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  Robert
Graham
Robert Graham’s (1938-2008) unique ceramic sculptures and recent drawings are the subject of an exhibition at Frank Lloyd Gallery. Graham, well-known for his monumental bronze sculptures and civic monuments, has previously worked in fired clay. Like many sculptors, his ceramic sculptures convey a direct relationship to his other works, and for Graham the pieces continue his investigation of the female form. Many of these works were exhibited in an important show at the legendary Nicholas Wilder Gallery in 1975. The exhibit continues the gallery’s expanded exhibition program and presents ceramics in an historical context.

Graham’s fluid and gestural recent drawings will also be exhibited with the artist’s ceramic sculpture. His use of melted beeswax mixed with pigment, which is quickly and freely applied with a brush, is reminiscent of Sumi ink paintings. There is a realization of form within the drawings, and an immediacy of touch that reveals the sculptor’s working process and directness.

The spontaneity, tactility and expression of form are observed in both the recent drawings and ceramic works that were created over 33 years ago.

Robert Graham was born in Mexico City in 1938 and studied at San Jose State University (B.A., 1963) and San Francisco Art Institute (M.F.A., 1964). Graham’s work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and over twenty other museums worldwide. Commissioned sculptural installations include The Great Bronze Doors of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, the Charlie Parker Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Duke Ellington Monument in New York City, and the FDR Memorial in Washington DC.



Education

1961-1963     San Jose State College
1963-1964     San Francisco Art Institute

Museum Collections

The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
Dallas Museum of Fine Art, Dallas, Texas
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Frederick Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, California
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Kunstmuseum, Hamburg, Germany
Kunstmuseum, Cologne, Germany
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
Ludwig Museum, Aachen, Germany
Museum of Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, United Kingdom
Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, California
Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, California
Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
Smith College, Northhampton, Massachusetts
Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2014      Early Work: 1969-1974, Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles, California
2011      Early Work, 1963-1973, David Zwirner Gallery, New York
2010      Selected Work, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
             Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, California
2009      Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2008      Ceramic Sculptures 1975 and Drawings 2007-08, Frank Lloyd Gallery,
                    Santa Monica, California
             Robert Graham Sculptures and Drawings, Ace Gallery, Beverly Hills, California
2007      Body of Work, Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles,
                    California
2006      Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, California  
             Tremaine Gallery at the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut
2005      Ace Gallery, Beverly Hills, California  
             Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, California
2004      Riva Yares Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2003      Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, California
2001      Earl McGrath Gallery, New York
1999      Contemporary Art Institute, Sapporo, Japan  
             City of Iwamizawa, Hokkaido, Japan  
             Kemper Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri  
             Frederick Spratt Gallery, San Jose, California
1998      Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, with Frederick Spratt Gallery,
                       San Francisco, California  
             Riva Yares Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico  
             Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, California  
             Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
1997      Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico  
             Galeria OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
1996      Gagosian Gallery, New York  
             Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, with Frederick Spratt Gallery,
                       San Francisco, California  
             Remba Gallery, West Hollywood, California  
             Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1995      Chac-Mool Gallery, Los Angeles, California  
             Mikimoto Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1994      Frederick Spratt Gallery, San Jose, California  
             San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California  
             Gagosian Gallery, New York
1993      Building Arts Gallery, Venice, California  
             FIAC'93, Galerie Neuendorf, Grand-Palais, Paris, France
1992      Robert Miller Gallery, New York  
             48 Market Street Gallery, Venice, California
1991      John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, California
1990      Mixografia Gallery, Los Angeles, California  
             Robert Miller Gallery, New York  
             Galerie Neuendorf, Frankfurt, Germany  
             Galerie Fahnenmann, Berlin, Germany  
             Earl McGrath Gallery, Los Angeles, California  
             48 Market Street Gallery, Venice, California
1989      Robert Miller Gallery, New York
1988      Los Angeles, County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
1985      48 Market Street Gallery, Fragments Exhibition, Venice, California
1984      Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, California  
             ARCO Center for Visual Arts, Los Angeles, California
1982      Norton Gallery and School of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida  
             Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas  
             Joslyn Art Center, Omaha, Nebraska  
             Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa  
             San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California  
             Robert Miller Gallery, New York
1981      Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California  
             Dorothy Rosenthal Gallery, Chicago, Illinois  
             School of Visual Arts, New York  
             Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
1980      Dorothy Rosenthal Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1979      Galerie Neuendorf, Hamburg, Germany  
             Robert Miller Gallery, New York  
             Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York
1978      Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California  
             Robert Miller Gallery, New York  
             Dorothy Rosenthal Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1977      Robert Miller Gallery, New York  
             Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, California  
             John Stoller Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota  
             Dorothy Rosenthal Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1976      Greenberg Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri  
             Galerie Neuendorf, Hamburg/Cologne, Germany  
             Gimpel Fils, London, United Kingdom
1975      Dorothy Rosenthal Gallery, Chicago, Illinois  
             Felicity Samuel Gallery, London, United Kingdom  
             Gimpel & Hanover Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland  
             Gimpel & Hanover Galerie, Basel Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland  
             Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1974      Felicity Samuel Gallery, London, United Kingdom  
             Galerie Zwirner, Cologne, Germany  
             Galerie Neuendorf, Hamburg/Cologne, Germany  
             Gimpel & Hanover Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland  
             Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, California  
             Texas Gallery, Houston, Texas
1972      Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas  
             Galerie Herbert Meyer-Ellinger, Frankfurt, Germany  
             Courtney Sale Gallery, Dallas, Texas
1971      Kunstverein, Hamburg, Germany  
             Sonnabend Gallery, New York
1970      Galerie Mollenhoff, Cologne, Germany  
             Galerie Neuendorf, Hamburg/Cologne, Germany  
             Galerie Rene Block, Berlin, Germany  
             Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom  
1969      Kornblee Gallery, New York  
             Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1968      Galerie Neuendorf, Hamburg/Cologne, Germany  
             Galerie Zwirner, Cologne, Germany  
             Kornblee Gallery, New York
1967      Galerie Thelen, Essen, Germany  
             Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1966      Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1964      Lanyon Gallery, Palo Alto, California