[Grace Hartigan, Aristodimos Kaldis, and George Spaventa at the Cedar Tavern, New York]
"To get to the Cedar to meet Grace / I must tighten my moccasins," Frank O’Hara wrote in a 1959 poem, steeling himself for the long trek downtown. He was heading from MoMA, where he worked, to the Cedar Tavern, the Greenwich Village dive where painters and poets talked shop over dollar spaghetti and fifteen-cent beer. Dingy enough to keep bigwig collectors at bay, the Cedar offered O’Hara and his friends a refuge from uptown pretensions. He was hoping to catch Grace Hartigan, seen here at the Cedar that same year. From a discreet vantage across the bar, John Cohen photographs the great Abstract Expressionist painter cavorting with fellow artists. The scene tilts in and out of coherence, blurred and buzzing with creative energy.
Artwork Details
- Title: [Grace Hartigan, Aristodimos Kaldis, and George Spaventa at the Cedar Tavern, New York]
- Artist: John Cohen (American, 1932–2019)
- Person in Photograph: Person in photograph Grace Hartigan (American, Newark, New Jersey 1922–2008 Baltimore, Maryland)
- Date: 1959
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: Image: 13 5/8 in. × 9 in. (34.6 × 22.9 cm)
Sheet: 14 in. × 9 3/4 in. (35.5 × 24.8 cm)
Mount: 14 3/8 × 10 7/8 in. (36.5 × 27.6 cm) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2020
- Object Number: 2020.166
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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John Cohen
1956, printed 1970
John Cohen
1959
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1959
John Cohen
1960
John Cohen
1960
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