Often called the four musketeers, John Graham, Stuart Davis, Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning were more like the art world's Rat Pack of their day. Unlike Sinatra, who was the leader because he was the best, Graham was the leader because he could pick the best.
He was constantly changing and trying to develop his own style but seemed to mostly just assimilate the style of the artist he happened to be near. He did, however, creatively influence the artists around him with suggestions and support. He influenced David Smith, who called himself a painter, to try sculpting and the exceptional results are shown in this exhibit.
The start of the exhibit shows a series of portraits of Graham and by Graham. The only Calder in the exhibit is a single wire sculpture of Graham hanging from the ceiling. A spotlight is cast on it and, more from the shadow than from looking up at the sculpture, one can see the likeness of Graham.
The Amon Carter exhibit is carefully put together, showing Graham and his cohort's paintings side by side according to like subject matters. It also places in a time frame Graham's progression of bringing into prominence the modern styles of cubism and surrealism that were evolving in that time.
Graham became intercessor between the European avant-garde and the budding American art scene, culminating in the exhibition French and American Painters that he put together in New York in 1942, which showed works by artists such as Picasso, Braque and Matisse, alongside Pollock, de Kooning, Krasner and Davis among others. It only was de Kooning's second show and Pollock's first. Graham actually discovered Pollock, de Kooning declared in an interview.
There is so much more to the story. Questions come to mind of why would Graham suddenly embrace realism, focusing only on portraits of women? And only four years after his successful show in New York admonish Picasso, whom he once called a friend, as a charlatan. No one knows why - it may have seemed that Picasso became such a sell-out to his popularity that Graham felt his artwork suffered - or Picasso may have seduced Graham's wife, whom he was divorcing at the time. Both are possibilities due to Picasso's reputation.
So intrigue is added to art, and thinking of Graham and his cronies as an artistic Rat Pack more than Musketeers seems applicable.
Whatever the case, the exhibit is both thrilling and extensive, showing more than 60 works together, and so well thought out one can practically see the musketeers as they progress through that pivotal time.
