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Spring with Machine Age Noise

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Spring with Machine Age Noise

1957

Morris Graves

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

"The idea of the paintings was that since the beginning of man’s history he has lived in nature with only an infinitesimal amount of his own discordance marring the scene, but suddenly in our time man has been able to change these proportions grotesquely and tragically. There is a strip at the bottom of some of the paintings with a little indication of the movement of spring, but the rest of the painting is given over to noise—discordance— nature violated—aggressive machine noise." (Morris Graves, 1972)


Sumi ink on Chinese paper
Sheet: 26 1/2 × 52 1/2 in. (67.3 × 133.4 cm)
Mount: 28 3/4 × 54 3/4 in. (73 × 139.1 cm)
Gift of Morris Graves and the Willard Gallery
59.167
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryBremen, Germany, Kunsthalle Bremen, "Sounds of the Inner Eye: Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, John Cage" January 15, 2002 - October 6, 2002 (1/15/2002 - 10/6/2002)

Renton, Washington, Renton Creative Arts Festival, "Invitational Exhibition", 1967 (1967)

New York, New York, Willard Gallery, "Graves: Spring with Machine Age Noise: Ant War", Dec. 1-31, 1959. (12/01/1959 - 12/31/1959)

Seattle, Washington, University of Washington Henry Art Gallery, "Invitational Exhibition", 1960 (1960)

New Orleans, Louisiana, the Isaac Delgado Museum, "The World of Art in 1910", November 15 - December 31, 1960 (11/15/1960 - 12/31/1960)

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. Cat. no. 49, 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].

Eugene, Oregon, University of Oregon Museum of Art, "Morris Graves: A Retrospective", February 8-March 13, 1966 (02/08/1966 - 03/13/1966)

Walla Walla, Washington, Olin Gallery, Whitman College, "George Tsutakawa & Morris Graves: Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture", November 5-26, 1978. (11/05/1978 - 11/26/1978)

Boston, Massachusetts, Institute of Contemporary Art, "Northwest Visionaries: Mark Tobey, Kenneth Callahan, Morris Graves, Leo Kenney", July 7-September 6, 1981 (07/07/1981 - 09/06/1981)

Mt. Vernon, Washington, Skagit Valley College, 1965 (1965)
Published ReferencesKangas, Matthew, "Return to the Viewer: Selected Art Reviews", Midmarch Arts Press, 2011, pg. 56

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