The Eyes

The Eyes

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Poets and Painters | Frank O'Hara and Grace Hartigan

In 1952, artist Grace Hartigan told her friend and poet, Frank O'Hara, that she wanted to paint "a lot of something." He replied, "How about oranges? I have a dozen." What resulted was a collaboration culminating at a Tibor de Nagy Gallery exhibition that showed the Oranges series. John Bernard Myers printed one hundred copies of O'Hara's poems on which the paintings were based, Hartigan painted covers, in oil, for each copy, and they sold for one dollar.

One of the hand-painted covers for the Oranges Poems publication
Black Crows (Oranges No. 1) | 1952
Oil on Paper | 45 in. x 35 in.
University at Buffalo Art Galleries
Hartigan and O'Hara in her studio