Portrait of Georgianna (Anne) Sherman and Leonard Cohen
around 1958
gelatin silver print

Audio description of the work

Displayed against a black backdrop, this palm sized black and white photo is in a keepsake tin frame with a shiny metallic relief border. This photobooth photo depicts a young Leonard Cohen with his then love interest Anne.  The couple in their 20’s take up the bottom two thirds of the photograph. Cohen is on the right and looks directly at the camera, his mouth open in the process of a smile. On the left is Anne in profile. She is in front of Cohen and  her forehead touches his temple.  She is a white woman with straight brown shoulder length hair held back by a kerchief worn as a hairband. She has high cheekbones and wears lipstick and a light shirt. She smiles as she looks. He is a white man and his dark hair is worn short. He has a five o’clock shadow and wears a collared knit shirt which is undone. 

In this area depicting Cohen’s early life this plexiglass topped display table shows a collection of writing and other artifacts. Also in this case is a sample of Cohen’s social network and community including a photo of Cohen with his lifetime friend, Morton Rosegarden. The documents include personal letters to his mother from summer camp, a school report card, and a letter from his camp counselor.

 
End of Audio Description.

Exhibition label text:

Cohen’s first serious love affair was with Georgianna Sherman, whom he referred to as Anne or Annie. They met at Columbia University in New York City, where Cohen was pursuing graduate studies in literature and Sherman was a program coordinator. The innocence of their young love is captured in this gem-like, framed photo-booth portrait. Their relationship ended due to Cohen’s strong resistance to settling down, but he continued to write to Sherman and send poems such as the following, which was published in Selected Poems: 1956–1968:


For Anne 

(Audio of Leonard Cohen)

With Annie gone,
Whose eyes to compare
With the morning sun? 

Not that I did compare,
But I do compare
Now that she’s gone.

End of Exhibition label text.

2 Portrait of Georgianna (Anne) Sherman and Leonard Cohen

Untitled
1984
acrylic and enamel on canvas
The Broad Art Foundation, Los Angeles
All images © Keith Haring Foundation
 
During the 1980s, wealth inequality in the United States grew significantly under Ronald Reagan’s neoliberal trickle-down economics policies known as Reaganomics. Haring criticized greed and capitalism in several works featuring the image of the “capitalist pig.” This tarp painting portrays a pig spewing money-green vomit made up of computers, televisions, clocks, airplanes, and other modern-day objects. The green bile pools on the ground from which little figures climb, suckling the sickly pig’s teats. This work is a monstrous depiction of the struggle of production in an era when everything was deemed consumable.

Untitled

Untitled
1985
Acrylic and oil on canvas 
Courtesy of The Parker Foundation 
All images © Keith Haring Foundation

Haring grew up and came out as a gay man during a time that encouraged increased freedom of sexual expression, largely fuelled by the counterculture, women’s rights, and gay liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s. By the early 1980s, a new countermovement emerged that was led by conservative politicians and the religious right. Simultaneously, the AIDS epidemic was growing. 

Painted in 1985, this untitled work responds to these realities, showing a fiery hellscape of sexual aggression and torture. The theme of hell—often depicted with scenes of uninhibited sexuality—has been addressed throughout art history, from Auguste Rodin’s The Gates of Hell (1880–1917) to Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (1500s). Haring’s version remains true to his signature line, while also depicting a cast of human and animal figures as well as Christian symbols such as frogs, serpents, and angels.

The Great White Way 
1988 
acrylic on canvas
The Keith Haring Foundation 
All images © Keith Haring Foundation

Stretched in the shape of a penis, this massive painting is a critical visualization of what author bell hooks described as “imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.” The pink phallus is decorated with black lines that make up an intricate scene of weapons, violence, torture, and other abuses of power—a visual representation of the problems of Euro-American society. Haring’s title implies the white supremacist ideology underpinning these activities. The painting shows a phallocentric world in which profit and power in the name of “good” and God are used as tools of oppression. The Great White Way is a prime example of what is perhaps Haring’s greatest skill: the ability to make something look like shallow fun—in this case, a massive, cartoonish, pink, candy-striped penis—while simultaneously speaking truth to some of society’s foremost tyrannies.

The Great White Way

Untitled
1988
acrylic on canvas
Private collection
All images © Keith Haring Foundation

This untitled work shows a human figure struggling to walk up a staircase while carrying a massive egg tied to its back. The egg is cracked and a sperm with devil horns bursts from its shell. The painting speaks profoundly to the AIDS epidemic that took the lives of so many within Haring’s community, including his own. Using monumental scale, a palette drained of colour, and graphic imagery, Haring represented the impossible weight of the AIDS crisis.

Rowing

Rosalba Carriera

Maria Clara Eimmart

Susanna Perwich

Luisa Roldan

Audio recorded verbal descriptions provide an accessible and detailed narrative to extend your experience of the AGO. Explore the AGO facade and the artworks outside the building, Henry Moore's Two Forms and Brian Jungen's Couch Monster: Sadzěʔ yaaghęhch’ill. These descriptions, rich in detail and sensory language, provide a vivid exploration of form, texture, and artistic intention, ensuring that all visitors can engage deeply with these celebrated pieces of architecture and public art.

Large Two Forms

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2 Portrait of Georgianna (Anne) Sherman and Leonard Cohen

Art Gallery of Ontario

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