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Rebels and Beats

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Language Arts And English +1 Age Levels Middle School (13 to 15 years old), Post-Secondary, Adults, High School (16 to 18 years old)

This topical collection is based on a past exhibit in the National Portrait Gallery entitled Rebels and Beats: Painters and Poets of the 1950s. This collection might be used by teachers or students who want to explore the counterculture of the 1950s, a time period typically associated with conformity. The collection includes paintings, photographs, and videos related to the writers and artists involved in the Beat Generation, San Francisco Renaissance, Black Mountain College, and New York School scenes.

In what ways did these artists challenge the social norms of the time? Why is art often a means of challenging the status quo?

tags: Ginsberg, Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, de Kooning, Baraka, poem, counterculture, Beat Movement

Elaine de Kooning Self-Portrait

National Portrait Gallery

Elaine de Kooning, Portrait in a Minute

National Portrait Gallery

John Ashbery

National Portrait Gallery

John Ashbery

National Portrait Gallery

Honey or Wine?

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Kenneth Koch

National Portrait Gallery

Frank O'Hara

National Portrait Gallery

O'Hara Reading

National Portrait Gallery

Meet Grace Hartigan

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Jackson Pollock

National Portrait Gallery

Blue, Orange, Red

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

The Moment, from the portfolio Four on Plexiglas

Smithsonian American Art Museum

1950-A No. 2

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

William S. Burroughs

National Portrait Gallery

William S. Burroughs

National Portrait Gallery

Allen Ginsberg

National Portrait Gallery

Allen Ginsberg

National Portrait Gallery

Allen Ginsberg (with Peter Orlovsky)

National Portrait Gallery

Portrait of Jack Kerouac

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden