The Brooklyn Rail

I was deeply saddened to hear from Dita on January 28, 2025 that Graham had passed away. I had just emailed her to see if a visit to 94th Street might be helpful to Graham and to her. Her response came quickly, with the sad news.

The last time I saw Graham was in early November of 2024. He had been in and out of the hospital, and I had no idea how he would be or what to expect. I was so pleased to find him dressed for a visit, sitting up on the couch in his living room, surrounded by some of his own work hanging on the brilliant blue walls. Always gracious, he offered me a seltzer and we discussed how he was feeling, the New York Studio School, the benefit honoring him that he had missed, the people we both knew. I cannot remember all the details, but we visited for over an hour. I told him I had recently seen the Sienese Painting Exhibition at the Met. He asked me about it (in the same way he would ask me about his own paintings when in the past I visited his studio in Long Island City). To me, his questions were always his answers—he knew the work so intimately, both the Sienese paintings, and of course, his own. His questions seemed to be his way of checking whether I saw what he saw or whether I understood what he was doing. The depth of his knowledge was vast. He would cite well-known and lesser-known artists from ancient times to the present. Graham was a gift to his students. I know no one else who could reach these levels. He brought the world of painting to them and challenged each one to push toward greatness in their work.

It is no surprise that Graham created the Drawing Marathon—an endurance challenge for his students to reach for the best. He was always pushing himself to the best, to the brightest, sometimes to the largest, and always with a bow to the greatest. There was not a superlative that Graham did not reach for.

Not wanting to overstay my visit, I mentioned that I looked forward to our next visit. Graham suggested that maybe, at a later date, his attendant could bring him to the Met. We could meet there and see the Sienese paintings together. That would be great. As I left I saw the flowers (the brightest colored flowers I could find) which I had brought to him, had been arranged in a vase on the front table by the entrance.

I will truly miss Graham. The legacy he leaves behind will, without a doubt, be a guiding light to many and it will stand the test of time.