Tony graham

Tony Graham, was a graphic artist known for his paintings, drawings, handcolored silkscreens, prints and posters of New York City.

Mr. Graham owned Newmark Gallery at 1194 Third Avenue, which specialized in limited-edition prints of contemporary American, European and Japanese artists.

Mr. Graham, a native of Pittsburgh, portrayed the brownstones, storefronts and skyscrapers of his adopted city for many publications, including the Weekend section of The New York Times. Among his better-known creations was a best-selling poster, "Manhattan!!," first produced in 1976, a bird's-eye view of the borough densely packed with hundreds of tiny drawings of buildings, businesses, landmarks and monuments. Other posters created by Graham include: “Mini Manhattan”, a smaller version of the Manhattan poster created several years later, Nighttime in Manhattan, Skyline, Broadway and I Love New York Colleges, created for the New York Times. He created counteless handcolered silkscreens of New York in the snow which were his annual holiday cards. Quite a number of his images depicted Greenwich Village where he lived - Washington Square Park, Jefferson Market Library and many other places of interest. He participated for many years in the Washington Square Park Art Show where most of New York got to know him and his wonderful works of the Big Apple. One of which is entitled Big Apple faces made up of approximately 200 tiny faces, many of them of recognizable celebrities, all collectively forming the shape of a red apple. There has probably never been nor will there ever be someone who loved New York as much as Tony Graham. One of his best selling silkscreens sums it up with the caption reading, “If you’re tired of New York, then you must be tired of living.” Tony has left a void in the artworld upon his passing in 1993. It is with the greatest honor that we release a number of his original silk screen watercolors, reproduced as archival inkjet prints, for many more generations to enjoy.

Before becoming a professional artist, Mr. Graham had a 20-year career in broadcasting. He started as a disk jockey for a station in West Virginia, where, at the behest of the station's owner, he changed his name from David Lebo to Tony Graham. He subsequently joined KDKA in Pittsburgh, the flagship station of the Westinghouse Broadcasting Corporation, eventually becoming program manager. Later he worked in the same capacity for Westinghouse stations in Los Angeles and Boston. In 1970 he moved to New York as national radio program manager for Westinghouse, a post he held until he left broadcasting in 1973.

His art carreer spanned decades