LACMA

ShopMembershipMyLACMATickets
LACMA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
info@lacma.org
(323) 857-6000
Sign up to receive emails
Subscribe
© Museum Associates 2026
  • About LACMA
  • Jobs
  • Host An Event
  • Unframed
  • Press
  • FAQs
  • Log in to MyLACMA
  • Privacy Policy
© Museum Associates 2026
Collections

William S. Burroughs
TheThird Mind ('Of Nuclear War Danger')circa 1965

Not on view
Mixed-media collage on graph paper combining cut newspaper clippings, comic strip panels, black-and-white photographs, typeset text, and a broad band of black paint or ink
Paper collage assembling newspaper clippings, photographs, and printed text fragments. Headlines including "Wave of Neb. Twisters Kills 4" and "TORNADO DEAD-223" overlap with news photographs of storm damage. Lower half features a grid of repeated mirrored photographic images alongside two portrait photographs of seated figures. Handwritten and typed text fragments reference Baghdad and a Paris address.
Mixed-media collage featuring a New York Times newspaper front page with overlapping photographic images of silhouetted figures in a crowd, an interior scene, and harbor ships, surrounded by a hand-drawn black ink border of irregular rectangular marks on white paper.
Mixed-media collage on torn white paper with a hand-drawn black grid pattern. Four black-and-white photographs and a vertical strip of film negatives are affixed at various grid intersections, showing portraits of two men, a figure in a hooded garment, and an architectural model. The word "PERMUTATIONS" appears in a printed label at upper right.
Mixed-media work on paper combining typewritten text, stamped black ink grids, and loose gestural cursive marks. Upper left contains fragmentary typed phrases; the remainder is divided into grid cells filled with dense repeated typewriter characters and expressive hand-drawn letterforms, fading from black at top to lighter marks below.
Mixed-media work on paper with hand-lettered text arranged in a grid of ruled cells. Three distinct sections contain permutations of words including 'the,' 'present,' 'shape,' 'words,' 'air,' 'rare,' and 'prayer,' written in bold black marker with varying letter sizes and spacing.
Ink work on paper featuring handwritten text arranged in lines within a loosely painted black grid, reading variations of the words "breathe," "thee," and "words." A small abstract ink figure appears in the upper right grid cell, with irregular ink bleeds along the borders.
Mixed-media work on paper featuring dense columns of typed text on white rectangular panels arranged across a cream background, with handwritten red annotations and underlines, and faint penciled grid lines visible along the edges.
Gelatin silver print collage combining a vertical strip of three window photographs with six contact-sheet frames showing interior stairwells, surrounding a central photograph of a standing figure in dark clothing; hand-drawn black lines connect and frame the elements on a white ground.
Four black-and-white photographs arranged in a grid on white paper with hand-drawn borders; three images show a figure wearing a dark coat and wide-brimmed hat in various interior settings including a bathroom mirror reflection and a desk, one image shows a staircase detail.
Gelatin silver print collage with two black-and-white photographs mounted on white paper with a grid of inked rectangular marks and drips. Top photo: rear view of a figure in a wide-brimmed hat standing beside an ornate birdcage outdoors. Bottom photo: two figures seated at a table among large tropical plants.
Mixed-media collage on paper combining hand-drawn ink grid pattern with two black-and-white photographs: upper photo shows a bird in a cage with a hand reaching through the bars; lower photo shows two men seated at a table, one leaning forward over papers.
Mixed-media collage on paper with black ink grid and architectural framework, incorporating four black-and-white photographs: two aerial views of industrial or urban structures, and two male portrait fragments. Diagonal lines radiate from upper left toward lower right corner, labeled with letters A, B, C, D. Text reading "THE BIG SURVEY" printed in upper right.
Mixed-media collage on lined notebook paper: a vertical strip of black-and-white photographic negatives showing architectural and street scenes runs down the center, flanked by handwritten script in ink on the left and a geometric perspective diagram with numbered annotations on the right, with a red handwritten title at top.
Mixed-media collage on paper with a black ink grid pattern of irregular rectangular cells. A symmetrical, vertically oriented form at center is composed of mirrored photographic fragments showing crowd scenes, creating a roughly humanoid or insect-like silhouette. Printed text in the upper right reads "THE DEATH OF MRS D."
Mixed-media collage with bold black ink grid of rounded rectangular cells on white paper, filled with pasted newspaper clippings, photographs, and printed imagery in black and white tones; visible clippings include newspaper pages with text and photographs, a figure in a doorway, and a radiating circular form.
Paper collage combining sepia-toned newspaper clippings and photographs arranged on a white ground overlaid with a grid of thick black brushstrokes. Clippings include headlines reading "Transcript of Dutch Schultz's Last Words," "Chinese Group Buys St. George Hotel," "Plane Hits Volcano Andes," "Times Square Eatery Fire," and "Soap Gets in Their Eyes," interspersed with news photographs of men in suits, a building fire, and figures in outdoor settings.
Mixed-media collage on aged paper combining newspaper clippings, typed text, and printed illustrations. Headlines read 'Meet Me in St. Louis' and 'Rains Batter 5000 Flee From Western Area; Floods: 6 Dead.' A black-and-white photograph of a man and a comic-style illustration of figures with a telescope are pasted among columns of typed and printed text.
Mixed-media collage on graph paper combining newspaper clippings, photographs, handwritten and typed text, and a street map fragment. Includes Spanish-language headlines reading 'España Sucesos' and 'Hubo cuatro muertos,' a photograph of a train yard, the masthead 'The Nova Express,' and a photograph of a figure in dark clothing examining a doorway.
Mixed-media collage on ruled ledger paper combining black-and-white photographs, newsprint clippings, and typewritten text. A black and white optical illusion circle with radiating stripes dominates the center. Collage elements include a photograph of a man in a suit, a torn newspaper portrait captioned "W. R. Hearst Jr.," and dense typewritten prose at left with red-stamped annotations.
Printed layout proof on paper, two side-by-side sheets with translucent overlay, showing faint photographic and illustrated imagery beneath three red hand-drawn rectangles annotated "COLOR TINT" with dimension arrows; masking tape at edges and a ruled grid table at lower left.
Mixed-media collage on gridded ledger paper combining hand-drawn figures in blue, black, and red ink with pasted printed ephemera: newspaper clippings with portrait photographs, a nighttime baseball stadium photograph, a street-level urban photograph, and a storefront photo reading "Atomic Machinery Exchange."
Paper collage combining newspaper clippings, typed text, and a hand-drawn illustration of a man's face in red and black on a blue-ruled notebook page, with fragments of headlines referencing narcotics and drug addiction layered across the surface.
Mixed-media collage on ruled manuscript paper combining typewritten text, black-and-white photographs, a newspaper comic strip, and handwritten annotations in blue ink, with images of a man in a suit and tie, a street scene, and an interior, captioned 'Doctor Zeit M.D.'
Mixed-media collage on graph paper combining black-and-white photographs, comic strip panels, newsprint clippings, and handwritten and printed text fragments in black, orange, and yellow, centered on a large dark photographic image of a glowing red sphere emerging from blackened ground, with an Esso logo at lower right.
Paper collage on ruled graph sheet combining cut newspaper text, black-and-white photographs of a metal chair and a small bronze sculpture on a shoreline, an Esso logo, a leather soccer ball, a small globe, and printed text fragments in English and Spanish.
Mixed-media collage of sepia-toned newspaper clippings and photographs arranged on a grid-patterned background with bold black brushwork. Clippings include headlines reading "Transcript of Dutch Schultz's Last Words," "Soap Gets in Their Eyes," "Times Square Eatery Fire," and "Plane Hits Volcano Andes," alongside photographs of figures in suits, a fire scene, and a person in a hospital bed.
Mixed-media collage combining photographic transfers and black ink on paper, arranged in a grid-like structure. Black-and-white photographs show storm damage, a tornado funnel, crashing waves, wind-bent palm trees, a flooded road, and receding railroad tracks. An Esso logo and the partial text "H THE ENERGY OF A HURRICANE!" are visible. Bold brushed black lines form an irregular grid across the composition.
Screen print collage of newspaper headlines and photographs in black and white, with bold text reading '23 Die in Saigon,' 'Tornado Dead: 223,' 'Bomb,' and 'Rips' arranged across a grid-like composition with heavy black brushstroke borders. Photographic clippings show street scenes and figures, overlaid with additional smaller headlines.
Mixed-media collage combining black-and-white newspaper clippings and photographs. A nighttime street scene with a lamp post and a Hong Kong Chinese Food restaurant sign dominates the upper half, overlaid with handwritten text reading 'Recommend a Restaurant? Is Not Personal Opinion.' Lower section features two news photographs and printed headlines reading 'Plane Loses Engine, Wingtip, 153 Safe' and 'Airlines Suffer Most,' dated Tuesday, June 2, 1965.
Mixed-media collage on cream paper combining hand-drawn Maya glyphs and figural scenes with pasted newspaper clippings and printed text reading "TANGER 1 4 4 8 6," framed by a bold black grid border.
Mixed-media collage with black ink grid overlaying a dense arrangement of black-and-white photographic clippings, newspaper fragments with visible text including "'Junk' Clutters Sky," and repeated small bird or mark motifs; images include figures, interiors, and objects.

Brion Gysin, William S. Burroughs, Untitled (p. I), circa 1965, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Purchased with funds provided by the Hiro Yamagata Foundation, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Maker
William S. Burroughs
United States, 1914-1997
Maker
Brion Gysin
England, active Morocco and France, 1916-1986
Title
TheThird Mind ('Of Nuclear War Danger')
Date Made
circa 1965
Medium
Collage
Dimensions
14 1/4 x 20 in. (36.2 x 50.8 cm)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds provided by the Hiro Yamagata Foundation
Accession Number
AC1993.56.1-.168
Classification
Manuscripts
Collecting Area
Photography