Mina Loy: The Poet Who Transformed Bowery Rubbish Into High Art
In short: Mina Loy is celebrated as a poet, but her visual art reveals a radical creative evolution. This lecture examines how her life in cities like Paris, Florence, and New York shaped her transition from magazine contributor to a creator of complex assemblages made from urban refuse.
Born in London, Mina Loy lived a peripatetic life that spanned several major cultural hubs. While residing in New York, she contributed to the magazine Rogue and experimented with various mediums, including painting and the design of lampshades. Her artistic practice took a distinct turn in the 1940s when she began living on the Bowery.
During this period, Loy started constructing assemblages using discarded items she collected from the streets. This lecture, presented by Dawn Adès, the Leonard A. Lauder Distinguished Scholar at The Met in 2019, investigates the interconnected nature of Loy's poetry, prose, and these unconventional physical works, offering a deeper look at an artist whose visual output is often overshadowed by her literary reputation.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Mina Loy, Artist: From Rogue to Rags
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