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Painters and Poets Together: The Folder Story
Masquerade
Kite Flying Party
Hartigan, Rivers, and O'Hara
"Meditations in an Emergency"
Painters Pay Tribute to Frank O'Hara
Continued Interest in the New York School
Painters and Poets Collaborate
An Explosion of Magazines
Biographies
Selected Bibliography
Related Links:
Imagination: The 2006
Syracuse Symposium
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Painters Pay Tribute to Frank O'Hara:
In Memory of My Feelings
Frank O’Hara died after being struck by a vehicle in the
dunes on Fire Island, New York, in 1966. The Museum of Modern Art published
In Memory of My Feelings in 1967 to honor its late curator. Poet
Bill Berkson, who edited the book, invited thirty artists who had known
O’Hara to “illustrate” a selection of his poems. The selection of artwork
in this case shows the variety of styles within the New York School of
artists.
Joan Mitchell with an abstract illustration for “Meditations
in an Emergency.”
 
Jane Freilicher’s sketch-like portrait of O’Hara and a
city scene. The New York School did not paint in a single style; they
were associated more by their close personal relationships.
 
O’Hara’s “Poem” was illustrated by Lee Krasner, who was
married to Jackson Pollock. Her illustration calls to mind Pollock’s famous
“drip” paintings, and testifies to Pollock’s influence over the New York
School.
 
Jackson Pollock
Grace Hartigan’s contribution for “The Day Lady Died,”
one of O’Hara’s most famous poems, which dealt with the death of jazz
singer Billie (Lady Day) Holiday.
 
In Memory of My Feelings
Willem de Kooning created seventeen charcoal drawings on
sheets of plastic to illustrate O'Hara's "Ode to Willem de Kooning"
for an O'Hara memorial volume published in 1967 by the Museum of Modern
Art. Only three of the drawings were used for this book entitled In
Memory of My Feelings. In 1988, the Limited Editions Club published
the complete suite of drawings, with a selection of poems by O'Hara, in
an edition of five hundred and fifty copies. De Kooning's drawings were
transferred directly by Benjamin Shiff from the Mylar sheets to lithographic
plates. O'Hara's poem "Autobiographia Literaria" was first published
in Harper's Bazaar in October 1967. It is one of O'Hara's earliest works,
having been written before 1950. The last line points to the theme of
this exhibition.
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