Category Archives: Larry Rivers

For Allen Ginsberg’s Birthday: Making it Up with “Gingsberg, Koch, Padgett”

Posted on June 4, 2017 by

Allen Ginsberg would’ve turned 91 yesterday, and the flurry of tributes and social media love reminded me of an event I attended over 20 years ago — one of a handful of times I was fortunate enough to meet Ginsberg in … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, collaboration, Kenneth Koch, Larry Rivers, Poetry Project at St. Marks, Ron Padgett | 8 Comments

Grace Hartigan, Frank O’Hara, and the New York School

Posted on April 14, 2016 by

Burt Glinn, Back Table at the Five Spot (1957), Frank O’Hara, Larry Rivers, Grace Hartigan (l to r) The painter Grace Hartigan (1922-2008) was a central figure in the New York School of poets and artists in the 1950s. Particularly close to Frank O’Hara, … Continue reading →

Posted in Abstract Expressionism, Book Review, Elaine de Kooning, Frank O'Hara, Grace Hartigan, Helen Frankenthaler, James Schuyler, Jane Freilicher, Joan Mitchell, John Ashbery, Larry Rivers, Uncategorized, Visual Art

On Frank O’Hara’s “To the Harbormaster” and Larry Rivers

Posted on December 15, 2015 by

The Paris Review posted this 2011 piece by Olivia Cole again today: it’s a brief look at the relationship between Frank O’Hara and Larry Rivers, and the beautiful poem “To the Harbormaster” that O’Hara wrote about Rivers.  It begins: Lately I’ve been … Continue reading →

Posted in Frank O'Hara, Larry Rivers, Poems

James Merrill and … the New York School?

Posted on June 24, 2015 by

James Merrill is not often mentioned in the same breath as poets of the New York School. He is usually viewed as a consummate formalist and genteel New England poet, celebrated for his elegant style, refinement, and restraint, who operated at some distance from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Frank O'Hara, Herbert Machiz, James Merrill, James Schuyler, John Ashbery, John Bernard Myers, Larry Rivers, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Visual Art

Why I Am Not a “New York School Poet”: Ron Padgett edition

Posted on January 7, 2015 by

There is a long and hallowed tradition of poets associated with the New York School disparaging the idea of labels for movements and schools and disavowing their own connections to any entity known as the New York School. Even before the world … Continue reading →

Posted in Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, Larry Rivers, Ron Padgett, Video | 1 Comment

“New York School Painters & Poets” reviewed in the Guardian

Posted on December 19, 2014 by

In the Guardian today, Olivia Laing reviews New York School Painters & Poets: Neon in Daylight, the amazing new book by Jenni Quilter (which I’ve posted about before).  Laing provides a helpful introduction to the New York School, stressing its collaborative milieu and the dialogue between … Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Katz, Book Review, Fairfield Porter, Frank O'Hara, Jasper Johns, Joe Brainard, John Ashbery, Larry Rivers, Visual Art

A Real Mad, “All-American” Combination: LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka’s Salon

Posted on October 27, 2014 by

Last week, on a trip to the Czech Republic, I had the pleasure of meeting Josef Jařab , one of the most important Czech scholars of American literature.  Jařab is a leading Czech authority on American poetry, and he has translated and written … Continue reading →

Posted in Abstract Expressionism, Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Beats, Frank O'Hara, Franz Kline, Jack Kerouac, Jazz, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Larry Rivers, Music, Visual Art