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Morris Graves | paintings and drawings We are pleased to present a major selection of paintings and drawings by Northwest Master, Morris Graves. The Torn Cup, 1943, illustrated below, is an important work exploring the subject of metamorphosis that Graves made so much a part of his imagery. In this painting, a chalice shape seems to be changing into a bird right before our eyes. The two images seem wedded to each other yet frozen in a transitional moment of distinction from one another. A small, broken eggshell is rendered within the transformation of bird to cup or cup to bird. The web-like skeining that occurs in this painting was a convention that Graves and Mark Tobey shared during this time period. We are also pleased to offer Joyous Young Pine, also from 1943, a much larger work with a bright color palette. In this piece we see one of Graves' most classic motifs, the vertical pine tree, vibrant and resplendent in its pastel colors. Although Graves made several versions of these pine trees with various emotional and temporal attributes, this work is very different from the many more somber pieces using this imagery. It is also unusual for its brilliant color and large scale. Along with these two major works, we present a selection of smaller pencil drawings and studies to complete the exhibition. Many of these works come from collectors associated with Willard Gallery in New York. Others come from close friends and associates of Graves. - Greg Kucera Available Work A major work that explicitly shows the metamorphosis that Graves made so much a part of his imagery. In this painting, a chalice shape seems to be transforming into a bird right before our eyes. The two images seem wedded to each other but in that moment of distinguishing themselves from each other. A small broken eggshell is rendered within the transformation of bird to cup or cup to bird. The web-like skeining that occurs in this painting was a convention that Graves and Mark Tobey shared during this time period.
This fantastic creature with its wizened head turned warily over its shoulder, seems imprisoned in a skeining of painted white lines similar in many ways to Mark Tobey’s “White Writing.” Notice that the anatomy of the animal is as unlikely as its identity is unknown. Perhaps this unfortunate beast is locked inside a crystalline shell or ensnared in an immobilizing web, restricting its freedom and causing its distress. The theme of fear at confinement is often found in Graves’ work of this period, perhaps as a result of his incarceration for eleven months as he refused induction to the armed forces during 1942.
This collection of nine separate small sketches and shading marks - each signed and dated - wittily conveys Graves' disdain for the cultish regard held for artists. He did what he could to distance himself from the self-aggrandizement practiced by so many of his less modest peers. In the bottom margin of a 1942 painting of a pathetic bird crucified to a rock, Graves wrote a note to Dorothy Miller, curator of Modern Art at the Museum of Modern Art, saying, "I do not expect a reply on the above remark on fame. Perhaps it's a crying fault to take oneself so gravely." He struggled with his growing stature as an influential and important artist. The irony of signing this drawing so many times is that he effectively trivializes his signature while poking fun at the idea of an artist's self-absorbed importance.
Studies for early oil paintings, the harp relates in form and function to many of the bird images
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Morris Graves (American, 1910-2001) is one of America's most esteemed artists. A native of the Pacific Northwest, he is best known for his paintings which reflect his journeys into the realms of spiritual and transcendental consciousness and for those symbolic representations of his mystical beliefs.. His first word was "See." He lived life privately, sharing his visions. From his Pacific Northwest childhood, early travels to the Orient, homes in the Pacific Northwest and Ireland and finally among the hills of Northern California, Morris Graves pursued a dedication to expressing his aesthetic vision in his paintings, his homes, and his gardens.