May 12, 2003
Gerrit Henry, An Art Critic Who Also Wrote Poetry, Dies at
52
By KEN JOHNSON
errit Henry, an art critic and poet, died on May 1 at
his home in Manhattan. He was 52.
The cause was a heart attack, said John Wells, a friend.
Mr. Henry was best known for his widely published writings on art, in
which he tended to favor contemporary combinations of traditional
representation and modernist abstraction.
His witty, confessional poetry, often written in couplets, was
influenced by the songs of Cole Porter and Steven Sondheim, and he had a
brief career as a cabaret singer and songwriter in the 1970's.
His poetry books include "The Mirrored Clubs of Hell: Poems by Gerrit
Henry" (Little, Brown & Company, 1991) and "Poems & Ballads"
(Dolphin, 1998).
He attended Long Island public schools and in 1972 received a
bachelor's degree in English from Columbia, where he studied poetry with
Kenneth Koch.
While still in college he worked on the information desk of the Museum
of Modern Art, and he was recruited by the poet John Ashbery, then an
editor at Art News magazine, to write art reviews.
He became contributing editor for Art News, and he wrote reviews
regularly for Art in America magazine. His articles and reviews also
appeared in The Village Voice, People, Art International, The Spectator
and The New Republic. He wrote many essays in exhibition catalogs. His
book on the realist painter Janet Fish, "Janet Fish: A Monograph" (Burton
& Skira), appeared in 1987.
A book of Mr. Henry's recent poems will be published soon by
Groundwater Press. A documentary film about his life and work, directed by
Neil Grayson, is scheduled for release in 2004.
Mr. Henry is survived by his mother, Mary Jane Henry, and his sister,
Janice Henry, both of Boston.
