Beat Generation

“Beat generation” is a retrospective dedicated to the literary and artistic movement born in the late 1940s that would exert an ever-growing influence for the next two decades.

Wallace Berman Untitled (Allen Ginsberg) année 1960 Collage verifax sur carton monté sur bois, (cadre original fabriqué par l’artiste), 29 x 33 cm Collection particulière © Estate of Wallace Berman © galerie frank elbaz, Paris

The Centre Pompidou presents “Beat Generation”, a novel retrospective dedicated to the literary and artistic movement born in the late 1940s that would exert an ever-growing influence for the next two decades.

Bernard Plossu, Mexique (Le Voyage méxicain), 1966. © Bernard Plossu — **Top:** Wallace Berman, *Untitled (Allen Ginsberg)*, 1960. Collage verifax sur carton monté sur bois, (cadre original fabriqué par l’artiste), 29 x 33 cm Collection particulière © Estate of Wallace Berman © galerie frank elbaz, Paris **Above:** Bernard Plossu, *Mexique (Le Voyage méxicain)*, 1966. © Bernard Plossu

Foreshadowing the youth culture and the cultural and sexual liberation of the 1960s, the emergence of the Beat generation in the years following the Second World War, just as the Cold War was setting in, scandalised a puritan and Mc Carthyite America. Then seen as subversive rebels, the Beats appear today as the representatives of one of the most important cultural movements of the 20th century.

Bob Thompson, LeRoi Jones and his Family, 1964. Oil on canvas, 92,4 × 123,2 cm. Courtesy of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. © Estate of Bob Thompson; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY Photography by Lee Stalsworth — Bob Thompson, *LeRoi Jones and his Family*, 1964. Oil on canvas, 92,4 × 123,2 cm. Courtesy of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. © Estate of Bob Thompson; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY Photography by Lee Stalsworth

For the artistic practices of the Beat Generation – readings, performances, concerts and films – testify to a breaking down of artistic boundaries and a desire for interdisciplinary collaboration that puts the singularity of the artist into question.

Brion gysin Calligraphie, 1960 Encre de Chine sur papier marouflé sur toile, 192 × 282 cm Collection Galerie de France Brion Gysin © Galerie de France © Jonathan Greet / Archives Galerie de France — Brion gysin, *Calligraphie*, 1960. Encre de Chine sur papier marouflé sur toile, 192 × 282 cm Collection Galerie de France Brion Gysin © Galerie de France © Jonathan Greet / Archives Galerie de France

Alongside notable visual artists, mostly representative of the California scene, an important place is given to the literary dimension of the movement, to spoken poetry in its relationship to jazz, and more particularly to the Black American poetry that remains largely unknown in Europe, like the magazines in which it circulated.

John Cohen *Robert Frank, Alfred Leslie, Gregory Corso*, 1959 Épreuve gélatino-argentique, 22.2 x 33 cm © John Cohen photo © Courtesy L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York

The exhibition illustrates how profoundly the Beat Generation – in its expressive freedom, its breaking down of boundaries between disciplines and cultures, its “poor”, ecstatic and contemplative aesthetic, and also its violence – influenced the development of today’s countercultures, revealing it as their origin and casting light on ongoing problematics.

Jack Kerouac On the Road (tapuscrit original), 1951 Papier calque, 360 × 22 cm Collection James S. Irsay © Estate of Anthony G. Sampatacacus and the Estate of Jan Kerouac © John Sampas, Executor, The Estate of Jack Kerouac — Jack Kerouac *On the Road* (tapuscrit original), 1951 Papier calque, 360 × 22 cm Collection James S. Irsay © Estate of Anthony G. Sampatacacus and the Estate of Jan Kerouac © John Sampas, Executor, The Estate of Jack Kerouac

until 3 October 2016
Beat Generation
curated by Philippe-Alain Michaud
Centre Pompidou
46 Rue Beaubourg, Paris

Beat Generation

“Beat generation” is a retrospective dedicated to the literary and artistic movement born in the late 1940s that would exert an ever-growing influence for the next two decades.

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