Untitled
1954
oil
paper
From the collection of Museum of Modern Art
1954
oil
paper
From the collection of Museum of Modern Art
Dominant colour
Untitled is a 1954 oil by John Graham, held at Museum of Modern Art.
This painting shows a person with a pale face and big, dark eyes. Their hair is wild and messy, with feathers mixed in—some look like a peacock’s, others like a bird’s tail. Perched on top is a white swan with a red beak, staring off to the side. The background is dark, but you can see part of a white column and some writing on a scroll. The feathers and swan feel strange and dreamlike, like they don’t belong in a normal portrait. The artist used lots of different materials—pencil, paint, even ink—to make it look layered and textured. Check out impasto next to see how thick paint can create a whole new effect.
John D. Graham (8 January 1887 , Kyiv, Ukraine – June 27, 1961, London, England) was a Ukrainian–born American modernist and figurative painter, art collector, and a mentor of modernist artists in New York City. Born…
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