Peter Benjamin Graham
Encyclopedia
Peter Benjamin Graham 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 Kangaroo
s) 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, a dramatised history documentary on the Eureka Stockade directed by Don Parham and produced by Parham Media Productions in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
in 2005.
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, 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.
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.
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.
.
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 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.
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
.
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 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 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.
The Herald prize for best drawing: The Smokers 1947
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:
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)
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)
, 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.
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.
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)
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 et all, 5 June 1977 Details information on his notation research.
, 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:
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
and figurative art
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
. He just used them as alternative methods of exploring a subject.
In 1954, Graham began to explore native Australian wildlife (notably Kangaroo
Kangaroo
A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
s) and themes associated with Aboriginal culture, using the visual languages of European figurative Modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
and later geometric abstraction
Abstraction
Abstraction is a process by which higher concepts are derived from the usage and classification of literal concepts, first principles, or other methods....
.
He began developing a new form of visual geometry related to Chaos Theory
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
from 1960, eventually called Thematic Orchestration. This new visual language enabled the 2D deconstruction
Deconstruction
Deconstruction is a term introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his 1967 book Of Grammatology. Although he carefully avoided defining the term directly, he sought to apply Martin Heidegger's concept of Destruktion or Abbau, to textual reading...
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
Australian artist-run initiatives
Australian artist-run initiatives and galleries are found throughout the country. A few key spaces include Firstdraft, MOP , KINGS ARI, TCB , Clubs Project inc, West Space, Seventh Gallery, Platform artists group , Blindside, , Breadbox ARI and FELTspace...
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
Peter Lalor
Peter Fintan Lalor was an activist turned politician who rose to fame for his leading role in the Eureka Rebellion, an event controversially identified with the "birth of democracy" in Australia.- Early life and migration to Australia :...
Addressing the Miners Before Eureka featured in a major Australian travelling exhibition celebrating the 150 anniversary of the Eureka Stockade
Eureka Stockade
The Eureka Rebellion of 1854 was an organised rebellion by gold miners which occurred at Eureka Lead in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The Battle of Eureka Stockade was fought on 3 December 1854 and named for the stockade structure erected by miners during the conflict...
This painting is also featured in Riot or Revolution, a dramatised history documentary on the Eureka Stockade directed by Don Parham and produced by Parham Media Productions in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
in 2005.
Early years
Peter Graham was born 4 June 1925 and raised in the MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
suburb of Hartwell. He was awarded scholarship to Melbourne Technical College Art School for one year in 1939. He studied Hand Lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
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
Rotogravure
Rotogravure is a type of intaglio printing process; that is, it involves engraving the image onto an image carrier...
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
RMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....
- figure and portraiture.
In 1945 Peter Graham joined the Victorian Artists Society
Victorian Artists Society
Victorian Artists Society established in 1856 in Melbourne, Australia promotes artistic education and exhibition in Australia. Fore-runner of the Victorian Academy of Arts, founded in 1870. In 1888 the Australian Artist's Association amalgamated with the Victorian Academy of Arts to form the...
, and exhibited his first painting in the Australia at War Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
. At the same time he began his association with the Melbourne Social Realism
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
group that included: Noel Counihan
Noel Counihan
Noel Counihan was an Australian social realist painter.Counihan was born in Albert Park, then a working-class suburb of Melbourne. He attended Caulfield Grammar School in 1928...
, Josl Berger, Victor O'Connor
Victor O'Connor
Victor George O'Connor is an Australian artist. He is a Social Realist painter of genre and landscapes....
, Ma Mahood
Ma Mahood
Dr. Marguerite "Ma" Mahood was a painter, potter, printmaker and art historian.After establishing herself as a graphic artist and watercolourist in the 1920s, Mahood joined the Victorian Artists Society and exhibited regularly...
, Herbert McClintock
Herbert McClintock
Herbert McClintock was a social realist Artist born in Perth, Western Australia in 1906, died 1985.Studied at the National Gallery of Victoria School from 1925 to 1927 and again in 1930, where he met fellow social realists Noel Counihan and Roy Dalgarno. Earned a living as a signwriter and...
, Rembrandt McClintock
Rembrandt McClintock
Alexander Rembrandt McClintock Professional lithographer based in Melbourne, AustraliaActive 1930s - 1950sSon of the artist Alexander McClintock and cousin of Herbert McClintockMentor to artist Peter Graham- References :...
, 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
Grahame King
Grahame King was a prominent Australian printmaker. In the 1930s he helped pioneer the new art of chromo-photo-lithography and transformed developments in the colour advertising in the print industry. Grahame Lectured in Printmaking at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology from 1966-88...
in August 1947.
England
Between 1947 and 1949, Peter Graham lived and painted at The Abbey Arts CentreThe Abbey Arts Centre
The Abbey Arts Centre is located at 89 Park Road, New Barnet, Hertfordshire EN4 9QX, England.It was originally owned by William Ohly, an art dealer who ran the Berkeley Galleries in Davies Street, London....
in New Barnet London, along with artists, Leonard French
Leonard French
Leonard William French OBE is an Australian artist, known principally for major stained glass works.French was born in Brunswick, Victoria...
, James Gleeson
James Gleeson
James Timothy Gleeson was Australia's foremost artist. He was also a poet, critic, writer and curator. He played a significant role in the Australian art scene, including serving on the board of the National Gallery of Australia.-Early life:Gleeson was born in the Sydney district of Hornsby and he...
, Douglas Green, Stacha Halpern
Stacha Halpern
Stanislav "Stacha" Halpern was a Polish Australian painter and sculptor. Following the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, Halpern emigrated to Australia. A decade later he became a naturalised Australian citizen. Based in Melbourne for much of his early career, Halpern painted bold semi-abstract...
, Grahame King
Grahame King
Grahame King was a prominent Australian printmaker. In the 1930s he helped pioneer the new art of chromo-photo-lithography and transformed developments in the colour advertising in the print industry. Grahame Lectured in Printmaking at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology from 1966-88...
, Inge King
Inge King
Inge King is a prominent Australian sculptor, who has many significant public, commercial, and private sculpture commissions to her credit....
and Robert Klippel
Robert Klippel
Robert Klippel AO was an Australian constructivist sculptor and teacher. He is often described in contemporary art literature as Australia's greatest sculptor. Throughout his career he produced some 1,300 pieces of sculpture and approximately 5,000 drawings.-Biography:Klippel was born in Potts...
. During this time he also befriended the Irish 'folk' artist Gerald Dillon
Gerald Dillon
Gerard Dillon was an Irish artist.Born in Belfast, he left school at the age of fourteen and for seven years worked as a painter and decorator, mostly in London. From an early age he was interested in art, cinema, and theatre. About 1936 he started out as an artist, almost entirely self-taught but...
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.
In 1948, Peter Graham studied drawing under Bernard Meninsky
Bernard Meninsky
Bernard Meninsky was a figurative artist, painter of figures and landscape in oils, watercolour and gouache, draughtsman and teacher. He was born in Karotopin now in the Ukraine but raised in Liverpool where he attended the Liverpool School of Art in 1906 after initially attending evening classes...
at Central School of Art, London. But with his money running short, he decided to go back to work at Odhams Press
Fleetway
Fleetway, also known as Fleetway Publications and Fleetway Editions, was a UK publishing company which mainly produced comic magazines. For a time owned by IPC Media, they are now a division of Egmont Publishing....
, specialising in the inverted half-tone Dultgen
Dultgen
The Dultgen halftone intaglio process is a photoengraving technique invented by, Arthur Dultgen and is widely used today in commercial colour work....
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
Australian Consolidated Press
ACP Magazines , a subsidiary of the Nine Entertainment Co., is an Australian media company. It publishes the Australian Women's Weekly and the Australian edition of Woman's Day....
working as a specialist in colour separation.
Sydney
Between 1951 and 1953, Peter Graham exhibited paintings in various group shows in Sydney, including the Inaugural Blake Prize for Religious ArtBlake Prize for Religious Art
The Blake Prize for Religious Art is an annual art prize in Australia.The prize was established in 1949 as an incentive to raise the standard of religious art. Founded by Mr R. Morley, the Reverend Michael Scott SJ, Rector of Newman College, University of Melbourne, and lawyer Mrs M. Tenison, it...
.
Alice Springs
In 1954 Peter Graham rode a BSA 500 motorcycle non-stop from SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
to Melbourne. After rebuilding the bike, he headed across to Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
then rode solo up along the route of what is now the Stuart Highway
Stuart Highway
The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways. It is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 extending from Darwin, Northern Territory, in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, South Australia, in the south—a distance of...
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
Hermannsburg School
The Hermannsburg School is an art movement, or art style, which began at the Hermannsburg Mission in the 1930s. The most well known artist of the style is Albert Namatjira...
. He helped build the John Flynn Memorial Church and government housing at Hermannsburg Mission. At Hermannsburg he met anthropologist Ted Strehlow
Ted Strehlow
Theodor George Henry Strehlow was an anthropologist who studied the Arrernte Australian Aborigines in Central Australia. He was considered a member of the Arrernte people, by dint of his ritual adoption by the tribe...
, who transformed Peter's way of seeing the Australian landscape and Aboriginal culture.
Gallery A (Melbourne)
1956 - 1960 Peter Graham returned to Melbourne, rejoined PhotoGravures Pty Ltd. Shared a studio with Leonard French
Leonard French
Leonard William French OBE is an Australian artist, known principally for major stained glass works.French was born in Brunswick, Victoria...
and befriended the New Zealand born artist George Johnson, who introduced Peter to the work of Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...
, Klee
Klee
Klee , named after Paul Klee, is a German pop-band from Cologne.-Lineup 2002-2010 :* Suzie Kerstgens * Tom Deininger * Sten Servaes -Lineup 2010-present :...
and Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian , was a Dutch painter.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism...
. 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
Clement Meadmore
Clement Meadmore was an Australian-American sculptor known for massive outdoor steel sculptures.-Biography:...
.
Linear Extension
- 1961 - 1964 Peter Graham completed new series of paintings referred to as Linear Extensions.
- 1964 - 1973 Peter Graham conducted experimental studies based on new concept of Notation Painting.
- 1965 - Peter Graham established his own photo-lithographicPhotolithographyPhotolithography is a process used in microfabrication to selectively remove parts of a thin film or the bulk of a substrate. It uses light to transfer a geometric pattern from a photomask to a light-sensitive chemical "photoresist", or simply "resist," on the substrate...
business, Photocraft Services. - In 1967 the Reverend Alfred M Dickie married Peter Graham and Cynthia Louis who went on to raise a family of three children: Philip, Michaela and Euan Graham.
Peter Graham Gallery - Queensberry Street Gallery (Melbourne)
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:
- 1973 Notation Drawings and Paintings from 1961–1973
- Australian Watercolours from 1954, 1955 and 1973
- 1974 Western Port Foreshores
- 1977 Western Port Places - Notation Painting
- 1978 Survey from 1947–1978
During 1977, Peter Graham collaborated with Noela Hjorth 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 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
Bernard William Smith
Bernard William Smith was an Australian art historian, art critic and academic.-Biography:Smith was born in Balmain, Sydney to Charles Smith and Rose Anne Tierney on 3 October 1916. In 1941, he married his first wife, Kate Challis, who died in 1989. Smith married his second wife, Margaret Forster,...
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's Final years
- 1979 - 1984 Peter Graham experimented with esoteric printing techniques including collotypeCollotypeCollotype is a dichromate-based photographic process invented by Alphonse Poitevin in 1856. and was used for large volume mechanical printing before the existence of cheaper offset lithography. It can produce results difficult to distinguish from metal-based photographic prints because of its...
, and a new form of screenless lithographyScreenless lithographyScreenless lithography is a reprographic technique for halftoning dating to 1855, when the French chemist and civil engineer Alphonse Poitevin discovered the light–sensitive properties of bichromated gelatin and invented both the photolithography and collotype processes. After the invention of the...
using a pre-sensitised continuous toneContinuous toneA continuous tone image is one where each color at any point in the image is reproduced as a single tone, and not as discrete halftones, such as one single color for monochromatic prints, or a combination of halftones for color prints....
aluminium plate. - 1981 - 1983 Peter Graham worked on series of drawings called Paradise Destroyed, and contributing to several anti-nuclear exhibitions.
- 1983 - Peter Graham returned to his Central Australian subject matter with large series of watercolours and oils entitled The Painted Land. Completed at this time a memoir of his stay in Alice Springs, called 'Journal of a Small Journey'. (Taped version in Archives at National Library of AustraliaNational Library of AustraliaThe National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
, collected by Barbara Blackman - 1984 - 1985 Peter Graham painted Tragic Landscape series.
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
Castlemaine, Victoria
Castlemaine is a city in Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region of Victoria about 120 kilometres northwest by road from Melbourne, and about 40 kilometres from the major provincial centre of Bendigo. It is the administrative and economic centre of the Shire of Mount Alexander. The...
.
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.
Awards won by Peter Graham
Ferntree Gully Art Prize for best watercolour: Back Streets of Hawthorn 1946The Herald prize for best drawing: The Smokers 1947
Represented
- Ballarat Fine Art GalleryBallarat Fine Art GalleryArt Gallery of Ballarat is the oldest and largest regional art gallery in Australia. Established in 1884 as the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery by the citizens of Ballarat both the building and part of its collection is listed on the Victorian Heritage Registerand by the National Trust of Victoria.The...
- Castlemaine Art Gallery
- Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
- Commonwealth Bank of AustraliaCommonwealth Bank of AustraliaThe Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Fiji, Asia, USA and the United Kingdom. Commonwealth Bank provides a variety of financial services including retail, business and institutional banking, funds management, superannuation, insurance,...
, World Trade Centre, Sydney
Publications by Peter Graham
- Graham, Peter, 'Artist's and Reality' Arena No 11 (1966), Arena publishing, Greensborough, Victoria, Australia ISSN 0004-0932
- Graham, Peter, et al., 'PEACE', Callenders published by Congress for International Co-operation and Disarmament (1980, 1981, 1982)
- Graham, Peter, Notation Illustrations for The Westernport Bay Symposium, Royal Society of Victoria Proceedings, Melbourne, Stillwell and Co. Vol 87, P1, 21 August 1975, ISSN 0035-9211
New Epoch Art Notation
New Epoch Notation Painting is a form of Visual musicVisual music
Visual music, sometimes called "colour music," refers to the use of musical structures in visual imagery, which can also include silent films or silent Lumia work. It also refers to methods or devices which can translate sounds or music into a related visual presentation...
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
Visual language
A visual language is a system of communication using visual elements. Speech as a means of communication cannot strictly be separated from the whole of human communicative activity which includes the visual and the term 'language' in relation to vision is an extension of its use to describe the...
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:
-
- 'To each spiritual epoch corresponds a new spiritual content, which that epoch expresses by forms that are new, unexpected, surprising and in this way aggressive... We are fast approaching the time of reasoned and conscious composition, when the painter will be proud to declare his work constructive. This will be in contrast to the claim of the Impressionists that they could explain nothing, that their art came upon them by inspiration. We have before us the age of conscious creation, and this new spirit in painting is going hand in hand with the spirit of thought towards an epoch of great spirituality'
Overview
'NEA compositions are known as Sets. Sets use a unique 'thematic' structure called thematic orchestration which is closely related to chaos theoryChaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
in physics. This method of drawing utilizes a process apart from conventional abstraction
Abstraction
Abstraction is a process by which higher concepts are derived from the usage and classification of literal concepts, first principles, or other methods....
. 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
Tessellation
A tessellation or tiling of the plane is a pattern of plane figures that fills the plane with no overlaps and no gaps. One may also speak of tessellations of parts of the plane or of other surfaces. Generalizations to higher dimensions are also possible. Tessellations frequently appeared in the art...
) '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
Composition (visual arts)
In the visual arts – in particular painting, graphic design, photography and sculpture – composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art or a photograph, as distinct from the subject of a work...
.' 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)
Performance
[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)
Notation structure
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 languageHigh-level programming language
A high-level programming language is a programming language with strong abstraction from the details of the computer. In comparison to low-level programming languages, it may use natural language elements, be easier to use, or be from the specification of the program, making the process of...
, 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.
The NEA Score
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.
As an educational medium
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)
What NEA Notation is Not
New Epoch art Notation is neither an attempt to bridge the gap between visual art and musicMusic
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
by assigning musical tones to colours (see Visual Music
Visual music
Visual music, sometimes called "colour music," refers to the use of musical structures in visual imagery, which can also include silent films or silent Lumia work. It also refers to methods or devices which can translate sounds or music into a related visual presentation...
and Music Visualization
Music visualization
Music visualization, a feature found in electronic music visualizers and media player software, generates animated imagery based on a piece of music...
), 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
Munsell color system
In colorimetry, the Munsell color system is a color space that specifies colors based on three color dimensions: hue, value , and chroma . It was created by Professor Albert H...
), 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
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
, 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
Howard Gardner
Howard Earl Gardner is an American developmental psychologist who is a professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero and author of over twenty books translated into thirty languages. Since 1995, he has...
).
Further Reading For NEA Painting
- Louis Bertrand CastelLouis Bertrand CastelLouis Bertrand Castel was a French mathematician born in Montpellier, and entered the order of the Jesuits in 1703. Having studied literature, he afterwards devoted himself entirely to mathematics and natural philosophy...
- Clavier à lumièresClavier à lumièresThe clavier à lumières , or tastiéra per luce, as it appears in the score, was a musical instrument invented by Alexander Scriabin for use in his work Prometheus: Poem of Fire. However, only one version of this instrument was constructed, for the performance of Prometheus: Poem of Fire in New York...
- Color organColor organThe term color organ refers to a tradition of mechanical , then electromechanical, devices built to represent sound or to accompany music in a visual medium—by any number of means. In the early 20th century, a silent color organ tradition developed...
- Oskar FischingerOskar FischingerOskar Fischinger was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter. He made over 50 short animated films, and painted c. 800 canvases, many of which are in museums, galleries and collections worldwide. Among his film works is Motion Painting No. 1 , which is now listed on the...
- Mary Hallock-GreenewaltMary Hallock-GreenewaltMary Elizabeth Hallock-Greenewalt was an inventor and pianist who performed with the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh symphonies as a soloist...
- Adrian Bernard Klein, Coloured Light An Art Medium 3rd ed. The Technical Press, London, 1937
- William MoritzWilliam MoritzWilliam Moritz , film historian, specialized in visual music and experimental animation. His principal published works concerned abstract filmmaker and painter Oskar Fischinger...
- Alexander Wallace Riminghton, Colour-Music The Art Of Mobile Colour Hutchinson, London, 1912
- Thomas WilfredThomas WilfredThomas Wilfred born Richard Edgar Løvstrom, was a musician and inventor. He is best known for his visual music he named lumia and his designs for color organs called Clavilux...
Primary source material for NEA Painting
- There are currently two tape recordings by Peter Graham available at the National Library of AustraliaNational Library of AustraliaThe National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
, Petherick Oral History Reading Room.
Unfortunately they are incorrectly cataloged 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 one of these recordings is as follows:
Interview with Peter Graham by Paul Davis et all, 5 June 1977 Details information on his notation research.
Primary source material on Peter Graham publicly available
There are currently two tape recordings by Peter Graham available at the National Library of AustraliaNational Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
, 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:
- Interview with Peter Graham by Paul Davis et al., 5 June 1977 Concentrates on his early years in England and gives some information on his notation research
- Peter Graham reciting his memoir, Journal of a Small Journey. Recording by Philip Mitchell Graham, 10 April 1982. This memoir details his motorbike trip to Alice Springs in 1954 and his subsequent experiences in Central Australia over the following 18 months.