Nine small mixed media paintings by Hirschman, Jack - 1990

1990. Ephemera. Very Good. Nine mixed media works on paper (one on art board), ranging from 8 by 10 to 8-1/2 by 14 inches. In these poem and word paintings, Hirschman uses pastels, watercolor, felt pen, and ballpoint pen. The paintings are typically political, with "No Nazi" slogans, calls for solidarity, and refrains about oppressed peoples.

Hirschman has been called a Beat poet (he was born in 1933) but he calls himself an unreformed Communist. He has been the poet laureate of San Francisco and the writer in residence at the San Francisco Public Library. Only two paintings are signed, with initials. Those two, the largest, are somewhat faded--pin holes in the corner suggest they were posted on a wall for some time. The rest are near fine.

PROVENANCE: From the large Hirshman collection assembled by the bookseller Louis Collins and consigned to Peter Howard, of Serendipity Books, in Berkeley. Acquired by us from Howard's estate. On the verso (back) of each painting is is the circled code "LC", which was Howard's code to designate material from Collins.