Periscope (Hart Crane)

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: private collection.

Hart Crane was Johns’ favourite poet who committed suicide by jumping from the deck of a ship into the ocean. It is believed that before drowning the poet raised his hand high above the surface of the water, and many passengers of the ship saw that. It is this hand that is symbolically depicted in the form of a handprint of the author himself. The artist created this painting during his painful breakup with his long-term partner Robert Rauschenberg, so its mood is depressive, and its palette is dark black and grey.