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| Walt Kuhn The Tragic Comedians ca. 1916 oil on canvas Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC |
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| Anonymous Photographer Walt Kuhn with Model ca. 1920 photographic print Archives of American Art, Washington DC |
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| Walt Kuhn Dressing Room ca. 1925 lithograph Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC |
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| Walt Kuhn Honky-Tonk 1927 watercolor on board Whitney Museum of American Art, New York |
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| Walt Kuhn Dreaming Girl 1930 oil on canvas Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC |
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| Walt Kuhn The Blue Clown 1931 oil on canvas Whitney Museum of American Art, New York |
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| Walt Kuhn Artiste 1935 ink and watercolor on paper Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC |
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| Walt Kuhn Talisman Roses 1935 oil on canvas Whitney Museum of American Art, New York |
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| Walt Kuhn Musical Clown 1938 oil on canvas Whitney Museum of American Art, New York |
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| Walt Kuhn Fifty Paintings by Walt Kuhn 1940 dust jacket on printed book Archives of American Art, Washington DC |
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| Anonymous Photographer Model in Walt Kuhn's Studio ca. 1940 photographic print Archives of American Art, Washington DC |
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| Anonymous Photographer Models in Walt Kuhn's Studio ca. 1940 photographic print Archives of American Art, Washington DC |
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| Walt Kuhn Apples and Pineapple on White Cloth 1940 oil on canvas Whitney Museum of American Art, New York |
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| Walt Kuhn Girl with Cocked Hat 1942 oil on canvas Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC |
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| Walt Kuhn Clown in Dressing Room 1943 oil on linen Whitney Museum of American Art, New York |
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| Walt Kuhn Acrobat in White and Blue 1947 oil on canvas Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC |
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| George Karger Walt Kuhn with Models 1948 photographic print (published in Collier's Magazine) Archives of American Art, Washington DC |
The School Play
"Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,
Stands here for God, his country, and . . ." And what?
"Stands here for God, his Sovereign, and himself,"
Growled Captain Fry who had the play by heart.
I was the First Herald, "a small part"
– I was small too – "but an important one."
What was not important to the self
At nine or ten? Already I had crushes
On Mowbray, Bushy, and the Duke of York.
Handsome Donald Niemann (now himself,
According to the Bulletin, headmaster
Of his own school somewhere out West) awoke
Too many self-indulgent mouthings in
The dummy mirror before smashing it,
For me to set my scuffed school cap at him.
Another year I'd play that part myself,
Or Puck, or Goneril, or Prospero.
Later, in adolescence, it was thought
Clever to speak of having found oneself,
With a smile and rueful headshake for those who hadn't.
People still do. Only the other day
A woman my age told us that her son
"Hadn't found himself" – at thirty-one!
I heard in the mind's ear an amused hum
Of mothers and fathers from beyond the curtain,
And that flushed, far-reaching hour came back
Months of rehearsal in the gymnasium
Had led to: when the skinny nobodies
Who'd memorized the verse and learned to speak it
Emerged in beards and hose (or gowns and rouge)
Vivid with character, having put themselves
All unsuspecting into the masters' hands.
– James Merrill (1985)