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John Graham , (Jan 9, 1887–Jun 27, 1961)

Mascara

1950
23 7/8 in. x 19 5/8 in. (60.64 cm x 49.85 cm)

Medium and Support: Oil on canvas

Credit Line: Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen

Accession Number: 2010.104

Commentary

Russian-born John Graham arrived in New York, via Paris, in 1920 and quickly became the influential central figure in a circle of emerging artists that included Stuart Davis, Arshile Gorky, David Smith, Jan Multulka, Willem de Kooning, and even the very young Jackson Pollock. While serving as the conduit for avant-garde European and French ideas and art theory for fellow artists and friends, Graham toiled at his own art-making, first exploring figuration in the twenties and then moving to abstraction in the thirties. In the mid-1940s he was to disavow abstraction and begin painting enigmatic, surrealist portraits and figure compositions. His painting, Mascara, of 1950, frames a portrait bust of a woman with a blue aura, her blue-black curly hair gathered in knobs and cascading down her back creating a contrast to her creamy-white face, neck, and bare shoulders. A narrow black mask, held to her face with no discernible ties, frames wide -opened eyes that peer in a slight sidewise glance. Graham’s title, Mascara, suggests that the black framing of her eyes is no dime-store costume piece but rather the cosmetic product she has applied that veils her face and obscures her identity.

Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Addison Gallery of American Art: 65 Years Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/13/1996 - 7/31/1996
Foundations: Building the Addison Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/12/2001 - 4/1/2001
80 @ 80 Addison Gallery of American Art , 10/15/2011 - 12/31/2011
Open Windows: Keltie Ferris, Jackie Saccoccio, Billy Sullivan, and Alexi Worth Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/14/2012 - 4/8/2012
Eye on the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/19/2013 - 3/10/2013
One Thing Leads to Another…Selections from the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/30/2016 - 3/20/2016
John Graham: Maverick Modernist The Parrish Art Museum , 5/7/2017 - 7/23/2017
The Body: Concealing and Revealing Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/1/2018 - 3/31/2019
Learning to Look: The Addison at 90 Addison Gallery of American Art , 5/8/2021 - 2/6/2022

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