[Grace Hartigan, Aristodimos Kaldis, and George Spaventa at the Cedar Tavern, New York]

Grace Hartigan|John Cohen

1959 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

"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.

Artist

Grace Hartigan|John Cohen

Date

1959

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2020