.
Promenade: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1935, oil on canvas, 36 1/2 x 29 1/4 ins. (Indianapolis Museum of Art)
They sit on the stairs and cry.
They hear accidents a week away
screaming "Pierrot Lunaire! why
am I sitting at home while you are
there?" They let their hands fall over
the bannister with an awed sigh or
clear themselves by moaning "I'm in
this too deep. I'll never see the ring
hit the bottom of the well and heaven
will be denied my kind!" And this
becomes sure for them. Even the grass
gets rusty; cobwebs fill the dark trees.
But strong as a violet some deny order.
Wear no pattern but the hazardous
polka dot or stripe. Eat their emeralds.
They hear accidents a week away
screaming "Pierrot Lunaire! why
am I sitting at home while you are
there?" They let their hands fall over
the bannister with an awed sigh or
clear themselves by moaning "I'm in
this too deep. I'll never see the ring
hit the bottom of the well and heaven
will be denied my kind!" And this
becomes sure for them. Even the grass
gets rusty; cobwebs fill the dark trees.
But strong as a violet some deny order.
Wear no pattern but the hazardous
polka dot or stripe. Eat their emeralds.
Frank O'Hara (1926-1966): Women, probably written 1950 or 1951, first published in Generation, Spring 1951; from The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara, ed. Donald Allen, 1971
Bal des Quatre Arts: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1929, oil on canvas; image by Irina Haynes, 9 May 2012
Pierrot Tired: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1929, oil on canvas; image by mbell1975, 9 January 2011 (Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington D.C.)
Evening: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1929, oil on canvas, 55.7 x 46.7 cm (Brooklyn Museum)
Automobile Tires: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1915, oil on panel, 50.5 x 38.1 cm (Brooklyn Museum)
The Confidence Man: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1919, oil on plywood panel, 50.8 x 38.1 cm (Brooklyn Museum)
Seated Nude: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), c. 1919, oil on wood panel; image by Alllie Caulfield, 8 October 2011 (De Young Museum, San Francisco)
Woman on Sofa: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1922-1927, oil on panel, 66 x 78.7 cm (Brooklyn Museum)
An American Oriental: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1921, oil on panel, 50.8 x 63.9 cm; image by Beesnest McClain, 20 February 2009 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
Americans in Paris: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1927, oil on canvas, 73 x 92.4 cm (Museum of Modern Art, New York)
Café du Dome: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1925/1926, oil on wood, 55.2 x 46 cm (Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.)
Hallway, Italian Restaurant: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1922, oil on canvas, 64 x 51 cm (Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.)
La Rue de la Santé: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1928, oil on canvas, 92 x 73.3 cm (Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.)
Shovel Hats: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1923, oil on plywood, 50.7 x 89.6 cm (Smithsonian Museum of American Art)
Woman Reading Paper: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1939, oil on canvas; image by Cea, 5 February 2012
The Mirror: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), n.d., oil on canvas; image by Cea, 24 July 2012
Mr and Mrs Chester Dale Dine Out (detail): Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1924, oil on canvas; image by Regan Vercruysse, 25 February 2011 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Portrait of Isabel Bishop: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1924, oil on canvas, 120 x 89.6 cm (Smithsonian Museum of American Art)
Blue Armchair: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1923, oil on plywood panel, 25 x 20 ins. (The Phillips Collection)
The Blue Chair: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1923, oil on wood; image by Peter Eimon, 5 February 2012 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
The Blue Chair (detail): Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1923, oil on wood; image by Regan Vercruysse, 24 February 2011 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
The Arrivals: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1918 or early 1919, oil on plywood panel, 24 x 20 ins. (The Phillips Collection)
Two on a Boulevard: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1927, oil on canvas, 21 3/4 x 18 1/8 ins. (The Phillips Collection)
Club Meeting: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1936, oil on canvas, 61.3 x 51.0 cm (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts)
People: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1927, oil on canvas, 114.6 x 147.0 cm (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts)
Opera Box: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1926, oil on canvas, 143.5 x 113 cm (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York)
42nd Street: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1945, oil on canvas, 81.2 x 66 cm; image by mbell1975, 9 December 2011 (Colección Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid)
The Life Soldier: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1922, oil on canvas, 63.5 x 50.8 cm (Bowdoin College Museum of Art)
The Couple: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1932, oil on canvas; image by Gunther Stephan, 3 August 2010
New Orleans: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1946, oil on canvas; image by Gunther Stephan, 21 August 2008
Trapeze Performers: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 19431, oil on canvas, 63.5 x 50.8 cm (Butler Institute of American Art)
Fog, Amagansett: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1938, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 1/8 cm (Wichita Art Museum)
Untitled (Woman in Brooklyn): Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1926, oil on canvas; image by Irina (irinaraquel), 12 January 2013
Woman's Head: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), n.d., oil on paper, 61.2 x 45.2 cm (Cleveland Museum of Art)
Portrait of Betty Parish at 19: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), c. 1929, oil on canvas, 20 x 16.25 ins. (Asheville Art Museum)
Portia in a Pink Blouse: Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958), 1942, oil on canvas, 32 1/4 x 29 1/2 ins. (Indianapolis Museum of Art)