Nakian – Frank O’Hara Essay – MoMA 1966 Exhibition Catalogue

Description

Frank O’Hara’s contribution here — “Nakian” — anchors this Museum of Modern Art exhibition catalogue. By 1966, O’Hara had already reshaped American poetry through his work with the New York School and his curatorial role at MoMA itself. His essay on Nakian blends criticism with the immediacy and clarity that mark his best prose — direct, conversational, informed by deep knowledge of modern art yet free of academic stiffness. For the O’Hara completist, this is an essential art-world intersection: poet as curator, poet as advocate.

Nakian (1911–1988), born in New York to Armenian immigrant parents, developed a sculptural language rooted in myth, fragmentation, and the human figure. Working primarily in terra-cotta and bronze, he explored themes drawn from classical mythology — Leda, Europa, Venus — reimagined through a distinctly modernist lens. This MoMA catalogue situates his work within the broader currents of mid-century American sculpture and includes a biographical outline by William Berkson and a bibliography compiled by Elita Taylor, making it both a visual and documentary record of the exhibition.

A strong MoMA catalogue with an O’Hara essay doesn’t stay unnoticed for long. If you collect Frank O’Hara beyond the trade poetry editions, this belongs on your shelf.