Exhibition poster in red and white lettering against a black background

During the 1910s an extraordinary gathering of groundbreaking artists, writers, radicals, reformers, and free spirits from across the United States and Europe settled in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, lured there by inexpensive housing and the promise of a relaxed, permissive atmosphere in which to work. Though harboring diverse creative and personal agendas, these iconoclastic transplants shared an impulse to upend not only the established principles of their respective arts but also the era’s social conventions and political status quo. 

Drawn from collections across The New York Public Library, Becoming Bohemia: Greenwich Village, 1912–1923 surveys key individuals, places, events, and works that defined America’s first large-scale countercultural enclave, while also noting factors that led to the decline of this vibrant, storied setting.

This exhibition is organized by The New York Public Library and curated by Michael Inman, Susan Jaffe Tane Curator of Rare Books.

Preview the Exhibition

Starting October 12, view photographs by Jessie Tarbox Beals, little magazines from the period, Eugene O'Neill's manuscripts, and more on display for Becoming Bohemia: Greenwich Village, 1912–1923 in the Wachenheim Gallery and Ispahani-Bartos Gallery on the first floor of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

Vintage photograph of a crowded restaurant interior
Unknown photographer
Polly's Restaurant, Greenwich Village
1917
Photographic postcard
Image courtesy of the Schlesinger Library, Harvard University
The cover of a vintage magazine featuring a three-quarter portrait of an attractive woman in the center
The Suffragist: Official Weekly Organ of the National Woman's Party
[Washington, D.C. : National Woman's Party]
November 25, 1916
General Research Division
The cover of a vintage magazine with the title in big red letters and a contour drawing of the head of person wearing red lipstick
Playboy: A Journal of Art and Satire
New York: Egmont Arens, January 1919 (Vol. 1, no. 1)
Rare Book Division
A vintage photograph in sepia tone of an urban setting, featuring a street flanked by two arched gateways and a row of townhouses
Jessie Tarbox Beals, 1870–1942
“Washington Mews”
[1918]
Photographic postcard
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Picture Collection
The cover of a publication with black text and a black border against a pine green background
Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1892–1950
A Few Figs from Thistles: Poems and Four Sonnets
New York: F. Shay, 1921
Rare Book Division
An open book showing the title page on the right side and an illustration of a woman wearing a hat and glasses on the left page
Emma Goldman, 1869–1940 (Author); Hippolyte Havel, 1871–1950 (Artist)
Anarchism and Other Essays
New York, Mother Earth Publishing association, 1910
General Research Division
The cover of a vintage magazine featuring an illustration of a woman's profile from the shoulders up. The woman is wearing a red top and throwing her head back with her eyes closed
Frank Walts, 1877–1941 (Cover artist)
The Masses
New York: Masses Publishing Co., March 1917 (Vol. 9, no. 6)
Rare Book Division
A vibrant multicolored poster featuring multiple titles and illustrations
Unknown artist
"Something to see | Progressive | Oh My Yes | Washington Sq Players"
ca. 1915–1918
Graphite, gouache and ink on paper
Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
The cover of a vintage playbill featuring a cubist illustration of people in various poses against a slate blue background
Eugene O'Neill, 1888–1953 (Author); Louise Bryant, 1885 (Author); Floyd Dell, 1887–1969 (Author)
The Provincetown Plays. First Series
New York: Frank Shay, 1916
Rare Book Division
The cover of a magazine featuring black text against a bright purple background
James Joyce, 1882–1941
The Little Review
New York, March 1918 (Vo. 5, no. 11)
Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
A vibrant multicolored poster featuring dancers inspired by ancient Egyptian iconography and styling
“Pagan Rout III–The Golden Ball of Isis”
New York: Liberal Club, 1917
Color lithograph
Rare Book Division
A vintage music program with a multicolored cover featuring a woman wearing an elaborate costume
John Murray Anderson, 1886–1954 (Lyricist); Arthur Swanstrom, 1888-1940 (Lyricist); A. Baldwin Sloane (Alfred Baldwin), 1872-1926 (Composer)
"Come to Bohemia"
New York: M. Witmark & Sons, 1920
Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center

Coming Soon: Large Print Labels

Large print logo

Large-type labels will be made available online and at the information desk in Astor Hall on the first floor of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

More Exhibitions