In the June 23, 1956, issue of The New Yorker (available to subscribers), John Updike pens a droll report on the 49th Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit. “We put on our tennis shoes, removed our tie, rumpled our hair, and went down to look at it the other day, which was sunny. We approached by way of Macdougal Street�an impromptu gallery that accommodated the works of predominantly mature and conservative artists. We took Winslow Homer to be an influence. In fact, throughout our comprehensive stroll the white of painted surf broke on the beach of our vision ten times a minute….” Here are images of the article, blundered from The New Yorker archives. Clicking on the images will enlarge them to a readable size.
The last paragraph:
While I enjoyed the post, I am also relishing my own made-up story about how you came across this 1956 issue of the New Yorker, on vacation in some beloved old family cottage — in the mountains, or by the sea — where bookshelves groan with yellowing paperbacks leftover from summers past, and a basket has old copies of — ta-da — the New Yorker and the Atlantic Monthly