Friday. January 24, I9”

SCARLET AND BLACK

Occult-Characterizes Exhibition

By RICHARD WICHSTROM

The paintings and drawings of Rut
lilanrhom, American painter, John :1.
Graham an exhibit at Schaeiter gallery
through February ii, presents a com-
prehensive sample of the late work of
this important ﬁgure in American art.
He studied law in Russia and emigrated
to the United States in the mid»20's
where, for the first time, he began to
study art. During the 30‘s Graham
painted in a style similar to the post-
Cubistic style at Picasso. Through this
early work, he formed a major link be-
tween the developments in European
and American art.

Blessed with an eye for beauty, he
was a connoisseur of African, Egyptian,
and Italian Renaissance an. Unlike
most American artists, Graham was
able to paint with complete understand-
ing at the European postsCubislic style.
In the mid-30’s he was 8 close friend of
the then unknown artists, Gorky, Pol-
lock, deKnnning, and David Smith,
among others.

In the 40's he discarded his Picasso-
like style, and wmlred along stylistic
lines closely related to the work of UC»
cello and Greek ciassicismr It. is work
from this period which is presented.

This work is consciously prim ive.
The ﬂatly modeled iigures exhibit an
interplay of large, abstract concave and
convex terms and crisp, sweeping line,
which link it tn the 20th Century Per-
haps the most. obvious stylistic trait

is his use a! crossed and distorted eyes
They are ﬁxed in a haunting stare for
the double purpose of anchoring space
to a point in the room and or creating
tension.

It is this tension which forcefully com-
pliments his preoccupation with the
mysticr These wurks are rich in occult
iconography, most of which is far over
my head. For example in Head or a
Woman, 1954 the pupil at the lett eye
is larger than the right. In the sym-
bolism of the occult this is a sign of a
rapid spiritual growth, His many selt.
porti-nits are rich in iconography.
Graham claims that his work was not
intended to be beautiful but to convey
iniorrnation about the occult, recogniz-
able only to a iew.

Art News, October, 1960, in a review
at his works claims, “The ceremony he
believes in, is, like Hundirli’s, relegated
to the vaudeville stage. Far today magic
is disappointing in its triviality and in-
consequentiality." i couldn't disagree
more strongly with this dismissal of
Graham's work and the occult. Explor-
ntion into the unknown order at this
world has been made in the last few
decades in the fine arts, tar example,
the music or John Cage, chance draw~
ings of A11), etc. The Western culture
has been blind too long to this aspect
of “reality,"

1 tind the work or Graham challeng-
ing, stimulating, and haunting in my
opinion it's one of the better exhibitions
presented this year.

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