of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in 1979.

  • Provenance:
    Gifted to the current owner, private collection, San Francisco, 1992.

    Notes:
    Sister Vicious Power Hungry Bitch (now known as Grand Mother Vish-Knew) co-founded The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in 1979. Donning retired nuns' habits loaned to them under the guise of doing a performance of The Sound of Music, Sister Vicious Power Hungry Bitch and two other sisters marched down Castro Street in San Francisco on Easter weekend, birthing "an all-volunteer order of queer and trans nuns devoted to promulgating universal joy and expiating stigmatic guilt." They were the first known organization to fundraise for AIDS and distributed the first known safe-sex pamphlet for gay men, Play Fair!

    Sister Vicious Power Hungry Bitch was a leading activist against the government's disregard for AIDS, protesting at the 1984 Republican Convention, and was the second person in the U.S. to apply for a same sex marriage license. In 2022, San Francisco named an alleyway in her honor, Sister Vish-Knew Way.
  • Dimensions: 24 1/2 x 24 in. (62.2 x 61 cm.)
  • Medium: Cloth parasol with painted text and fringe.
  • Condition: Please contact the Specialist for the auction to request a condition report.

    Condition reports and additional images are provided as a courtesy and should be used by you to aid in the formation of your own opinion regarding condition. All material is sold subject to Swann's standard Terms and Conditions of Sale as published in our catalogues and posted on our website, and include the following terms: (1) all property is sold "as-is"; and (2) works cannot be returned on the basis of condition.

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$150 $499 $25
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