Harry Smith exhausted 3 A.M. over Chinese take-out supper. Car had backed into him up on 12th Street corner Avenue A weeks earlier, compression-fractured his knee, so he stayed with me nine months in small room behind him he’d fixed with door-latch and lock. Old postcard of Manhattan Island on toilet door panel to his right. Ethnomusicologic archivist, film-maker, alchemist, he’d designed my new Collected Poems book cover, he’d been moved out of hotel room on 28’th Street, lived in Bowery shelters, was now homeless in New York! June 17, 1985.

1985

Allen Ginsberg

Associated Names
Allen Ginsberg

Artist, American, 1926 - 1997

The image shows a person seated at a table, with their upper body visible. They are hunched forward, resting their forehead on their hand in a manner that partially obscures their face. Their facial features are not clearly visible due to this posture. The person has light-colored, disheveled hair. They are wearing a long-sleeved, light-colored shirt. In front of them, the table is cluttered with various objects, including disposable cups, plates, a box, and a bowl of grapes. There are also some empty aluminum trays and tea packets scattered around. The background consists of a white wall and a door with a classic panel design, along with a small picture or card affixed to the wall.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Gary S. Davis

  • Dimensions

    image: 40.4 x 27.4 cm (15 7/8 x 10 13/16 in.)
    sheet: 50.8 x 40.2 cm (20 x 15 13/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2009.103.20

  • Copyright

    Copyright (c) 2010 The Allen Ginsberg LLC. All rights reserved.

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Allen Ginsberg Estate; Ellen and Gary Davis, Greenwich, CT (through Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York); gift to NGA, 2009.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2010

  • Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, National Gallery of Art, Washington; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Grey Art Gallery & Study Center, New York University, New York; The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, 2010 - 2013, no. 76.

Inscriptions

signed by artist, lower right on sheet in black ink: Allen Ginsberg; artist inscription, across bottom under image: Harry Smith exhausted 3 A.M. over Chinese take-out supper. Car had backed into him up on 12th street corner Avenue A weeks earlier, compression-fractured his knee, as he stayed with me nine months in small room behind him he'd fixed with door-latch and lock. Old postcard of Manhattan Island on toilet door panel to his right. Ethnomusicologic archivist, film-maker, alchemist, he'd designed my new Collected Poems book cover, he'd been moven out of hotel room on 28'th street, lived in Bowery shelters, was now homeless in New York! June 17, 1985.; on verso, by unknown hand, across lower center in graphite: 380 / 13398 1985; across lower center edge: GD-AG-79; in upper left corner: #67 VE; across lower right: GDC-889 AGI96 34; across center stamped in blue ink: Photograph By Allen Ginsberg COPYRIGHT 1994 NYC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Fax 212-675-1686

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