The American poet and art critic
John Ashbery has a show of collages,
They Knew What They Wanted, at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Tibor de Nagy has had a long association with poets of the New York School; it has even published books of poems, for instance, Ashbery's
Turandot and Other Poems and Frank O’Hara’s
Lunch Poems, illustrated by Larry Rivers.
Some of the collages date from Ashbery’s undergraduate days at Harvard; many are brand new. One set pays homage to his friend, the inventive and mercurial artist,
Joe Brainard.
The show’s title refers to a 1940 movie directed by Garson Kanin from a play by Sidney Howard. Depicting a love triangle,
They Knew What They Wanted starred Carole Lombard and Charles Laughton.
Also on view are
Trevor Winkfield’s bright acrylic pictures that present lighthearted visual rhymes.
Below: Acrobats (circa 1972), a collage by John Ashbery. Photo courtesy of Tibor de Nagy Gallery.