After Cooperstown, Harry Smith moved from friend to friend homeless in New York, finally to Franciscan Mission on Bowery, malnourished & weak. He stayed with me awhile, we took trip to visit Southern Folklore Society in Oxford, Mississippi with my 81 year old step mother Edith—we’d just settled in to our motel & Edith was calling home; Harry hoped for invitation to stay & work at Folklore Center & immediately recorded local Scottish bawdy songs. April 18, 1987.

1987

Allen Ginsberg

Associated Names
Allen Ginsberg

Artist, American, 1926 - 1997

The image shows a black and white photograph of three older individuals reflected in a mirror. The man on the left is standing with his hands in his pockets, wearing glasses and a shirt. The other two, a man in the center and a woman on the right, are seated closely together. The man has short, receding hair and the woman has curly, short hair with her chin resting on her hand. In the foreground, a person with curly hair is blurred. A wooden dresser with a bag, papers, and possibly a magazine is visible beneath the mirror. The background features a simple interior with white walls, a framed picture, and a lampshade.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Gary Davis

  • Dimensions

    image: 27.8 × 18.6 cm (10 15/16 × 7 5/16 in.)
    sheet: 35.5 × 27.8 cm (14 × 10 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2018.196.23

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Allen Ginsberg Estate; Gary Davis, Greenwich, CT; gift to NGA, 2018.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

signed by artist, lower right on sheet in black ink: Allen Ginsberg; artist inscription, across bottom under image: After Cooperstown, Harry Smith moved from friend to friend / homeless in New York, finally to Franciscan Mission on Bow- / ery, malnourished & weak. He stayed with me awhile, we took trip to / visit Southern Folklore Society in Oxford Mississippi with my / 81 year old step mother Edith—we’d just settled in to our motel / & Edith was calling home; Harry hoped for invitation to stay & work at Folklore Center & immediately recorded local Scottish / bawdy songs. April 18, 1987.; on verso, by unknown hand, lower center in graphite: #759/24,752; lower right: 4/18/87 / Neg #15 / Clarksdale Miss / First [underlined]; bottom center in graphite: GD-AG-281; bottom right: GDC-836

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