Editor's Note

Norman Bluhm's career has taken him through a series of significant moments in the art history of 20th century America. His studies in Chicago with Mies van der Rohe before and after WWII exposed him to the Bauhaus-inspired ideas of European exiles which were so crucial in the evolution of American art. In Paris during the late '40s and '50s, he joined other young American artists and writers in the vibrant expatriate scene. Moving to New York in the mid-'50s, Bluhm became a mainstay of the painters and writers who gathered at the Cedar Tavern, such Jackson Pollock, William de Kooning, Franz Kline and Frank O'Hara. The Bluhm/O'Hara poem paintings are among the prime artifacts of this legendary group.

Eight of these poem/paintings are published in lingo 7. They are accompanied by a compression of two interviews with Norman Bluhm: the first was conducted by John Yau in New York in 1996, and the second with Jon Gams at Bluhm's studio in Vermont, January 1997. The four images that follow do not appear in the article; rather, they are slated for inclusion in a forthcoming Hard Press volume of Norman Bluhm's work.

Four Poem Paintings