Poet Gregory Corso addressing cross atop the Grey Nuns’ Orphanage grotto Kerouac immortalized in book 4 Chapter 1, Doctor Sax, a “gigantic pyramid of steps upon which the Cross itself poked phallically up with its poor burden the Son of Man all skewered across it in his Agony and fright – undoubtedly this statue moved in the night.” Lowell, Massachusetts, March 17, 1986.
1986, printed 1992
Artist, American, 1926 - 1997

Artwork overview
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Medium
gelatin silver print
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Credit Line
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Dimensions
image: 29.6 × 19.8 cm (11 5/8 × 7 13/16 in.)
sheet: 35.2 × 27.8 cm (13 7/8 × 10 15/16 in.) -
Accession
2012.118.59
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Allen Ginsberg Estate; Gary and Ellen Davis, Greenwich, CT; gift to NGA, 2012.
Associated Names
Inscriptions
signed by artist, across bottom in black ink: Poet Gregory Corso adressing cross atop the Grey Nuns’ Orphanage grotto Ker- / ouac immortalized in book 4 Chapter 1, Doctor Sax [underlined], a “gigantic pyramid of / steps upon which the cross itself poked phallically up with its poor / burden the Son of Man all skewered across it in his Agony and / fright – undoubtedly this statue moved in the night.” Lowell, Massa- / chusets, March 17, 1986. Allen Ginsberg; on verso, signed by artist, lower left perpendicular in graphite: signed / 7/29/92 / AG; by unknown hand, upper left in graphite: #51 VE; upper right circled: 72; center left inverted: 3/17/86; lower left perpendicular: Book #6 / #547/17,948; bottom left: X; bottom center: GD-AG-311; bottom right: GDC-622