Skip Ribbon Commands
Skip to main content
Seattle Art Museum (SAM)
menu

Bird Sensing the Essential Insanities

Bird Sensing the Essential Insanities

1944

Morris Graves

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

Tempera on paper mounted on composition board
26 3/4 x 53 1/4 in. (68 x 135.3 cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
56.47
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryBalboa, 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. 29, 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].

Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, "New Accessions USA", 1956 (1956)

United States Information Agency, "Eight American Artists", organized and shown by the Seattle Art Museum, 1957. Split into two tours, 1957-58. European circuit: Copenhagen; Frankfurt; Berlin; Nuremburg; Munich; Hamburg; Essen; London; York; Bordeaux; Paris; St. Etienne. Asian circuit: Tokyo; Kyoto; Nagoya; Takanatsu; Hiroshima; Fukuoko; Osaka; Sapporo; Sendai; Seoul; Manila (1957 - 1958)

American Federation of Arts, "Private Worlds, 1960-61" Circuit: Schenectady Museum Association, NY; Davison Art Center, Middletown, CN; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; Jacksonville Art Museum, FL; University of Missouri, Columbia; Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, OK; Fort Lauderdale Art Center, FL; Fine Arts Festival, Amherst, MA; Met. Fair and Exposition Authority, Chicago. (1960 - 1961)

Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul Art Center, "Paintings and Drawings by Morris Graves", (2nd Bienniel National Drawing Competition), October 10 - November 3, 1963 (10/10/1963 - 11/03/1963)

Wenatchee, Washington, Wenatchee Valley College, "Northwest Artists", 1965 (1965)

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

Tacoma, Washington, Tacoma Art Museum, "Morris Graves", November 2 - 30, 1971 (11/02/1971 - 11/30/1971)

Seattle Art Museum, Modern Art Pavilion, "Northwest Traditions", June 29-December 10, 1978. Circuit: Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, March 19-April 19, 1979 (06/29/1978 - 04/29/1979)

Olympia, Washington, Governor's Mansion, 1981 (1981)

Osaka, Japan, National Museum of Art, "Pacific Northwest Artists and Japan", October 2 - November 28, 1982 (10/02/1982 - 11/28/1982)

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, "Birds and Beasts", July 14, 1994 - April 9, 1995 (07/14/1994 - 04/09/1995)

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Weird and Whimsical: Northwest Art from the Permanent Collection", January 4, 2001 - October 14, 2001

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

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, "Night Sounds: Nocturnal Visions of Mark Tobey and Morris Graves - A Northwest Summer", May 4, 2006 - October 15, 2006 (5/4/2006 - 10/15/2006)

LaConner, Washington, Museum of Northwest Art, Here and There: Topographic Conversations with Morris Graves, Jan. 9 - Mar. 17, 2016. (Eureka, California, Morris Graves Museum of Art, 2015)* No catalogue. [*Exhibition co-organized with Morris Graves Museum of Art, but SAM works did not travel to this venue]

Published ReferencesThe Art Quarterly, Autumn 1956, p. 311

Kingsbury, Martha and Sarah Clark. "Northwest Traditions." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1978, p. 27

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM