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Online Exhibitions
Betty Kray—dubbed Bettissima by E.E. Cummings—is a great, unsung American cultural worker. A visionary arts administrator, Elizabeth Kray (1916–1987) co-founded Poets House with poet Stanley Kunitz and was an ardent advocate for poetry and American poets. Before initiating Poets House, she served as director of the Academy of American Poets and...
On view May 15-November 20, 2018
This exhibition celebrates the contributions small-press magazines have made to the development of poets, as well as to national and international literary, cultural, and political movements. Emphasizing the material richness and collaborative spirit of experimental publications and publishing communities, the exhibition includes magazines associated with Modernism, the Harlem Renaissance, the Mimeograph Revolution,...
On View: November 16, 2017-May 12, 2018
In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Poets House, 30 Years! A Narrative in 30 Objects mines the Poets House archives for objects of resonance, including handwritten correspondence between E. E. Cummings and Elizabeth Kray; typescripts from Stanley Kunitz and...
On view September 26-November 11, 2017
Renee Gladman’s drawings regard language and narration as architectures with interiors that can be opened, enacted, or mapped. This exhibition features work from two of her drawings-for-books, Prose Architectures and Plans for Sentences, as well as larger discrete ink and gouache works...
On View July 27 - September 16
On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Poets House Showcase, we have selected a sampling of the special, limited-edition items that have been shown over the years. This pop-up show features handmade books...
On view March 22-July 8, 2017
An exhibit featuring books, periodicals, and ephemera from the working library of Poetry magazine and the Poetry Foundation. Items include books inscribed to staff by great poets of the times, rare and seminal issues of the famed poetry magazine, and relics from the Foundation’s storied...
On view October 28, 2016-February 25, 2017
An exhibit featuring selected photography and mixed media works by poet, photographer, and visual artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Griffiths’ work lyrically orbits the politics of imagination, black womanhood, and history, offering a charged and complicated visual narrative...
On view May 4 - June 21, 2016
On April 24, 1916, Irish poets, actors, teachers, and citizens armed themselves and took control of key locations throughout Dublin, then under British rule. This rebellion, known as the Easter Rising, set in motion a war for independence, a civil war, the partition of Ireland, and, ultimately, the creation...
On View February 20-October 15, 2016
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On view September 29, 2015 - January 30, 2016
Best known for his paintings, Trevor Winkfield enjoys a parallel career as a book cover designer. This exhibition, spanning a thirty year period, showcases his visionary contributions to the over-all aesthetic of poetry...
On View Friday, June 12 - Friday, July 25
In celebration of twenty years of Poets House’s Poetry Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge, this exhibition...
On View Friday, June 12 - Saturday, September 19
The Brooklyn Museum Library presents an installation of artists’ books, inspired by Walt Whitman to commemorate ...
On view: Tuesday, March 31–Saturday, May 23, 2015
During the course of a long and diverse career as a poet, musician, historian, publisher, activist, and pacifist, Edward Sanders has invented a glyphic alphabet, a colorful script of hand-drawn characters, symbols, and...
On view: Tuesday, December 2, 2014–Saturday, March 21, 2015
Winter Wedding: Holiday Cards by Poets features holiday cards, valentines, birthday greetings, rare booklets, and more from some of the last century’s most beloved poets,...
On view: Tuesday, April 22–Saturday, November 15, 2014
“A Painter and His Poets” is the first major retrospective of...
On view: Tuesday, April 1–Saturday, April 12, 2014
Over the past 25 years, Poets House has amassed the largest open-access collection of rare and out-of-print chapbooks in the United...
On view November 19, 2013 through March 22, 2014
"come celebrate with me:" The Work of Lucille Clifton features poems, drafts and manuscripts, letters, previously unseen photographs, and other materials — from the first poem she ever wrote in the 1950s to her last in 2010 — from Clifton’s...
On view November 19, 2013 through April 5, 2014
A Compendium of Creatures exhibits the portfolio of A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures, the new collaboration from noted artist Darren Waterston and award-winning poet...
On View July 11 through October 5, 2013
Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here assembles artists’ responses to the tragic March 5, 2007, bombing that resulted in the destruction of Al-Mutanabbi Street, a cultural and intellectual hub in Baghdad. This important and timely exhibition will be held in five New York City cultural venues from mid-June to late September...
On View February 9 through June 15, 2013
Coffee House Press traces its history through the turbulence of recent transformations in poetry publishing, from letterpress editions and offset printing to newer technologies. The exhibit—including broadsides,...
On View May 15 through November 14, 2012
At Poets House artists and poets alike take flight, helping one another gain altitude. --
Read Holland Cotter's...
On view May 3 through May 11, 2012
In conjunction with our 25th Anniversary Passwords program Joan Richardson on Wallace Stevens, please join us for a special display of first editions of Stevens' work, on loan from the...
On view February 28 through May 5, 2012
Poets House is thrilled to announce its display of eight paintings recently donated by the Estate of American painter Darragh Park. The paintings, which date from the 1970s, '80s and early '90s, depict various New York City neighborhoods, portraits of writers and pastoral scenes that are...
On view February 26 through May 5, 2012
The unique collage-work, witty wordplay and educational rhymes of this award-winning children’s book author have inspired and entertained countless children. This exhibit features original art work and poetry from the illustrator and author's career as well as insight into his artistic process. Featuring...
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 original manuscripts, rare books and even a recipe from the Donald & Patricia Oresman Collection. Most of the pieces are on view for the first time to the public. The Donald & Patricia Oresman Collection is one...
On view July 21 through October 8, 2011
Poets House is delighted to honor New Directions – one of the most innovative publishers in the United States – on the occasion of its 75th anniversary with a special exhibition of art, books, letters and ephemera.
Founded by James...
This exhibition unveils treasures from the archive of Alberto de Lacerda (1928–2007), one of Portugal's most admired poets, who spent the majority of his adult life in England and the United States. On display are the...
On view December 7, 2010 through March 23, 2011
In honor of the 100th anniversary of Charles Olson’s birth, Poets House presents a selection of books by and about Olson, along with Charles Alexander’s set of ten broadsides entitled “Charles...
On view June 28 through Saturday, October 9, 2010
Creating art in response to poetry since the 1960s, Ed Colker has "produced pure expressions, stirring symbols of inner truths or imaginings that can sometimes be inspired by...
On view June 28 through October 9, 2010
The paintings of James Walton Fox find inspiration in the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, Rumi, A.R. Ammons and others, combining lines of poetry with the gesture of handwriting, saturated colors and dynamic compositions. His work "treats the concrete reality of...
