The Poet's Table: A Conversation with Painter Trevor Winkfield
Join Poetry Foundation president Robert Polito for a gallery talk and conversation with painter Trevor Winkfield as we approach the closing of his current show, Trevor Winkfield's Pageant. This intimate event is free and open to the public with RSVP. Refreshments will be served.
Trevor Winkfield's Pageant comprises a selection of Winkfield's limited-edition collaborative books, cover designs, original drawings, and paintings. Winkfield's original designs for literary journal covers and for book covers and limited-edition books of poets Charles North, Barbara Guest, Harry Mathews, Peter Gizzi, and John Ashbery are displayed alongside their printed versions. Also included are several striking canvases by Winkfield, including portraits of Douglas Crase, Peter Gizzi, and John Ashbery.
John Ashbery once noted that "If all art aspires toward the condition of music, as [Walter Horatio] Pater wrote, Trevor Winkfield must be counted among the most successful artists of all time," whilst also describing him as "an artist so totally out of touch with the present art scene as to make one wonder whether there is such a thing." Besides his highly acclaimed canvases, Winkfield has had a parallel career as an editor, and has collaborated as an artist with many poets and writers connected with the New York School, including Ashbery, Ron Padgett, Larry Fagin, Harry Mathews, Charles North, and John Yau.
Poet and scholar Robert Polito was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He earned his PhD from Harvard and served as director of Creative Writing at The New School for two decades. Polito became the second president of the Poetry Foundation in July 2013. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Ingram Merrill Foundation. A contributing editor to both BOMB and the Boston Review, Polito’s poetry and criticism have been published widely.