Mouse Helping a Hedgerow Animal Carry a Prie-Dieu

1954

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

Graves was surprised, he revealed, that such strong-willed and independent-minded people, who possessed a keen sense still of their own rich cultural mythology, should
be dominated by Roman Catholicism. Here a large hedgerow animal, representing the spirit of Ireland, carries on its back a prayer desk, and is led by the tail by a much smaller mouse, a metaphor for Rome.

Ink on paper

10 1/8 x 35 3/8 in. (25.7 x 89.9 cm)

Frame: 17 5/8 x 42 3/4 x 1 1/4 in. (44.8 x 108.6 x 3.2 cm)

Gift of the Marshall and Helen Hatch Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

2009.52.100

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

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", 1983 - 1984

Seattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, "Northwest Impressions, Works on Paper", September 2 - November 2, 1986

Eugene, Oregon, University of Oregon Museum of Art, "The Creative Arena: Morris Graves' Studies", January 6 - February 24, 1991

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.

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