John Graham: A Memoir

Leonurdo,Vol. 2, pp. 287-293. Pergamon Press 1969. Printed in GreatBritain JOHN GRAHAM:* A MEMOIR Dorothy Dehner** When John Graham died in a London hospital in 1961, I found it hard to believe. So persistent was his vitality, his love of life, so complete his involvement with his many interests, that it seemed he should go on forever. An important segment of my lifehad been filledby his friendshipand the memory of his brilliant, contrary, witty, and sometimes exasperating personality, will always be with me. It is hard to bring into focus all the many things that Grahamwas. His sophistication,his knowledge of the larger outlines as well as the minutiae of endless subjects, the pungent comments and indivi- * Based on the Forewordwhich will appear in System and Dialectics of Art by John Graham to be published by Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, U S A . in 1969with an introductionby MarciaAllentuck. ** Artistlivingat 33 FifthAvenue,New York, N.Y. 10003, U.S.A.(Received25 October1968.) dual perceptions deliveredwith a kind of aristocratic arrogance-all were enlivening. David Smith and I were studying at the Art Students League in New York when we first met Graham and his wife Elinor in 1929. He came into our lives at exactly the right moment. He was a mature artist, and we were still students, whom he characteristically accepted as his peers. He brought the excitement of the French art world to us, a world he knew well from having lived and painted in Paris (cf. Figs. 1 and 2). He told us many things about it, through brief sharp comments onthe scene. What he said was very much to the point and flavored with a caustic humor. He showed us copies of CahierdesArts and other French art publications of which we had been unaware. He knew the painters of that time as well as the writers Eluard, Breton and Gide. New York,N. Y.)(Photo:J. D. Schiff.) 287 288 Dorothy Dehner Fig.2. ‘BlueAbstraction’,oiloncanvas,26 x 36 in., 1931. (ThePhillipsCollection,Washington, D.C.) (Photo: V. Amato.) Here in America art was emerging with a new vitality and Graham had a sure sense of the artists who were to become an important influencein much that was to follow. His faith and his sensitive response to David’s work was of great importance to his development. He encouraged David constantly , and expressed admiration first for his painting and later for hissculpture. He saidfrom the first that David was the best sculptor in America. We were influenced by Graham’s knowledge of art history and of the art of the day. He seemed to have an instinct for quality, whether he was anticipating the development of a young artist or buying a Congolese ivory or a Renaissance mirror. It was at the Graham apartment in the late ’twenties that we saw his marvelous collection of African sculpture,which he spokeof informedlyand handled lovingly. At that time in New York, African sculpture had been exhibited at the Museum of Natural History as an ethnic curiosity; only later, in 1935, was there an exhibit of that work, at the Museum of Modern Art, which presented it as a valuable aesthetic contribution. For two summers in the early ’thirties John, Elinor, and their son David livedin Bolton Landing, New York. During that time we saw a great deal of them, for their old farmhouse was only a mile or two from our own. Graham had painted prolifically then, as evidenced in part by the murals on their dining room walls. No longer in existence-the subsequent owners of the farm promptly papered the walls with buttercups and daisies-most of the murals, done in subdued earth colors, showed scenes of Paris. These were partly abstract, with a good deal of drawing in black and white over dark brownish washes. Another mural depicted a Picassoesque Harlequin, painted in pale shades of tan, pink and blue. Fortunately, other works of the period have survived, for example, the many black ink drawings of his equestrian series, each depicting an armored or otherwise decorated horse, usually standing in profile. In a small area-the paper used was approximately 8 x 10...