Collection: Graham Coughtry

Graham Coughtry (1931-1999) is an artist well-known for his studies of the abstracted human figure. He was one of several artists who exhibited with the Isaacs Gallery in Toronto. His first exhibition was held at Hart House at the University of Toronto in 1955, where he showed alongside Michael Snow. 

Coughtry made several lithographs at Open Studio in the 1970s and 1980s. While his paintings tended towards bold colours and a thick, impasto application, his prints explored a light, gestural touch, and a monochrome colour palette. Coughtry’s prints show a variety of approaches in scale and subject. A series of five small lithographs of sparingly rendered nude figures were produced to accompany a special edition book of poems by Irving Layton, while the Isaacs Gallery published a suite of abstract prints that recall energetic musical notations, nodding to his interest in jazz, and participation in the Artists’ Jazz Band.