One of David Wojnarowicz's few incursions into photography is a testimony of 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 visage of Arthur Rimbaud, the French poet equally known for his fervid verse and dramatic life. Rimbaud was the instantiation, and perhaps the inventor, of the idea of the young gay hustler of genius.

Presenting a selection of images photographed by Wojnarowicz, this amply illustrated catalogue features an introductory essay by Bessa setting the Arthur Rimbaud in New York series in the context of works that crossover different disciplines (literature, photography, and performance). Nicholas Martin, curator for the arts and humanities at Fales Library, NYU, explores Wojnarowicz's practice in the context of the rise of the punk movement in downtown Manhattan in the late 1970s. Poet and University of Utah literature professor Craig Dworkin, explores Rimbaud's years as a runaway youth in Paris during the years of the Commune, and his acquaintances with the city's bohemia. Author and literature professor Marguerite Van Cook contributes an essay about her experiences with both the London and New York music and art scenes throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Art collector Phillip Aarons offers a personal account of his engagement as a collector of Wojnarowicz's work. Among additional contributions, this volume features an interview with photographer Allen Frame, who produced several performances of Wojnarowicz's monologues in the early 1980s in New York's Lower East Side, Berlin, and Brooklyn.

Details

ISBN13: 9788857254067
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 208
Edition:
Publication Date: 27 Mar 2026
Publisher: Skira
Publication City, Country: Milan, Italy
Dimensions (cm): 28(H)x24(L)1070
Weight (gm): 1070

Author Biography

Antonio Sergio Bessa is chief curator emeritus at The Bronx Museum, New York, where he has organized several exhibitions, including Darrel Ellis: Regeneration (2023, in collaboration with Leslie Cozzi); Jamel Shabazz: Eyes on the Street (2022); Sanford Biggers: Codeswitch (2020, in collaboration with Andrea Andersson).

Reviews

By reflecting and obscuring at once, Wojnarowicz reminds us how, in a world where governmental and corporate surveillance often blur into one another, we have to be innovative and unexpected in our resistance.--Lavinia Liang "Hyperallergic"
The effacement that the mask of Rimbaud effects raises a host of questions: What does it mean to masquerade? Is it an act of cowardice, or a product of the closet? Does it enable a kind of truthfulness otherwise unavailable? One might recall Oscar Wilde's aphorism, 'Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.'--Nathalie Prizel "The Brooklyn Rail"
[The] book is a scholarly feat of the kind most galleries don't bother with these days: Bessa's insightful essay placing the series in conversation with artists from Vito Acconci to Sophie Calle; Nicholas Martin's deep look at what Rimbaud meant to downtown artists; smart contributions from writers including Vitale, Craig Dworkin, Fiona Anderson, and more. Most movingly, Marguerite Van Cook recalls conversations with [Wojnarowicz], which, unlike mine, happened in the earthly realm.--Dave O'Neill "4columns"
On the surface, there might not be much in common between Rimbaud's poetry and Wojnarowicz's intense, politically furious collages and graffiti, but Wojnarowicz casts the poet as an outsider like himself, unable to find a concrete place in a world that seems more than willing to turn its back on him. This imbues the series with a haunted feeling; the unmoving face of Rimbaud becomes uncanny, ripped out of time.--Sam Moore "AnOther Magazine"
The works are both haunting and playful: a touching reminder that Wojnarowicz, who would go on to make some of the most striking protest art of the AIDS era before dying of complications from the disease, at age 37, was once just a kid who fanboyed over another artist.--Juan A. Ramirez "The New York Times: T List"