Harry Smith returned to visit my house, his old room behind him, about a year after he’d migrated upstate to Cooperstown with two dozen boxes of his paintings, books and several hundred hours of tapes he’d made on my Sony Pro Walkman of the ambient sounds of lower Manhattan (climaxing July 4, 1985) – microphone wrapped in towel on windowsill sucking in dog barks & auto horns from the battery to lower East Side for months. Now it is August 30th, 1986.

1986

Allen Ginsberg

Associated Names
Allen Ginsberg

Artist, American, 1926 - 1997

The image displays an older man seated at a table, captured from the waist up. He is leaning slightly forward, holding a cigarette in his right hand is positioned behind a vase of flowers. The man's long, center-parted hair is thinning on top and appears light in color. He also has a long, wispy beard and is wearing glasses, a suit jacket, and a shirt. On the table in front of him are a notebook or folder, a matchbook, a glass of juice, and a plate. The background shows a closed door, leading to a room with a dark furniture piece topped with a framed portrait or photograph, and a shelf with various items and books.
This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Gary Davis

  • Dimensions

    image: 22.5 × 32.8 cm (8 7/8 × 12 15/16 in.)
    sheet: 27.8 × 35.2 cm (10 15/16 × 13 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2012.118.67

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: Harry Smith returned to visit my house, his old room behind him, about a year after he’d / migrated upstate to Cooperstown with two dozen boxes of his paintings, books and several hundred / hours of tapes he’d made on my Sony Pro Walkman of the ambient sounds of lower Manhattan ( cli- / maxing July 4, 1985) – microphone wrapped in towel on windowsill sucking in dog barks & auto horns from / the battery to lower East Side for months. Now it is August 30th, 1986. Allen Ginsberg; on verso, by unknown hand, center inverted in graphite on white sticker: 74% / Pg 37; perpendicular along left edge in graphite: Neg #26 / #622 120389 8/3/86 / SK printed; lower center: GD-AG-306; lower right: GDC-691

You may be interested in

Loading Results