Lotus

Date1945

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

Label TextSome have seen this luminous lotus flower as Graves’ response to the atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima. The artist was unnerved by the tragic news and determined that he should work to aid the victims. His affinities with the Japanese people had been long lasting and deep—he had once referred to them as “human flowers.” Yet, his references to the lotus were undoubtedly many-layered. In Buddhist religion, the lotus is an object of meditation and enlightenment, which helps to explain the brilliance of the bloom here. This lotus may have been Graves’ intentional change of direction from the dark wartime paintings, an expression of the power of light over the forces of darkness.

Object number2009.52.19

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Exhibition HistorySan Antonio, Texas, Witte Memorial Museum, Morris Graves Exhibition, May 11-June 1, 1969.

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

Dimensions42 1/2 x 24 1/2 in. (108 x 62.2 cm)

MediumTransparent and opaque watercolor on laminated papers