Theodore Joans (July 4, 1928 – April 25, 2003) was an American

beatnik Beatniks were members of a social movement in the mid-20th century, who subscribed to an anti- materialistic lifestyle. They rejected the conformity and consumerism of mainstream American culture and expressed themselves through various forms ...

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, filmmaker,

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

ist, jazz poet and jazz

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

who spent long periods of time in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

while also traveling through Africa. His complex body of work stands at the intersection of several avant-garde artistic streams. He was the author of more than 30 books of poetry, prose, and

; among them ''Black Pow-Wow'', ''Beat Funky Jazz Poems'', ''Afrodisia'', ''Jazz is Our Religion'', ''Double Trouble'', ''WOW'' and ''Teducation''. In 2001 he was the recipient of

Before Columbus Foundation The Before Columbus Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by Ishmael Reed, "dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature". The Foundation makes annual awards for books published in ...

's American Book Awards Lifetime Achievement Award. In visual art, Joans is best known for creating a more than 30-foot-long chain of drawings and collages on

dot matrix printer Dot matrix printing, sometimes called impact matrix printing, is a computer printing process in which ink is applied to a surface using a relatively low-resolution dot matrix for layout. Dot matrix printers are a type of impact printer that p ...

computer paper called ''Long Distance Exquisite Corpse'' (1976-2003), an extended exquisite corpse of 132 invited contributors, including

Paul Bowles Paul Frederic Bowles (; December 30, 1910November 18, 1999) was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator. He became associated with the Moroccan city of Tangier, where he settled in 1947 and lived for 52 years to the end of his ...

Breyten Breytenbach Breyten Breytenbach (; 16 September 193924 November 2024) was a South African writer, poet, and painter. He became internationally well-known as a dissident poet and vocal critic of South Africa under apartheid, and as a political prisoner of ...

, William S. Burroughs, Mário Cesariny, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Bruce Conner, Laura Corsiglia, Bill Dixon,

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

, David Hammons, Stanley William Hayter,

Dick Higgins Dick Higgins (15 March 1938 – 25 October 1998) was an American artist, composer, art theorist, poet, publisher, printmaker, and a co-founder of the Fluxus international artistic movement (and community). Inspired by John Cage, Higgins was ...

, Konrad Klapheck, Alison Knowles,

Michel Leiris Julien Michel Leiris (; 20 April 1901, Paris – 30 September 1990, Saint-Hilaire, Essonne) was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer. Part of the Surrealist group in Paris, Leiris became a key member of the College of Sociology with Geor ...

Malangatana Malangatana Valente Ngwenya (6 June 1936 – 5 January 2011) was a Mozambique, Mozambican Painting, painter and poet. He frequently exhibited work under his first name alone, as Malangatana. He died on 5 January 2011 in Matosinhos, Portugal. Lif ...

, Roberto Matta,

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, a ...

, Larry Rivers,

James Rosenquist James Albert Rosenquist (November 29, 1933 – March 31, 2017) was an American artist and one of the proponents of the pop art movement. Drawing from his background working in sign painting, Rosenquist's pieces often explored the role of advert ...

Wole Soyinka Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...

, Dorothea Tanning and

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in comple ...

. Joans's motto was: "

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

is my religion and

Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

my point of view".

Biography

Joans was born in

Cairo, Illinois Cairo ( , sometimes ) is the southernmost city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat of Alexander County, Illinois, Alexander County. A river city, Cairo has the lowest elevation of any location in Illinois and is the only Illinoi ...

, as Theodore Jones. His parents worked on the

riverboat A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury ...

s that plied the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

and the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. He played the

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

and was an avid jazz aficionado, following Bop as it developed, and continued to espouse jazz of all styles and eras throughout his life. Growing up in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 census ...

, and

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, he earned a degree in

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...

s from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

where he encountered and translated Andre Breton’s 1924 ''

Surrealist Manifesto The Surrealist Manifesto refers to several publications by Yvan Goll and André Breton, leaders of rival Surrealism, surrealist groups. Goll and Breton both published manifestos in October 1924 titled ''Manifeste du surréalisme''. Breton wrote ...

'' by using a French dictionary before moving in 1951 to New York City,"A Spoken Word Original"
, African American Registry. changing his surname from Jones to Joans and entering the bohemian artistic scene. Joans became friends with

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by members o ...

writer

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...

and, for a while, was a room mate with the jazz musician

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

. During that time Joans painted in a rather

Abstract Expressionist Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

style he called ''Jazz

Action Painting Action painting, sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical ...

'' and he wrote and read his poetry, developing a personal style of oral delivery he called ''Jazz Poetry''. He became a participant in the

scene in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

and was a contemporary and friend of Kerouac,

, Leroi Jones (later known as Amiri Baraka),

Gregory Corso Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet. Along with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, he was part of the Beat Generation, as well as one of its youngest members. Early life Born N ...

, Diane Di Prima,

Bob Kaufman Robert Garnell Kaufman (April 18, 1925 – January 12, 1986) was an American Beat poet and surrealist as well as a jazz performance artist and satirist. In France, where his poetry had a large following, he was known as the Black America ...

, and

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. An author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and ...

, among many others. Joans' bohemian costume balls and rent parties became rather well known, as they were photographed by Fred McDarrah and Weegee. Choosing to lead an increasingly

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

artist's life, Joans became involved in the intelligentsia around the

art movement after meeting Joseph Cornell and later becoming close to his childhood painter-hero

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

in Paris before breaking with him. Joans had moved to Paris in the 1960s and was welcomed into the Surrealist circle of

André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

and by James Baldwin. He learned the French language and frequented the café

Les Deux Magots () is a famous café and restaurant situated at 6, Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris' 6th arrondissement, France. It once had a reputation as the rendezvous of the literary and intellectual elite of the city. It is now a popular tourist ...

in Saint Germain des Prés where he received mail and other messages. He remained mostly in Paris until the mid-1990s, spending his summers in Europe and winters in

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; ; Koyra Chiini: ; ) is an ancient city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. It is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali, having a population of 32,460 in the 2018 census. ...

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. Joans also became active in

African studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's History of Africa, history (pre-colonial, Colonisation of Af ...

and traveled extensively throughout the African continent, frequently on foot, over many decades between periods of living in Europe and North America. As publisher John Calder noted, "Joans adapted himself to the lifestyles of artists in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

and Greenwich Village, the London of the 1950s and 60s, the Paris of the 60s to the 90s, as well as to those of other European cities and

, where he spent many winters." Calder, John
"Ted Joans" (obituary)
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', May 27, 2003. From the 1960s onward, Joans had a house in

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, and then in

. While he ceased playing the trumpet, he maintained a jazz sensibility in the reading of his poems and frequently collaborated with musicians. He continued to travel and maintained an active correspondence with a host of creative individuals, among them Langston Hughes,

Aimé Césaire Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician from Martinique. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He ...

, Robert Creeley, Jake Lamar, James Baldwin, Jayne Cortez, Stokely Carmichael,

Ishmael Reed Ishmael Scott Reed (born February 22, 1938) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher known for his Satire, satirical works challenging American political culture. Perhaps his best-known wor ...

, Franklin and Penelope Rosemont. Many letters between Joans and these and others are collected at the

Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library is the primary special-collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity. ...

of the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

, while the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

houses his correspondence with Charles Henri Ford. Joans was also a close correspondent/participant of the

Chicago Surrealist Group The Chicago Surrealist Group was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in July 1966 by Franklin Rosemont, Penelope Rosemont, Bernard Marszalek, Tor Faegre and Robert Green after a trip to Paris in 1965, during which they were in contact with André Breto ...

. Joans' painting ''Bird Lives'' hangs in the De Young Museum in San Francisco. He was also the originator of the ''Bird Lives'' urban legend and

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant gr ...

in and about

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

after the death of

in 1955. Joans visual art work spans

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

-like collages, assemblage, paintings and drawings; including many resulting from the collaborative surrealist game of Cadavre Exquis. The

rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

is a frequent subject in his work. He also created short

Super 8 film Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The formal name for Super 8 is 8-mm Type S, distinguishing it from the ...

s. Joans often satirized American middle-class values in poems such as ''Playmates''. A strong and cruel humorous streak is apparent in his work when depicting the white bourgeoisie and their philistine attitudes, particularly around racial prejudice. His poems and art often explored social/racial issues from the perspective of his experiences of a black minority member within a white majority society. During the early 1980s, he was a writer in residence in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

under the auspices of the DAAD (Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst) program. He also was a contributor of jazz essays and reviews to magazines such as '' Coda'' and '' Jazz Magazine''. His autobiographical text ''Je Me Vois'' appeared in the ''Contemporary Authors Autobiographical Series'', Volume 25, published by

Gale Research Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, United States, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research ...

. His work has been included in numerous anthologies, including ''The Poetry of the Negro, 1746–1970'' (1970), edited by Langston Hughes and

Arna Bontemps Arna Wendell Bontemps ( ) (October 13, 1902 – June 4, 1973) was an American poet, novelist and librarian, and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Bontemps was born in 1902 in Alexandria, Louisiana, into a Louisiana Creole peopl ...

(1970), ''A Broadside Treasury'', edited by

Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poet ...

(1971), and ''For Malcolm'', edited by

Dudley Randall Dudley Randall (January 14, 1914 – August 5, 2000) was an African-American poetry, poet and poetry publisher from Detroit, Michigan. He founded a African-American book publishers in the United States, 1960–80, pioneering publishing company cal ...

and Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs (1973). More recent publications on Joans include the anthology ''Teducation'' and ''Our Thang'', a collection of his poems and paintings by his friend Laura Corsiglia. In the late 1990s Joans relocated from Europe to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

before moving to

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, between travels, until his death. Joans died in Vancouver, due to complications from

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

. He fathered 10 children: Daline Jones-Weber of San Leandro (named after

), Ted Jones of Santa Monica, Teresa Jordan of Whittier, JeanneMarie Jones of Rialto, Robert Jones of Long Beach, Lars Jones of Oslo, Norway, Thor Jones of Oslo, Norway, Russell Jones of Scotland, Sylvia Jones and Yvette Jones-Johnson.Ted Joans – Beat Generation poet and artist
by Chuck Squatriglia, Chronicle Staff Writer, May 10, 2003

Published works

*''Funky Jazz Poems'' (1959), New York: Rhino Review. *''Beat Poems'' (1959), New York: Deretchink. *''All of Ted Joans and No More'' (1961), with

s by the author, New York: Excelsior Press. *''The Truth'' (1960) *''The Hipsters'' with collages by the author (1961), New York: Corinth. *''A Black Pow-Wow Of Jazz Poems'' (1969), London: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd. *''Black Pow-Wow Jazz Poems'' (1969), New York: Hill and Wang. *''Afrodisia'' (1970), with collages by the author, London: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd. *''Afrodisia; New Poems'' (1970), New York: Hill and Wang. *''A Black Manifesto in Jazz Poetry and Prose'' (1971), London: Calder and Boyars. *''Cogollo Caniculaire'' (1977), with artist Heriberto Cogollo and poet Joyce Mansour, Rome (Italy): Carlo Bestetti. *''Flying Piranha'' (1978), with poet Joyce Mansour, New York: Bola Press. *''Der Erdferkelforscher / The Aardvark Watcher'' (1980), translated by Richard Anders, Berlin: LCB-Editionen. *''Vergriffen: oder Blitzlieb Poems'' (1979), Kassel (Germany): Loose Blätter Press. *''Mehr Blitzliebe Poems'' (1982), Hamburg (Germany): Michael Kellner Verlag. *''Merveilleux Coup de Foudre'' (1982) with poet Jayne Cortez, in French, translated by Ms. Ila Errus and M. Sila Errus, Paris: Handshake Editions. *''Sure, Really I Is'' (1982), with collages by the author, Sidmouth (UK): Transformaction. *''Dies und Das: Ein Magazin von actuellem surrealistischen interesse'' (1984), Berlin. *''Double Trouble'' (1991), with poet Hart Leroy Bibbs, Paris: Revue Noire, Editions Bleu Outremer. *''Honeyspoon'' (1993), Paris: Handshake Editions. *''Okapi Passion'' (1994), Oakland: Ishmael Reed Publishing Company. *''WOW'' (1998), with artist Laura Corsiglia, Mukilteo (Washington): Quartermoon Press. *''Teducation: Selected Poems 1949-1999'' (1999), illustrations by Heriberto Cogollo, Minneapolis: Coffee House Press. *''Select one or more: Poems'' (2000), Berkeley: The Bancroft Library Press. *''Our Thang: Several Poems, Several Drawings'' (2001), with artist Laura Corsiglia, Victoria (Canada): Ekstasis Editions. *''In Thursday Sane'' (2001), with illustrations by the author, Davis (California): Swan Scythe Press.

Museum art exhibitions

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, ''Surrealism Beyond Borders'' *

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

, ''Surrealism Beyond Borders'' *

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

, ''Surrealism'' *

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

''Vital Signs, Artists and the Body'' * Lenbachhaus, ''But live here? No thanks: Surrealism and Anti-Fascism'' * Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, ''Surrealism and Us: Caribbean and African Diasporic Artists since 1940'' *

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the supp ...

, ''Ted Joans: Land of the Rhinoceri''

Essays about Ted Joans

*Michel Fabre, "Ted Joans: the Surrealist Griot", in ''From Harlem to Paris: Black American Writers in France 1840–1980'',

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, 1991. *Robert Elliot Fox
"Ted Joans and the (b)reach of the African American literary canon"
in '' MELUS'', Vol. 29, nos 3/4 (Fall/Winter 2004), Gale Literature Resource Center. *Amor Kohli, "Sounding Across the City: Ted Joans’s ''Bird Lives!'' as Jazz Performance", in ''Beat Drama: Playwrights and Performances of the "Howl" Generation'', Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2016. *Joanna Pawlik
"Ted Joans' surrealist history lesson"
in '' International Journal of Francophone Studies'', Vol. 14, issue 1 & 2 (2011). doi: 10.1386/ijfs.14.1&2.221_1

Ted Joans in film

* (1964) by Louis van Gasteren, Amsterdam. Ted Joans reads with Piet Kuiters Modern Jazz Group, excerpt on YouTube. *''Pan-African Cultural Festival'' / '' Festival panafricain d'Alger'' (1969) by William Klein, France/Algeria. Features Ted Joans reading with

Archie Shepp Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz. Biography Early life Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...

and Touareg musicians. * (1971), directed by John Jeremy with the photographs of Val Wilmer. Features Ted Joans' voice reading one of his signature poems, "Jazz is My Religion". * (1994) at Jack Kerouac conference,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. *''From St. Louis to Dogon Country'' (1999) part of the BBC series ''Great Railway Journeys''. directed by David Hickman, written by

Danny Glover Danny Glover ( ; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, producer, and political activist. Over his career he has received List of awards and nominations received by Danny Glover, numerous accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian A ...

. Features Joans and Danny Glover, Clyde Taylor and others in

. *''WOW! Ted Joans Lives!'' by Kurt Hemmer and Tom Knoff (2010). An homage to Ted Joans, featuring his reading at

Harper College William Rainey Harper College is a Public college, public community college in Palatine, Illinois. It was established by referendum in 1965 and opened in September 1967. It is named for William Rainey Harper, a pioneer in the junior college m ...

Palatine, Illinois Palatine () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook and Lake County, Illinois, Lake counties, Illinois, United States. It is a northwestern residential Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...

, in 2002.

References

External links

''Ted Joans Lives! A Tribute'' at ''Empty Mirror''.

Guide to the Ted Joans papers a
The Bancroft Library, University of California
Material related to Ted Joans in ''Beats Visions and the Counterculture'' (online exhibition) a
Special Collections

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joans, Ted 1928 births 2003 deaths 20th-century African-American painters 20th-century American male artists 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American painters 20th-century American poets 20th-century American trumpeters 21st-century African-American artists 21st-century American male artists 21st-century American painters African-American male writers African-American musicians African-American poets American Book Award winners American jazz trumpeters American male jazz musicians American male painters American male poets American male trumpeters American surrealist writers Beat Generation writers Deaths from diabetes in Canada Jazz musicians from Illinois People from Cairo, Illinois American expatriates in France American expatriates in Morocco American expatriates in England American expatriates in Mali