Variant Dates: 1971, 1972.
Medium: Lithograph and etching.
Print Image Size: 17 1/8 x 20 1/8 inches.
Print Edition: no edition (with 10 artist's proofs).
Alternate Medium: Offset photolithograph with four-plate color etching.
Ink(s): black (lithograph); orange, red, blue, grey, dark red, silver-green (etching).
Support: Hammermill wove paper.
Two cartoon portraits of bearded poet Allen Ginsberg wearing an Uncle Sam top hat, surrounded by newspaper images and text about his visit to the Ohio State University [CMA 2001.034.204]. The caption in the upper left states "Allen Ginsberg was once the wild-haired wildman of the beat poets. Today, still shaggy, he is a major literary figure known around the world and looked up to by the young. He travels across the country reading his works to eager, unlikely audiences." A bikini clad model, who is cut in half, holds a placard that advertises "your BankAmericard welcome here." The most noticeable fragment of a headline though is "The Guru Comes" and a section of the text is circled, which reads "the point is that Ginsberg is a very serious man." First-state impressions [CMA 2013.057.037] reveal the right plate before it was cut into three pieces, printed solely in grey ink. Those impressions also have the left plate printed in dark red, as well as an additional rectangular plate of silver-grey along the bottom in select impressions. Both of the color portrait etchings exist as individual impressions [CMA 2013.057.040], separate from the newspaper text. Leftover impressions without the etched portion were flipped over and reused in later prints, such as Gary Snyder [CMA 2001.034.029].