Joe Brainard: A Retrospective

• Published by University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Granary Books
• Text by Constance M. Lewallen with essays by John Ashbery and Carter Ratcliff
• Softcover
• Smyth-sewn in wrappers

“[Joe Brainard’s] collaborations with writers [including Ted Berrigan, Kenward Elmslie, and Frank O’Hara] took many forms, from comic strips to book covers and illustrations... Not since the 19th century can we find such a rich joining of poetry and art.”

–Constance Lewallen, Joe Brainard: A Retrospective

“Joe was a creature of incredible tact and generosity. He often gave his work to friends but before you could feel obliged to him he was already there, having anticipated the problem several moments or paragraphs earlier, and remedying it while somehow managing to deflect your attention from it.”

–John Ashbery

Joe Brainard: A Retrospective documents the major exhibition organized by the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum (Feb. 7–May 27, 2001). Lewallen chronicles Joe Brainard’s formative years in Oklahoma and his moves to New York City and Boston, his involvement with Pop Art, assemblage and painting, and his literary and artistic associations. In addition to a checklist and bibliographies of work by and about Joe Brainard, this catalog includes published and unpublished writings by Brainard, interviews, letters, and the essays "Joe Brainard” by John Ashbery, “Acts of Generosity” by Constance Lewallen, and “Joe Brainard’s Quiet Dazzle” by Carter Ratcliff.

Illustrated with 71 color and 36 black and white photos. Designed by Julie Harrison. Printed offset, and bound in stiff wrappers. This is from an edition of 3000 copies.