Robert Indiana kept a series of illustrated journals during the late 1950s and 1960s, in which he discusses the development of his work as well as his daily life on Coenties Slip.

Indiana's journal entry for May 14, 1961, includes a sketch of Le Premier Homme, with a note that two colors were added to the painting. Indiana also describes his other activities that day, which included sunning on the roof with J. (his partner, fashion designer John Kloss). He records leaving early to meet up with a friend, Dan, and then meeting Lenore Tawney and Steve and Barbara Durkee across the way. After a light dinner they went to see Studio for Dance's performance of Pictures in Our House, which Indiana describes as "Paul [Sanasardo] and Donya’s [Feuer] romp with the children, putting their parents to quite a test I should think."