Who is a woman
called Nancy Graves and why did she create camels in art
installations? More than once?
Shown at the
National Art Gallery of Canada in June 2017, it's an exhibit I
missed! Photographs
from an ever-alert friend tell me only that the subjects were
created 1968-1969 and are
composed of "burlap,
polyurethane, animal skin, wax and oil paint."[1]
Steel and wood armatures support the creations.
Well! Unbeknownst to
me, Nancy in her relatively short lifetime (1939-1995) was a very
busy artist ―
sculpting, painting, printmaking, with
related activities. She was and is arguably
best known for her work
with camels, her
first display (photo
above) being
in the Whitney Museum of
Modern Art. Allan Bronfman of Montreal bought and donated this
and several others to our National Gallery in 1969.
Further digging
revealed that in 1969, Nancy was "an art world sensation."[2]
She continually experimented with camels and other natural
forms, venturing into film-making, glassblowing, poly-optics, and
aerial landscapes. Two of her films are motion-studies of camels,
both held now by the National Gallery. Her film Goulimine led
me to a sub-Saharan town in Morocco known for its weekly camel market
and as a historic caravan centre. My recent visit to Morocco did not
include this town but a couple of others on the edge of the great
desert were very similar. I can find no reference to why she chose to
depict Bactrian (two-hump) camels when her models were clearly
Arabian camels of North Africa.
Her response to why
camels? "Because camels shouldn't exist. They have flesh
on their hoofs, four stomachs, a dislocated jaw. Yet with all of the
illogical form the camel still functions. And though they may be
amusing, they are wonderful to watch."[3]
Ultimately she went
far beyond camels; now Nancy Graves' works are featured in galleries
around the world, a truly creative and versatile force. For example,
some of her pointillism accompanied the National Art Gallery exhibit.
Fascinating! Nancy,
I wish I'd known you!
Thanks to my colleague Ruth Blair for the peek!
[1]
"Nancy Graves: From Camels to Moonscapes," 20 March 2017,
National Gallery of Canada
(https://www.gallery.ca/nancy-graves-from-camels-to-moonscapes).
[2]
Mark Guiducci, "It's Time to Re-discover Nancy Graves:
Post-Minimalist, Anti-Pop Lover of Camels," 28 February 2015,
Vogue
(http://www.vogue.com/article/nancy-graves-mitchell-innes-nash).
[3]
"Nancy Graves: From Camels to Moonscapes," 20 March 2017,
National Gallery of Canada
(https://www.gallery.ca/nancy-graves-from-camels-to-moonscapes).
©
2017
Brenda Dougall Merriman
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