Dove of the Inner Eye
Date1941
Maker
Morris Graves
American, born Fox Valley, Oregon, 1910; died Loleta, California, 2001
Label TextIn a visceral image of utter hopelessness, a dove, the emblematic bird of peace, sees the promising light of day reaching into its subterranean hideout and is drawn to it. The bird is unaware, however, that a treacherous snake lurks close by in its refuge and is poised to strike.
Object number2005.168
ProvenanceThe artist; sold to Alfred Barr (1902-1981), New York, 1942; by bequest to his daughter, Victoria Barr, New York, 1981-1983 ; sold to Marshall and Helen Hatch, Seattle, Washington, 1983
Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann
Exhibition History{Arts Club Show, 1943}
New York, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Morris Graves Retrospective Exhbition [organized by the Art Galleries of the University of California, Los Angeles], Feb. 28 - Apr. 8, 1956 (Washington, D.C., The Phillips Gallery [The Phillips Collection], Apr. 15 - May 7, 1956; Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, May 19 - June 30, 1956; Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines Art Center, July 21 - Aug. 26, 1956; San Francisco, California, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum [no dates given]; Los Angeles, California, Art Galleries of the University of California, Los Angeles, Nov. 5 - Dec. 2, 1956; La Jolla, California, Art Center, Dec. 10, 1956 - Jan. 15, 1957; Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Feb. 7 - Mar. 10, 1957). Text by Frederick S. Wight, John I. H. Baur, and Duncan Phillips. No cat. no., p. 17, reproduced [as loan from Private Collection].
Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection, Morris Graves: Vision of the Inner Eye , Apr. 9 - May 29, 1983 (Greenville, South Carolina, Greenville County Museum of Art, July 1 - Aug. 28, 1983; New York, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Sept. 15 - Nov. 27, 1983; Oakland, California, The Oakland Museum, Jan. 18 - Mar. 25, 1984; Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Apr. 19 - July 8, 1984; San Diego, California, San Diego Museum of Art, July 24 - Sept. 4, 1984). Text by Rass Kass, et al. Cat. no. 29, reproduced [lent by Victoria Barr].
Carcassone, France, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Carcassone, Seattle Style, traveled June - Aug. 1987 (Perpignan, France, Musée Hyacinthe-Rigaud; Pau, France, Musée des Beaux-Arts; Albi, France, Musée Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec; Dunkirk, France, Musée d'Art Contemporain). Not in catalogue.
Tacoma, Washington, Tacoma Art Museum, 100 Years of Washington Art: New Perspectives, Nov. 24, 1989 - Feb. 11, 1990. No catalogue no., p. 11, not reproduced.
Seattle, Seattle Art Museum, Modernism in the Pacific Northwest; the Mythic and the Mystical, June 19-Sept. 7, 2014. Text by Patricia Junker. No cat. no., pp. 21, 54, reproduced pp. 22-23, pl. 10.Credit LineGift of the Marshall and Helen Hatch Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
Dimensions20 5/8 x 35 3/4 in.
MediumOpaque watercolor on oiled paper
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