Woodpeckers

1940

born Fox Valley, Oregon, 1910; died Loleta, California, 2001

"Chinese artists paint the flight instead of the birds only." (Painter Teng Baiye, Mark Tobey’s teacher, Seattle, 1924)

Woodpeckers was one of the first paintings Graves did under the influence of Mark Tobey’s white writing. Graves’ brushwork became gestural, calligraphic. White does not simply describe the colors of the woodpecker; light and animated, the white strokes enliven the scene—they are more visual energy here than they are the physical material of the birds’ plumage. This is not simply a painting of birds. It is a spirited display of woodpeckers at work.

Ink, transparent and opaque watercolor on laid paper

31 x 25 3/4 in.

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

41.49

Provenance: the artist; sold directly to Seattle Art Museum, September 1941

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryIn chronological order:

New York, Museum of Modern Art, Americans 1942: 18 Artists from 9 States, January 21-March 8, 1942. (subsequently traveled from March 1942-March 1943 to Boston, Massachusetts, Institute of Modern Art; Portland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum; Seattle, Seattle Art Museum; San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art; Denver, Denver Art Museum; Toronto, Ontario, Canada, The Art Gallery of Toronto; Saint Louis, Missouri, City Art Museum; Palm Beach, Florida, Society of the Four Arts). No catalogue number, listed p. 125 [as loan from Dr. Richard E. Fuller].

San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Contemporary American Painting, May 16-June 30, 1945. No catalogue.

Utica, New York, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Ten Painters of the Pacific Northwest, tour October 1947-March 1948 (Andover, Massachusetts, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy; Albany, New York, Albany Institute of History and Art; Buffalo, New York, Albright Art Gallery; Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore Art Museum; Utica, New York, Munson-Williams Proctor Institute). Text by Harris K. Prior. Catalogue no, 21.

San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Morris Graves Retrospective Exhibition, May 21-June 29, 1948 (Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, July 4-31, 1948; Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, August 7-September 6, 1948). No catalogue number, checklist p. 13.

San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art, Trio: Paintings by Morris Graves, Mark Tobey, Kenneth Callahan [Western Association of Art Museum Directors Circuit Exhibition], 1950 (Tacoma, Washington, Tacoma Art League, 1950; Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1950; Portland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum, 1950; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, University of British Columbia, 1951; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1951; Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Art Center of Greater Victoria, 1951). No catalogue.

Bloomington, Illinois, Withers Public Library, Northwest Artists, [dates not given], 1951 {No catalogue?}

Seattle, Seattle Art Museum, Survey of the Creative Art of the World, June-September, 1954. No catalogue.

Seattle, Seattle Art Museum, Objects Illustrated in our 1955 Engagement Book, November 11-December, 1954. No catalogue.

San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art, Art in the 20th Century: Commemorating the Tenth Anniversary of the Signing of the UN Charter, June 17-July 10, 1955. {Catalogue p. 13}.

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Morris Graves Retrospective Exhibition, organized by the Art Galleries of the University of California, Los Angeles, February 28-April 8, 1956 (Washington, D.C., The Phillips Gallery, April 15-May 7, 1956; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, May 19-June 30, 1956; Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines Art Center, July 21-August 26, 1956; San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum (no dates given); Los Angeles, California, Art Galleries of the University of California, Los Angeles, November 5-december 2, 1956; La Jolla, California, Art Center, December 10, 1956-January 15, 1957; Seattle, Seattle Art Museum, February 7-March 10, 1957). Text by John I.H. Baur, Duncan Phillips, and Frederick S. Wight. No catalogue number, listed p. 63, reproduced p. 6.

Tokyo, Japan, The Bridgestone Gallery, [Morris Graves] Retrospective Exhibition, June 4-July 8, 1957 {No catalogue}.

New Orleans, Louisiana, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, World of Art in 1910, November 15-December 31,1 1960. No catalogue number, p. 9.

Balboa, California, The Pavilion Gallery, Morris Graves Retrospective, Organized by the Fine Arts Patrons of Newport Harbor, California, and the Newport Harbor Service League, March 1- 31, 1963. Text by Frederick S. Wight. Catalogue. no. 11, n.p., reproduced. [Text adapted from Morris Graves by Frederick S. Wight, et al., published by the University of California Press in book form, and as catalogue for exhibition organized by UCLA Art Galleries, 1956].

Bellingham, Washington, Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Green Gold Harvest: A History of Logging and its Products, September 23, 1969-March 31, 1970. Text by Susan H.L. Barrow and James Allan Evans. No catalogue number, pp. 56, 61, reproduced.

Seattle, Seattle Art Museum Pavilion, Seattle Center, Northwest Traditions, June 29-December 10, 1978 (Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines Art Center, March 19-April 29, 1979). Text by Martha Kingsbury. No catalogue no., p. 103.

Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection, Morris Graves: Vision of the Inner Eye, April 9-May 29, 1983 (Greenville, South Carolina, Greenville County Museum of Art, July 1-August 28, 1983; New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, September 15-November 27, 1983; Oakland, California, The Oakland Museum, January 18-March 25, 1984; Seattle, Seattle Art Museum, April 19-July 8, 1984; San Diego, California, San Diego Museum of Art, July 24-September 4, 1984). Text by Ray Kass and Theodore Wolff. Catalogue no. 27, reproduced [printed sideways].

Seattle, Seattle Art Museum, Birds and Beasts, July 14, 1994-April 9, 1995. No catalogue.

Seattle, seattle Art Museum, Bird Sanctuary, August 17, 1995-February 11, 1996. No catalogue.

Seattle, Seattle Art Museum, Mark Tobey: Smashing Forms and Mark Tobey and Friends, November 16, 2002-April 6, 2003. No catalogue.

Published ReferencesIn chronological order:

Callahan, Margaret. “Summer Exhibition Truly Covers World,” Seattle Times, June 27, 1954: p. 31.

Callahan, Kenneth. “Animals Play Important Role in History of Art,” Seattle Times, December 26, 1954: p. 28.

Callahan, Kenneth. "Graves Retrospective Provides Extensive View of Artist," Seattle Times, March 4, 1956: p. 104.

Phillips, Margery E. “Painting Adds Distinction to Home Décor,” Seattle Times, November 2, 1958: p. 78.

Fabri, Ralph. “Birds in Art,” Today’s Art 18, no. 6 (June 1970): p. 18, reproduced.

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