Inner Eye Eagle with Chalice
1941
Morris Graves
born Fox Valley, Oregon, 1910; died Loleta, California, 2001
It is possible that the allusion here is to St. John the Evangelist, in the form of an eagle, who according to legend, when offered a chalice of poisoned wine, blessed it and thereby raised its deadly contents in the form of a snake. The tension in Graves’ image comes from the anticipation of the eagle’s action—will the evil be revealed?
"I paint to evolve a changing language of symbols, a language with which to remark upon the qualities of our mysterious capacities . . ." (Morris Graves, 1942)
Opaque watercolor on architectural tracing paper
15 1/2 × 21 in. (39.4 × 53.3cm)
Gift of the Marshall and Helen Hatch Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
2009.52.15
Provenance: Mrs. Elizabeth Bayley Willis (1902-2003), Bainbridge Island, Washington by 1966-?; Marshall and Helen Hatch, Seattle, Washington
Photo: Elizabeth Mann