Wharton & Whitman Garden Party

Don’t miss this summer celebration of Wharton Esherick and Walt Whitman! In honor of Whitman’s 200th birthday, the Wharton Esherick Museum is hosting Walt Whitman himself for a reading of Song of the Broad-Axe, along with drinks, brunch fare, lawn games, and literary fun!

When Wharton Esherick was approached to illustrate Walt Whitman’s Song of the Broad-Axe, he jumped at the chance. A long-time admirer of Whitman’s poems, Esherick saw himself in the adventurous and creative spirit of Broad-Axe, in the “glad clear sound of one’s own voice, the merry song, natural life of the woods, the strong day’s work.”

This event will bring Whitman’s poem to life, while highlighting our summer exhibition The Artist, the Poet and the Centaur, which features Esherick’s 1924 hand-illuminated Song of the Broad-Axe.