Arty Farty Friday ~ Morris Graves - Idiosyncratic Visionary

Morris Graves - an artist of mystical bent whose name isn't well-known, except perhaps among art experts and local people. He has been described variously as idiosyncratic, visionary, mystical, introspective, intensely private, student of Zen Buddhism and Vedantic philosophies, spiritual and sylistic...and most eccentric of the "Northwest Mystics" - artists of the Northwest School in the USA..."going about life in an interesting, just out-of-societal-bounds manner".

He was born on 28 August 1910 in Fox Valley, Oregon, died in May 2001. He was a sickly and moody child, often ill with recurring pneumonia. His family moved to Seattle during his second year.

He dropped out of High School, but returned to his studies in Beaumont, Texas while staying with his aunt and uncle there. He eventually grew to a height of six-foot six. Some sea-going adventures as a cadet or a stow-away followed, accompanied by his brother or a friend, including voyages to Japan, where he found inspiration.

 Hat-tip to Seattle Art Museum.org

Morris Graves' name first became known in 1933, after winning the Seattle Art Museum's (SAM) Northwest Annual Exhibition. The winning painting, a symbolic self-portrait: "Moor Swan" (see right).

Further adventures followed, including working for the WPA, meeting (and falling out with), artist Mark Tobey, World War II, where despite registering as a conscientious objector he had to spend a brief time in the army.

Graves' paintings at this time featured birds. For him, consciousness assumed the form of a bird, or of a chalice. The birds he depicted were blind, wounded, maddened or immobilized, with large eyes and beaks. Graves's wounded birds proved to be popular in America, now embroiled in the war - as well as relevant to the artist's emotional state.

He lived alone in his self-built home, "The Rock", on an isolated promontory. Graves' paintings became more universally known and appreciated when first exhibited at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1942. MoMA bought 11 of his paintings for their permanent collection, even though Graves was, at that point, virtually unknown. 34 of his paintings were bought by art collectors. Morris Graves had "made it!"

He was, for a time, the "in thing" for East Coast art and intellectual society. Success and appreciation of his style continued until Pop-Art came along - people, as is their habit, flocked to see "something completely different".

Once financially secure Graves was able to allocate a good proportion of his funds to providing inspirational surroundings. After The Rock, he built, or caused to be built, two other homes in Western Washington and California, both reported to be extraordinarily beautiful creations. He also owned a country estate in Ireland. There's a description and photos of one of his homes at website of Iona Miller,but you need to scroll down a way for relevant piece.

For more, and interesting, detail on Morris Graves, there's a long essay, a very good read, at HistoryLink.org. The essay, from 2003 is by Deloris Tarzan Ament.

HistoryLink.org Essay 5205

PAINTINGS

Some titles can offer a clue to understanding the paintings, but sadly not every website bothers to include titles. I've found as many as possible. One or two were designated "untitled" by the artist.

Please click on images for bigger or clearer versions

 Time of Change

 Conflict Battling Crane Heads with Chinese Ceremonial Bronze

We are told by a biographer that the birds at each other’s necks, imagined as a ceremonial vessel, was representative of the artist’s inner conflict and inability to finish a voyage to Japan.

 Chalice

 Hibernation

 Memorial Day, Abandoned Western Mining Town

 Young Pine Forest in Bloom

 Bird Maddened by the Length of Winter

The above is considered to be one of Graves' anti-war works, painted in 1944 as World War II raged.
"Look at `Bird Maddened,' Daniel DuBois (who published a book of Graves' works) says, "and you see the almost camouflaged central image of a very fragile bird looking back over its shoulder while just barely hanging on by the points of its claws to a rock in an environment, which is extremely hostile. Without a doubt, this reflects Graves' sense of the fragility of life in war.

 Bird Maddened by the Sound of Machinery in the Air

 Bird of the Spirit

 Bird with Possessions

 Bird, Snake and Moon

 Snake and Moon

 Sanderlings

 untitled

I find the painting above scary, or at least unsettling, for some reason.

There's a slideshow of more paintings HERE. More paintings at Humboldt Arts too.



ASTROLOGY

Chart set for 12 noon, no time of birth is available.
Born on 28 August 1910 in Fox Valley, Oregon.

Seattle Art Museum has an interesting page on Graves, it includes several quotes from books mentioning the artist and how he was perceived, personally, by others. Example below:

He comes from the Pacific Northwest; an exceedingly tall thin figure, with large transfixed, rather alarmed eyes. . . He is shy and self aware to a degree, aloof yet (you suspect) ruthless in his self-determination. . . . In short he is very birdlike: receding, private, mobile, and migratory. . . He has the willful steely quality of a bird—its fierce capacity to survive.
—Frederick S. Wight, Director of the Art Galleries, University of California, on meeting Morris Graves, 1956

An Earthy harmonious trine between Sun in Virgo and Saturn in Taurus = a meticulous, demanding and determined character with a reasonably good business sense.

Neptune (mysticism, creativity) opposite Uranus (the unexpected, innovation, eccentricities) is a generational opposition affecting many. Skyscript adds:

"...most noticeable in charts where it contacts the angles or Sun or Moon. Uranus fosters change and innovative breakthroughs. Neptune relates to mass consciousness. When these planets are in contact with each other, collective ideals will be shaken and disturbed in order to allow new modes of thought and collective expression to emerge."

Because we have no time of birth it's not possible to accurately place the opposition in Graves' chart.
Uranus also trines Mars and Saturn, so those aspects would tend to draw the opposition into a more personal significance. Each end of the opposition also forms square aspects to Jupiter, creating a T-square.

Venus (the arts) in Leo is in helpful sextile to Jupiter (religion, beliefs, travel) - that's a good fit. He was an enthusiastic traveller, always gathering inspiration for his art.

Moon conjunct Pluto? Maybe. We don't know correct Moon position without time of birth, but it was likely to have been in communicative Gemini. He was a solitary type, not given to social butterfly antics, but he satisfied urges to communicate using a paintbrush.

Any more?

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