robert graham

Graham received his formal training at San Jose State College and the San Francisco Art Institute in California, finishing in 1964. Within ten years he had his first one-man show at a gallery, and in 1972 had his first one-man show in a museum, the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Since then he has had dozens of one-man shows, including several at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Graham's first major monumental commission was the ceremonial gateway for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, for the occasion of the 1984 Olympics. (He also designed the commemorative silver dollar for the event). The gateway featured two bronze torsos, male and female, modelled on contestants in the games. The gateway was a major design element of an Olympiad noted for its lack of new construction. To the surprise of many, the nudity of the torsos became an issue in the media.

Graham has used a range of materials and scales in his work. In the 1970s Graham created very small wax sculptures (circa 4" - 10cm) , depicting sexual congress. His 1986 monument to the boxer Joe Louis is a 24' bronze fist and forearm. He has created hundreds of nude figures and groupings in intermediate scales.

He is married to actress Anjelica Huston and they reside in an unusual dwelling in Venice, California. Huston refused to move to the Bohemian area unless Graham built them a fortress to live in. The result was a giant, windowless structure behind an opaque 40-foot fence.

Civic monuments

• 2002 - The Great Bronze Doors and Statue of Mary - Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, California
• 2001 - Prologue - addition to the FDR Memorial, Washington D.C.
• 1999 - Charlie "Bird" Parker Memorial, Kansas City, Missouri
• 1997 - Duke Ellington Monument - Central Park, New York City
• 1997 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington D.C.
• 1994 - Plumed Serpent, Plaza de César Chávez, San Jose, California
• 1986 - Joe Louis Memorial, Detroit, Michigan
• 1984 - Olympic Gateway - Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California

Private commissions

• 1978 - Dance Door - Los Angeles Music Center, Los Angeles, California