Oh, Where are the Bright Birds?

1944

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

Graves once revealed that this painting represented the death of the artist. It is emblematic of what must have been Graves’ complete embitterment. A multi-headed bird here is all confusion—one head emerges from its tail, another is clutched in the bird’s own talons in a parody of self-willed destruction.

One head has succumbed, and the remaining several heads are all seeking direction.
Caught between two opposing but equally devastating forces, the bird in this moment must decide which way of death to choose, before one or the other pulls it into the destructive vortex.

Charcoal, ink, and transparent and opaque watercolor on Japanese paper mounted on linen

24 5/8 x 49 1/8 in. (62.5 x 124.8 cm)

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

2009.52.17

Provenance: Howard Graff, Townsend, Massachusetts; [Skinner, Inc. Bolton, Massachusetts, sale 1399, September 6, 1991, lot 327]; sold to Marshall and Helen Hatch, Seattle

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryThe Drawings of Morris Graves, Sept. 21, 1973 - Sept. 12, 1975.

Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection, Morris Graves: Vision of the Inner Eye, Apr. 9 - May 5, 1983.

Tacoma, Washington, Tacoma Art Museum, Northwest Mythologies: The Interactions of Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Kenneth Callahan, and Guy Anderson, May 3 - Aug. 10, 2003.

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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