Frank O'Hara began working at the front desk of The Museum
of Modern Art in order to see the exhibitions as often as
possible. During his lunch breaks he wrote poetry,
sometimes pausing mid-meal to pen his seemingly effortless,
spontaneous verses, which were stitched together from the
events and sentiments of his daily life. These writings
made him into one of the most important American poets of
his generation.
Eventually, he became an Associate Curator--even though he
had no formal art training. Frank O'Hara: In Memory of My
Feelings explores a key period in modern art, and
highlights 30 artists who collaborated with O'Hara to
produce "poem-paintings"--a single work of art paired with
a single poem. The artists included Nell Blaine, Norman
Bluhm, Joe Brainard, John Button, Giorgio Cavallon, Allan
D'Arcangelo, Elaine de Kooning, Willem de Kooning, Niki de
Saint Phalle, Helen Frankenthaler, Jane Freilicher, Michael
Goldberg, Philip Guston, Grace Hartigan, Al Held, Jasper
Johns, Matsumi Kanemitsu, Alex Katz, Lee Krasner, Alfred
Leslie, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, Joan Mitchell, Robert
Motherwell, Robert Nakian, Barnett Newman, Claes Oldenburg,
Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers and Jane Wilson.
After being published by MoMA in 1967 as a collection of
slipcased sheets, the original art-literature pairings of
In Memory of My Feelings were thought to be lost. Last
year, the works were rediscovered in the museum's archives,
and this bound version was planned to re-present a seminal
document of the beauty of collaboration in the arts.
Frank O'Hara's poems are paired with a work by each of the
following artists: Nell Blaine, Norman Bluhm, Joe Brainard,
John Button, Giorgio Cavallon, Allan D'Arcangelo, Elaine de
Kooning, Willem de Kooning, Niki de Saint Phalle, Helen
Frankenthaler, Jane Freilicher, Michael Goldberg, Philip
Guston, Grace Hartigan, Al Held, Jasper Johns, Matsumi
Kanemitsu, Alex Katz, Lee Krasner, Alfred Leslie, Roy
Lichtenstein, Marisol, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell,
Robert Nakian, Barnett Newman, Claes Oldenburg, Robert
Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers and Jane Wilson.
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