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Stones: Melancholy Breakfast

Larry Rivers, Frank O'Hara, and others

Stones: Melancholy Breakfast

1958-1959

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Stones: Melancholy Breakfast

1958-1959

Physical Qualities Crayon lithograph, Sheet: 482 x 590 mm. (19 x 23 1/4 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Ruth M. Bernstein, Baltimore
Object Number 1974.55.9
"Stones" was the first project of publisher Tatyana Grosman, founder and director of the printmaking workshop Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE). Pairing Larry Rivers with his good friend Frank O’Hara, Grosman told them she wanted to create “a book that would be a real fusion of poetry and art,a real collaboration, not just drawings to illustrate poems.” Over the next few years, Rivers and O’Hara worked together on all the compositions of this unbound volume, which was named after the lithographic stones from which it was printed. The spontaneous, playful, and fragmented dialogue between text and image underscore the experimental and collaborative nature of the project.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1974; Ruth Bernstein, Baltimore; the artists (sleeve is dedicated to Bernstein)
Jan Howard, BMA, "Marking the Decades: Prints 1960-1990," February 23- April 26, 1992.

Rena Hoisington, BMA, "Off the Shelf: Modern and Contemporary Artists' Books," May Gallery, March 12 - June 25, 2017.

Inscribed: by O'Hara, lower left in graphite: "XVIII 8 O'Hara"; by Rivers, lower right in graphite: "Rivers '59"

Markings: Chopmark: ULAE

Artist

Larry Rivers

1922–2001

American, 1923-2002
Meet Larry Rivers

Poet

Frank O’Hara

1925–1965

American, 1926-1966
Meet Frank O’Hara

Printer

Robert Blackburn

1919–2002

American, 1920-2003
Meet Robert Blackburn

Explore the Collection Further

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