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John Graham: A Mentor of Modernism

October 3–December 3, 2024

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Self Portrait, 1923
Oil on canvas
20.25 x 15 in.

John D. Graham

John D. Graham
Madame Sijou (Portrait of a Woman), 1943
Oil on canvas
24.4 x 20 in.

David Smith (1906–1965)

David Smith (1906–1965)
Untitled (Woman with Red Necklace), c. 1934
Oil on canvas
24.4 x 35.4 in.
62 x 90 cm
Estate of David Smith, New York

 

Art by David Smith © 2024 The Estate of David Smith / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994)

Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994)
Virgin Island Still Life, 1932
Oil on canvas
18 x 14 in.
Collection of the Art Students League, New York

Arshile Gorky (1904–1948)

Arshile Gorky (1904–1948)
Mother and Child, c. 1935–1941
Oil on canvas
47 x 36 in.
119.4 x 91.4 cm
 

Art by Arshile Gorky © 2024 The Arshile Gorky Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Adolph Gottlieb (1903–1974)

Adolph Gottlieb (1903–1974)
Mood Indigo, 1946
Gouache, watercolor and pencil on paper
25.5 x 19.5 in.
64.8 x 49.5 cm

 

Art by Adolph Gottlieb © 2024 Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Willem de Kooning (1904–1997)

Willem de Kooning (1904–1997)
Untitled (Self-Portrait as Mariner), c. 1941
Tempera on board
21.5 x 14.5 in.
54.6 x 36.8 cm

 

Art by Willem de Kooning © 2024 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Portrait of a Woman, c. 1926
Black crayon on paper
22.75 x 18.25 in.

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Double Sided Drawing (Recto: Warrior on Horseback; Verso: Warrior on Horseback), 1932
Black ink and gouache on paper
9 x 12 in.
22.9 x 30.5 cm

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Portrait of Jo Cain, 1940
Pencil on paper
16.5 x 13 in.
41.9 x 33 cm

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Studies: Bird and Self-Portrait, 1941
Pencil and crayon on paper
14 x 10 in.
35.6 x 25.4 cm

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Place Observatoire (Fontaine des Quartre Parties du Monde), 1927
Oil on canvas
21.25 x 28.75 in.
54 x 73 cm

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Abstract Still Life with Bird, 1935
Oil on canvas
15 x 21.75 in.
38.1 x 55.2 cm

Arshile Gorky (1904–1948)

Arshile Gorky (1904–1948)
Untitled Abstractions (Double sided drawings), 1946
Pencil on paper
12.75 x 17 in.
32.4 x 43.2 cm

 

Art by Arshile Gorky © 2024 The Arshile Gorky Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Arshile Gorky (1904–1948)

Arshile Gorky (1904–1948)
Enigma (Composition of Forms on Table), 1928–1929
Oil on canvas
33 x 44 in.
 

Art by Arshile Gorky © 2024 The Arshile Gorky Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Arshile Gorky (1904–1948)

Arshile Gorky (1904–1948)
Double-Sided Drawing: Portraits of Elinor Graham, 1932
Charcoal on paper
18.5 x 13 in.
47 x 33 cm
 

Art by Arshile Gorky © 2024 The Arshile Gorky Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Angel in Dodecahedron, 1959
Oil on canvas
30 x 24 in.

Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994)

Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994)
People and Buildings #11, 1949
Watercolor and ink on paper
18 x 22.75 in.
45.7 x 57.8 cm

Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994)

Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994)
Untiled #61-A, 1952
Watercolor and ink on paper
20.5 x 15.75 in.
52 x 40

Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994)

Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994)
Sand Blow #69, 1951
Watercolor and ink on paper
15.75 x 20.5 in.
40 x 57 cm

Jackson Pollock (1912–1956)

Jackson Pollock (1912–1956)
Untitled, 1951
Brush and Ink on Howell Paper
18 x 22 in.
45.7 x 55.9 cm

 

Art by Jackson Pollock © 2024 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Stuart Davis (1892–1964)

Stuart Davis (1892–1964)
Cubist Study: Airview, 1916
Oil on canvas
30.25 x 24.25 in.
76.8 x 61.6 cm

 

Art by Stuart Davis © 2024  Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Stuart Davis (1892–1964)

Stuart Davis (1892–1964)
Untitled Drawing, 1921
Ink and pencil on paper
23 x 18.25 in.
58.4 x 46.35 cm

 

Art by Stuart Davis © 2024  Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Stuart Davis (1892–1964)

Stuart Davis (1892–1964)
Untitled Watercolor, 1921
Watercolor and pencil on paper
22.75. x 17 in.
57.8 x 43.2 cm

 

Art by Stuart Davis © 2024  Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Stuart Davis (1892–1964)

Stuart Davis (1892–1964)
Presentation Drawing for Pennsylvania (Sheet From Sketchbook #23), c. 1947
Mixed media on paper
16.5 x 13.75 in.
42 x 35 cm

 

Art by Stuart Davis © 2024  Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Adolph Gottlieb (1903–1974)

Adolph Gottlieb (1903–1974)
Untitled, 1949
Pastel on paper
24 x 18 in.
61 x 45.8 cm

 

Art by Adolph Gottlieb © 2024 Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Untitled (Pink Acrobat), 1927
Oil on canvas
22 x 14 in.
55.9 x 35.6 cm

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Frontispiece for a Book on Modern Art, 1934
Colored crayons, pen and ink on paper in artist's frame
11.25 x 8 in.
28.6 x 20.3 cm

Richard Pousette-Dart (1916–1992)

Richard Pousette-Dart (1916–1992)
Woman with Bird, 1937-39
Oil on linen
20 x 14 in.
50.8 x 35.6 cm
Collection of the Richard Pousette-Dart Foundation, New York

 

Art by Pousette-Dart © 2024 Estate of Richard Pousette-Dart / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
The Horseman (Warrior on Horseback), c. 1942
Oil on canvas
24 x 20 in.

Stuart Davis (1892–1964)

Stuart Davis (1892–1964)
Backyard Staircases, 1917
Pencil on paper
18.9 x 14.9 in.
48 x 37.8 cm

 

Art by Stuart Davis © 2024  Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Two Portraits of Jo Cain, 1940
Ink and pencil on paper
4.88 x 2.94 in.; 8 x 4.75 in.

John D. Graham (1881–1961)

John D. Graham (1881–1961)
Study for "Sum Qui Sum (I Am Who I Am)", 1944
Graphite on vellum
20 x 15.75 in.
50.8 x 40 cm

Press Release

Rosenberg & Co. is pleased to present John Graham: A Mentor of Modernism, a group exhibition showing the momentous impact of artist, writer, and curator, John Graham. Bringing together works from eight lauded modern artists within Graham's circle, the exhibition illustrates the critical role that Graham played in New York’s modernist scene and his remarkable influence on foundational Abstract Expressionists.
 

Born Ivan Gratianovitch Dombrowsky in Kiev, Ukraine, the young artist emigrated to the United States in 1920. Settling in New York, Graham anglicized his name and began his formal art training at the Art Students League, studying under John Sloan. During his time at the League, Graham explored a variety of modern styles in his work ranging from Post-Impressionism to Synthetic Cubism. Outside of his personal artistic output, Graham became a renowned art critic and writer, known for articulating the revolutionary potential of abstraction. Graham traveled to Paris frequently, and brought back a new, deep knowledge of modernism to his New York art circles, ultimately establishing himself as an emissary of contemporary European art.
 

In 1937, Graham authored System and Dialectics in Art, a treatise on modernism and the avant-garde that employed the Socratic method to explore themes of the primitive subconscious. The book became influential among young artists such as Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. Throughout the 1930’s and 40’s, Graham counted Stuart Davis, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, David Smith, and Dorothy Dehner among his friends and admirers. Featured together in this exhibition, alongside Graham’s own art, works by these artists interact symbiotically through their shared references, such as Jungian themes of birds and masks, the metaphysical influences of Giorgio de Chirico, and the automatist practices borrowed from the surrealists, soon after adopted by the Abstract Expressionists.
 

Graham’s influence on these artists is perhaps best summarized by Dehner’s foreword to the 1971 edition of System and Dialectics of Art, “[Graham] brought the excitement of the French art world to us, a world he knew well from having lived and painted in Paris. ... What he said was very much to the point, profound, flavored with caustic humor. He showed us copies of Cahiers d'Art and other French art publications of which we had been unaware. He knew the painters of that time as well as the writers Éluard, Breton, and Gide.”

Artists included: Stuart Davis, Dorothy Dehner, John Graham, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Richard Pousette-Dart, and David Smith.

 

This exhibition would not have been possible without the support of the foundations and estates of the artists included in the show. We would like to thank the following galleries, collections, and foundations for lending their works and making this exhibition possible: The Estate of Richard Pousette-Dart, New York; Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York; Forum Gallery, New York; The Art Students League, New York; The Estate of David Smith, New York.

 

The exhibition is accompanied by an eponymous catalogue featuring an essay by Jillian Russo. Learn more here.