The next Artist You Need To Know is K. M. Graham (1913–2008).
K. M. (Kathleen Margaret) Graham was a Canadian artist who worked primarily in abstraction who began to paint at the age of 50: her colourful patterned works – executed primarily in paint – were inspired by her interest in the Canadian landscape, especially in terms of the North. A visit to ᑭᙵᐃᑦ / Kinngait [Cape Dorset] in the early 1970s defined her aesthetic strongly : this moved her away from more traditional still life works and into creating scenes shaped by the light, landscape and the sheer power of the Arctic, Newfoundland and other awe inspiring areas of the northern topography.
“I want my art to be an affirmation of life and to edify the spirit of the viewer.”
She was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1913 : Graham was a self taught artist, though she did graduate Trinity College at the University of Toronto with a degree in home economics in 1936. Graham was a museum docent (tour guide) at the Art Gallery of Toronto (later the Art Gallery of Ontario). This widened her horizons in terms of contemporary art (she had a great affinity for colour field painters and the vibrant works of Piet Mondrian) and this was further served by her frequent travels with her husband where they visited a number of significant galleries and museums. She would only truly focus on her own art after her husband’s death, with some important support from the artist Jack Bush.
Graham would mount her first solo exhibition in 1967 at the Carmen Lamanna Gallery in Toronto. Her interest in landscape would be further spurred by her visits to the Canadian Arctic, and specifically ᑭᙵᐃᑦ / Kinngait [Cape Dorset]. In the mid 1970s, Graham was also an artist in residence there and was an integral support for introducing many Indigenous artists to various media and acting as both a teacher and mentor.
“In the Arctic I find that nature has been stripped down to its essential elements. That fact plus the extraordinary colour which at times seems to fill the whole Arctic world provides endless stimulation for both drawing and painting.” (from here)
The art historian Joan Murray, whose one of the most important voices regarding Canadian art history, has described Graham’s paintings as “playful, expansive, and unpretentious”.
Graham’s works can be found in numerous collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Peterborough, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the Art Gallery of Edmonton, the Art Gallery of Newfoundland & Labrador, St. John’s, NFLD, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (Fredericton, NB), the Canada Council Art Bank, Musee d’Art Contemporain (Montreal, PQ), the Vancouver Art Gallery and the British Museum. She was also a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and participated in a number of RCA exhibitions over her career, in both North America and Europe. Graham was also made an honourary fellow of Trinity College in 1998.
She participated in a number of important exhibitions over her career including The Heritage of Jack Bush (Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1981-82), and Fourteen Canadians: A Critic’s Choice (which was curated by Andrew Hudson for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.) in 1977.
A more extensive listing of her exhibitions and accomplishments can be seen here and much more of her artwork can be seen here.
Graham passed away in 2008, in Toronto at the age of 94 : despite suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, she had been exceptionally active up until her final years, not just in terms of her painting and writing but also swimming and canoeing.