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The Passionate Spectator: Essays on Art and Poetry
John Yau
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The Passionate Spectator collects essays, reviews, and art criticism by John Yau, an internationally lauded poet, critic, and curator. In this wide-ranging collection, Yau explores the intersection of art and poetry, dissolving boundaries between the artistic traditions and reimagining what it means to see and to write. Whether he is interpreting the poetic use of titles in Jessica Stockholder's paintings, reviewing the collaborative book project between American poet Robert Creeley and German artist Georg Baselitz, or considering the significance of Frank O'Hara's decision to have his portrait drawn wearing nothing but army boots, Yau is consistently daring, original, and contemporary.
Yau's diverse critical sensibilities permeate The Passionate Spectator as he moves seamlessly between the visual and literary arts. Highlights of this collection include an essay on the poet as art critic, a study of the relationship between Kevin Young's poetry and the paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat, and an imaginative piece in which Yau speculates about what Jorge Luis Borges would have created had he been a visual artist. In the title essay, Yau lays out the duty of the spectator—a duty shared by viewer, reader, critic, and artist: "it is up to us to experience art, to engage and believe in its power."
.Yau's diverse critical sensibilities permeate The Passionate Spectator as he moves seamlessly between the visual and literary arts. Highlights of this collection include an essay on the poet as art critic, a study of the relationship between Kevin Young's poetry and the paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat, and an imaginative piece in which Yau speculates about what Jorge Luis Borges would have created had he been a visual artist. In the title essay, Yau lays out the duty of the spectator—a duty shared by viewer, reader, critic, and artist: "it is up to us to experience art, to engage and believe in its power."
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Cover
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Half Title
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Title
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Copyright
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Acknowledgments
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Contents
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Passionate Spectator: On Frank O’Hara’s Art Criticism
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At the Movies with Weldon Kees and Frank O’Hara
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The Poet as Art Critic
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“Feelings Are Not Quiet”: Life & Death, by Robert Creeley
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Robert Creeley and Georg Baselitz’s Signs
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Philip Lamantia
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Archie Rand’s The Letter Paintings
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Street Song: The Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the Poetry of Kevin Young
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The Poetry of Jessica Stockholder’s Titles
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The Poet-Painters: Francesco Clemente and Nicola De Maria
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Open Books: “Emblems for Robert Duncan,” by Jess
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Back Cover
Citable Link
Published: 2006
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
- 978-0-472-06952-1 (paper)
- 978-0-472-22023-6 (ebook)
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- The Poet as Art Critic1
- Passionate Spectator: On Frank O'Hara's Art Criticism1
- At the Movies with Weldon Kees and Frank O'Hara2
- Robert Creeley and Georg Baselitz’s Signs2
- “Feelings Are Not Quiet”: Life & Death, by Robert Creeley1
- Street Song: The Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the Poetry of Kevin Young1
- Open Books: “Emblems for Robert Duncan,” by Jess1
- whole volume2