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    Friends Who Came to See Me: Drawings from John Ashbery’s Collection

    Illustration for Friends Who Came to See Me: Drawings from John Ashbery’s Collection

    March 22 – October 25, 2026

    The Morgan Library & Museum

    225 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016

    Scheduled

    About This Event

    Live event at The Morgan Library & Museum

    About Friends Who Came to See Me: Drawings from John Ashbery’s Collection

    At The Morgan Library & Museum, “Friends Who Came to See Me: Drawings from John Ashbery’s Collection” presents works the New York poet lived with, tracing a private network of artists and friendships that shaped his daily visual world. The selection reads less like a survey than a record of attention, showing how drawings can function as letters, souvenirs, and working thoughts. Ashbery’s long presence in New York makes the show a local cultural footnote with real weight. One clear takeaway: it treats collecting as a form of authorship, not mere accumulation.

    About the Artist

    John Ashbery

    John Ashbery

    spoken word

    John Ashbery was an American poet who also worked for decades as an art critic, moving between literary and visual worlds with equal seriousness. His ties to New York’s cultural institutions come into view at The Morgan Library & Museum, where *Friends Who Came to See Me: Drawings from John Ashbery’s Collection* presents works he lived with and studied.