| Peter Graham | |
|---|---|
Peter Graham, Sydney, 1953 |
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| Born | 4 June 1925 Melbourne, Australia |
| Died | 15 April 1987 Melbourne, Australia |
Peter Benjamin Graham (4 June 1925 – 15 April 1987), was an Australian visual artist, a master craftsman in a variety of printing techniques, and an art theorist. Peter saw no contradiction between abstract and figurative art. He just used them as alternative methods of exploring a subject.
In 1954, Graham began to explore native Australian wildlife (notably Kangaroos) and themes associated with Aboriginal culture, using the visual languages of European figurative Modernism and later geometric abstraction.
He began developing a new form of visual geometry related to Chaos Theory from 1960, eventually called Thematic Orchestration. This new visual language enabled the 2D deconstruction and synthesis of an observed subject, in a way fundamentally different from traditional abstraction. Thematic Orchestration allows the artist to 'grow' an image, producing almost infinite conscious invention.
In 1964 Graham began developing the world's first high level visual notation system for pure visual imagery, which he first called Notation Painting and later New Epoch Art. This notation system enabled the composition of animated visual images in any physical media, and separated the act of composition from the act of painting itself. In effect it does for painting what writing does for the spoken word and thought, and what staff notation does for music. Peter worked on the New Epoch Project until his death in 1987, when it was continued by his sons Philip Mitchell Graham and Euan Benjamin Graham.
Graham became a pioneer of the Australian artist run initiative movement, running The Queensberry Street Gallery in association with Victorian Printmakers' Group from 1973 until 1978.
In 2006 Peter Graham's 1945 painting Peter Lalor Addressing the Miners Before Eureka featured in a major Australian travelling exhibition celebrating the 150 anniversary of the Eureka Stockade This painting is also featured in Riot or Revolution,[1] a dramatised history documentary on the Eureka Stockade directed by Don Parham[2] and produced by Parham Media Productions in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2005.
Peter Graham was born 4 June 1925 and raised in the Melbourne suburb of Hartwell. He was awarded scholarship to Melbourne Technical College Art School for one year in 1939. He studied Hand Lithography with Ross McClintock Studios (Colour separation from artists' originals, drawn as lithographic plates - 24 sheet positives, etc.) between 1940 and 1941. Peter transferred his indenture to PhotoGravures Pty Ltd. in 1941. There he was trained by master craftsmen in facsimile reproduction and pre-press Rotogravure techniques during war years. He received his Certificate of Completion of apprenticeship in 1946.
Between 1941 and 1946 Peter studied fine art with Victor Greenhalgh and John Rowell in night classes at Melbourne Technical College- figure and portraiture.
In 1945 Peter Graham joined the Victorian Artists Society, and exhibited his first painting in the Australia at War Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. At the same time he began his association with the Melbourne Social Realism group that included: Noel Counihan, Josl Berger,[3] Victor O'Connor, Ma Mahood, Herbert McClintock, Rembrandt McClintock, Frank Andrew, and Nutta Buzzacott. He exhibited regularly at the Victorian Artists Society until 1947.
In 1946 he was awarded the Ferntree Gully Art Prize for best watercolour, 'Back Streets of Hawthorn', a year later he was awarded The Herald prize for best drawing, 'The Smokers'. Then he left for England with Grahame King in August 1947.
Between 1947 and 1949, Peter Graham lived and painted at The Abbey Arts Centre in New Barnet London, along with artists, Leonard French, James Gleeson, Douglas Green, Stacha Halpern, Grahame King, Inge King and Robert Klippel. During this time he also befriended the Irish 'folk' artist Gerald Dillon who lived nearby, and who opened Peter's eyes to the visual languages of Picasso and Matise. He exhibited in group shows at William Ohly's Berkeley Galleries, and the Contemporary Artists' Society in London.[4]
In 1948, Peter Graham studied drawing under Bernard Meninsky at Central School of Art, London. But with his money running short, he decided to go back to work at Odhams Press, specialising in the inverted half-tone Dultgen process and masked colour separation until 1950.
In 1950, Peter Graham travelled through France and Italy before returning to Sydney under three-year contract to Australian Consolidated Press working as a specialist in colour separation.
Between 1951 and 1953, Peter Graham exhibited paintings in various group shows in Sydney, including the Inaugural Blake Prize for Religious Art.
In 1954 Peter Graham rode a BSA 500 motorcycle non-stop from Sydney to Melbourne. After rebuilding the bike, he headed across to Adelaide then rode solo up along the route of what is now the Stuart Highway to Alice Springs over five days. There he worked as a builder's labourer for 18 months while painting on the side, until the end of 1955. During this time he worked and painted alongside Aboriginal artists, Adolf Inkamala and the Pareroultja Brothers. He helped build the John Flynn Memorial Church[5] and government housing at Hermannsburg Mission. At Hermannsburg he met anthropologist Ted Strehlow, who transformed Peter's way of seeing the Australian landscape and Aboriginal culture.
Peter Graham spent six months in Fiji painting and drawing in 1956.
1956 - 1960 Peter Graham returned to Melbourne, rejoined PhotoGravures Pty Ltd. Shared a studio with Leonard French and befriended the New Zealand born artist George Johnson, who introduced Peter to the work of Kandinsky, Klee and Mondrian. Painted a series of abstract works based on his Central Australian experience. These were exhibited at Gallery A (Melbourne) in 1960, founded in the same year by Max Hutchinson and Clement Meadmore.
From 1971 to 1978 Peter Graham created a series of experimental works using photographic and lithographic techniques and materials.
In 1971 Peter Graham befriended artist Paul Cavell and collaborated with him on his Notation Paintings between 1974 and 1976.
In 1973 he opened the Peter Graham Gallery at 225 Queensberry Street, Carlton (6 April) supported by a photo- lithographic workshop in the same premises. Closed this gallery in 1974 and reopened it as the Queensberry Street Gallery in 1977.
Peter Graham's Solo Exhibitions at the Queensberry Street Gallery:
During 1977, Peter Graham collaborated with Noela Hjorth[7] and the Victorian Printmakers' Group which at the time was lobbying for space in the Victorian Government's proposed Meatmarket Craft space. He was appointed to the Interim Committee in the formation stages of the Meatmarket Craft Centre[8] and helped to draw up a plan for the establishment of an access workshop for Printmakers at the Meatmarket. As part of his involvement, he had set up a plate-graining service for artists and student Printmakers and became the manager of this facility.
Victorian Printmakers' Workshop group show opened at The Queensberry Street Gallery by Professor Bernard Smith 26 July 1977
Peter Graham closed his gallery in 1978 and transferred his workshop to a home studio in Canterbury (Melbourne) at the end of the year.
Peter Graham returned to development of Notation Painting in 1986 in collaboration with his son, Philip Mitchell Graham. Arranged with Jan Martin for a retrospective exhibition to be held at her gallery in Lyttleton Street, Castlemaine, Victoria.
Peter Graham Admitted to Hospital where he was diagnosed with Cancer of the oesophagus December 1986 .
Peter Graham died 15 April 1987 at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Melbourne.
A memorial exhibition for Peter Graham opened at the Lyttleton Gallery, Castlemaine in central Victoria on 6 June 1987, two days after what would have been his 62nd birthday.
Ferntree Gully Art Prize for best watercolour: Back Streets of Hawthorn 1946
The Herald prize for best drawing: The Smokers 1947
New Epoch Notation Painting is a form of Visual music based on traditional visual media, pioneered by Peter Graham between 1964 and 1987. At its core is New Epoch Art Notation, a conceptual painting notation designed to encode the visual language of pure visual images, while maintaining an emphasis on the physical challenges of painting. The purpose of New Epoch Art Notation is to enable the concise encoding of painting instructions for complex visual images, without the need for pictographic sketches or conventional written instructions. The notation system separates the act of conceiving an image from the act of painting. The score produced in effect becomes the 'subject' of any paintings produced, or 'performed'.
After Peter's death in 1987, his sons Philip Mitchell Graham and Euan Benjamin Graham completed his work and field tested the notation system in a wide variety of public venues. Many other artists have contributed to the development of NEA notation, including the Melbourne born painter and printmaker Paul Cavell
Peter called his invention Notation Painting for many years but in 1985 decided to change it to New Epoch Art. The name 'New Epoch' is a reference to a quotation from Kandinsky's Concerning the Spiritual in Art:
'NEA compositions are known as Sets. Sets use a unique 'thematic' structure called thematic orchestration which is closely related to chaos theory in physics. This method of drawing utilizes a process apart from conventional abstraction. The raw subject matter is synthesized into a theme. A theme is a configuration of lines which embodies what the composer feels is the essence of the raw subject.'
'The paintings are then 'grown' by sensitively repeating and overlapping the themes in a rhythmic manner always with slight differences building up a complex lattice of enclosed organic and asymmetrical shapes.' (see tessellation) 'The theme is the 'visual title' of the work. Literary titles are taken from the raw subject or from intuitive literary associations that may occur during the act of composition.' Graham, New Epoch Art, InterACTA No 4 1990 p 12)
'Every line and every shape put where it is on purpose, no happy accidents, no random use of gesture, and no reliance on drips or splatters. Every shape asymmetrical, and unique in form; its nature and position related to every other; and its position, the overall structure, never repeating the entire evolution of the image during its making, also premeditated and in fact, containing much of its meaning; a composed image that although subject to determinism, will never repeat itself even if the entire process of making begins with identical working conditions. The child of relatively simple rules that can be applied almost effortlessly be people with reasonable sensibility and craft skill but who NEED NOT BE ARTISTS; the participation of professional artists only serving to increase further the diversity of invention'. (Graham, New Epoch Art, InterACTA No 4 1990 p 12)
[NEA scores] can be arranged for group performance, a characteristic that opens up a host of educational, therapeutic and community art possibilities.
Public performance of [scores] demystifies the artist and makes visual art more accessible to the lay person. The meaning of the composition may remain a puzzle, but the physical effect of performance is positive, enticing the individual to learn more and, gain a more profound appreciation of the art form.
The challenge for the serious painter is to make their own landmark in interpreting a score. But NEA painting is as much for the novice as the professional. Because the structure is predetermined by the composer, the score enables people who would otherwise not know where to begin a painting, to participate in the most complex of visual compositions after a very short period of instruction. Thereafter, individuals can pursue the art form as deeply or as casually as desired. By using the system, it is hoped that many more people will be able to experience the challenge and aesthetic delights of artistic endeavor for the enrichment of their lives' (Graham, New Epoch Art, InterACTA No 4 1990 p 14)
NEA notation is a high level visual language. If you think of Bezier curves as a form of low level machine code for constructing shapes, then NEA is similar to a high-level programming language, with its own graphic user interface.
NEA notation was designed by visual artists for visual artists working in a traditional environment with physical materials. The symbols and interface of New Epoch Art Notation are designed specifically for visual thinkers and to meet the technical and practical issues of visual art forms. The Notation can be used for any visual media using a 2D 'Basic Plane'. It describes what to paint, but not how to paint.
Computer generated images play no intrinsic part in the NEA language. It is designed to be low tech - but it's also designed with computers in mind. NEA notation could be digitized to work with information technology in the same way as English has been digitized for this web page, but computers are not essential to its use. All you really need is a pen and paper.
Having said this, it is possible to use NEA notation to design computer generated images on a conceptual level. You could use NEA notation to manipulate Bezier curves. The NEA notation can encode for any visual language and visual media.
A written NEA composition is called a score. The score handles colour, structure and placement.
The staff has three parallel lines: the upper definition, the horizon line, and the lower definition line.
On the extreme left of the staff are the colour symbols. The notation divides colour into seven distinct 'Primary Instruments': Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Brown, Black and White. Each Primary Instrument is represented by its own ‘Primary Symbol’. Combining these symbols allow you to describe all forms of pigmented colour. The symbols represent the appearance of paint smeared on a white surface. They are not a proportional mixing guide.
On the extreme right staff is the 'theme', which represents the structural building blocks of the composition.
In the centre of the staff is a diagram of the canvass. Within this diagram is all the necessary notation to direct the act of painting, i.e. looking, direction, proportion etc.
To read the score you simply read the colour, read the drawing and follow the diagram. Each staff in a score holds a single ‘turn’ or sequential stage of the painting.
Imagine a teacher on a pleasant Saturday afternoon, shopping. Passing a bookshop, he suddenly remembers the year eights have reached a point where they need a new 'Set' to master. After checking the catalogue, he selects a promising score. The introduction gives the usual social-historical background to the composition, the composer, incidents surrounding its creation, and even a history of notable performances or the set.
In his studio the teacher studies the score, the 'how-to' of the composition. Colour, and structure are all conveyed in chronological order and a step by step rough simulation is given at the end for those who require additional help.
The set happens to be a trio, one performer will use green-blues; the second, yellows; and the third, red and white. The year eight class has eleven children perfect! The teacher makes four copies of the score and spends the rest of the evening pondering the scale of the performances, which medium to perform with, and which part he will paint. (Graham, New Epoch Art, InterACTA No 4 1990 p 13)
New Epoch art Notation is neither an attempt to bridge the gap between visual art and music by assigning musical tones to colours (see Visual Music and Music Visualization), nor one of the many visual musical notations designed over the past 50 years as an alternative to traditional music notation. It is neither a visual art form exploiting the aesthetics of musical notation (see Eye Music), nor a color notation (see Munsell Color System), although it does incorporate a unique color notation that does not use a color wheel. It is not "notation printing" a term often associated with the printing of music notation. Finally, it is not Painting by Numbers.
Unlike many of the general movement notations created during the 20th century such as Labanotation, NEA notation is not an augmented rearrangement of traditional music notation. NEA was built from the page up, to facilitate pure visual or graphic communication, using physical media and pigmented color.
New Epoch Art Notation differs from Bezier curves on many levels. First, NEA is not an algorithm, it is an abstract conceptual environment in which many constructs can be built, including algorithms. Second, it is not a form of mathematics tailored to define or generate geometric shapes. It is a purely graphic language designed to build complex forms without use of any mathematics. In terms of education theory, NEA keys into Visual-Spatial intelligence rather than Logical-Mathematical intelligence, (see Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner).
Unfortunately they are incorrectly cataloged at this time:
In fact one of these recordings is as follows:
Interview with Peter Graham by Paul Davis[14] et all, 5 June 1977 Details information on his notation research.
There are currently two tape recordings by Peter Graham available at the National Library of Australia, Petherick Oral History Reading Room. Unfortunately they are incorrectly catalogued at this time: Call Number: ORAL TRC 2490 (please quote to locate catalogue entry) :Record ID: 2069617 Graham, Cynthia, Interview with Cynthia Graham [sound recording] / interviewer: Barbara Blackman. Published: 13 July 1989 Description: 2 sound cassettes. Notes: Has transcript.
In fact these two recordings are as follows: