David Wojnarowicz: Arthur Rimbaud in New York

One of David Wojnarowicz's few forays into photography is a testament to the urban, social, and political change in New York in the late 1970s.

In 1978 and 1979, David Wojnarowicz took a series of photographs of a man wearing a paper mask bearing the face of French poet Arthur Rimbaud, known as much for his fervent poetry as for his dramatic life. Rimbaud was the embodiment, and perhaps the inventor, of the idea of the young gay hustler genius.

Featuring a selection of photographs by Wojnarowicz, this richly illustrated volume includes an introductory essay by Antonio Sergio Bessa that contextualizes the series within other works of literature, photography, and performance. Nicholas Martin explores Wojnarowicz's practice in the context of the rise of the punk movement in downtown Manhattan in the late 1970s. Craig Dworkin analyzes Rimbaud's years as a young fugitive in Paris during the Commune and his contacts with the city's bohemian scene. Marguerite Van Cook contributes an essay on her experiences in the music and art scenes of London and New York during the 1970s and 1980s. Phillip Aarons offers a personal account of his dedication as a collector of Wojnarowicz's work. The book also includes an interview with photographer Allen Frame, who produced several performances of Wojnarowicz's monologues in the early 1980s on New York's Lower East Side, in Berlin, and in Brooklyn.

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