Message

1943

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

“The cautious rejoining of some threads of private life is my great privilege, beginning yesterday.” With this, Graves telegraphed his dealer and close friend Marian Willard that he was heading home to Fidalgo Island, released at last from an army stockade.
“That you are at liberty to work again is most certainly a great privilege achieved through your own fortitude,” Willard answered.

Graves painted Message for Willard to mark that exchange. In it, a bird that had been “trudging in passivity and darkness,” as Graves explained, reenters the daylight courageously, if calloused, bearing spurs now on its legs, wings, and head. It strides forward, toward a radiant light—what the artist described as “divine self-realization.”

Ink and opaque watercolor on paper

27 1/2 x 53 in. (69.8 x 134.6 cm)

Overall w.: 59 in.

Gift of Marian Willard Johnson in honor of the museum's 50th year

83.209

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Morris Graves and Seattle", November 1, 2001 - October 20, 2002

Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection, "Morris Graves: Vision of the Inner Eye", April 9 – May 29, 1983. Circuit: Greenville County Museum of Art, South Carolina, 7/1-8/28/83; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, 9/15-11/27/83; The Oakland Museum, California, 1/18-3/25/84; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 4/19-7/8/84; San Diego Museum of Art, California, 7/24-9/4/84 (04/09/1983 - 09/04/1984)

Published References"Selected Works." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1991, p. 118

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