"Failed to initialize unity graphics" when running remotely (ssh -Y)

When I log into my Ubuntu machine remotely using "ssh -Y" so that X windows get forwarded over the ssh tunnel, I am able to run the Unity editor up to a point. The following sequence occurs

1. I see the Unity splash screen (on my local Mac laptop, which is where the ssh session originates)

2. I get the project selection window, and I double click on the name of my project

3. I see some little popup window with a status bar sweep by quickly

4. A popup window with the error message "Failed to initialize unity graphics" appears.
   

5. A bug report dialog appears.

6. No further execution is possible. Unity exits.

How do I get the Unity editor to run remotely? I am able to run locally, when logged in directly on the Linux machine, but I need to be able to run remotely (e.g. from my Mac Laptop).

Note: Not sure if this is exactly the same as "headless" -- the Linux machine does have a monitor; but I am trying to render via X to a different monitor, which works for all other applications I've tried except the Unity editor.

Trying to do it this way is an alternative to a different question I asked here: https://answers.unity.com/questions/1454241/systemwindowsformsdll-assembly-is-referenced-by-us.html

PS- Why do I want to do this? The Linux box has the killer GPUs for machine learning, the Mac doesn't.

Unity version is Unity-2017.3.0b1.