Exhibitions
CURRENT & UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Participating Witness: The Poetics Of Granary Books
This exhibition displays artist books and other materials produced over the last 20 years by Steve Clay’s legendary Granary Books, featuring boundary-breaking works by Jen Bervin, Cecilia Vicuña, Alison Knowles,…
CANCELLED: Poetry Path Opening Festival
As part of the celebration of our 10th anniversary at 10 River Terrace, we announce the opening of the Poets House Poetry Path in Battery Park City!
ABOUT OUR EXHIBITIONS
Poets House’s exhibitions focus on the physical and visual manifestation of poetry as well as works by visual artists that correspond to the poetic impulse. Our exhibitions typically feature manuscripts, books, artwork, and other materials that shed light on the long history of cross-pollination between poetry and the visual arts, the physical beauty of the book, and the creative process.
Our Cheney Chappell Exhibition Space, a glassed-in, airy space at the entrance to the Margo Viscusi Reading Room, is stocked with museum-quality vitrines that host displays of visually stunning poetry, art, and archival materials. Our Reading Room and other spaces are also home to a more informal display of some of Poets House’s art collection, including a number of Philip Guston poem-pictures inspired by Poets House co-founder Stanley Kunitz, paintings by Elise Asher and Mary Frank, and framed broadsides by Rita Dove, Derek Walcott, and others. The writing desk of E. E. Cummings is permanently on view as well.
Past Exhibitions
Gay New York: Walt Whitman to the Present
An exhibition of sculptor and painter Nicholas Buffon’s recent work documenting iconic LGBTQ landmarks, venues, and bars of New York City.
Bettissima: Treasures from the Elizabeth Kray Archive
Over 100 of Poets House co-founder Elizabeth Kray’s letters to & from acclaimed poets, including Elizabeth Bishop, E. E. Cummings, June Jordan, Denise Levertov, Clarence Major, Adrienne Rich & more.
…Exhibition Opening: The Little Magazine
Exhibition Opening: 6PM Talk with exhibition curator Sophie Seita: 7PM
This exhibition celebrates the contributions small press magazines have made to the development of poets, as…
Exhibition Opening: Prose Architectures Has Audio Source
6:00pm Exhibition Opening 7:00pm Reading with Renee Gladman and Fred Moten
Renee Gladman’s drawings regard language and narration as architectures with interiors that…
Exhibition Opening for Poetry Since 1912: Books, Issues, & Ephemera from the Poetry Foundation
Tour at 6PM, Talk at 7PM
Katherine Litwin and Fred Sasaki of the Poetry Foundation guide audiences on a walking tour of…
A Painter and His Poets: The Art of George Schneeman
On view: Tuesday, April 22–Saturday, November 15, 2014
“A Painter and His Poets” is the first major retrospective of George Schneeman’s (1934-2009) collaborative paintings, collages, prints,…
Emily Dickinson at Poets House
On view October 20, 2011 through February 18, 2012
Poets House celebrates the life and work of iconic poet Emily Dickinson in a groundbreaking exhibition of…