HARRY WIDMAN, JR

(American, 1929-2014)

STILL LIFE WITH BREAD

Oil on Canvas

20 x 22 Inches

Signed Lower Center, "Widman"

Old Exhibition Label Verso

Exhibited:

Artists of Oregon, Painting and Sculpture Show

Portland Art Museum, Oregon, 1956

 

A notable painter in his own right, Harry Widman was also a pioneer of Oregon Modernism and taught at the Portland Art Museum School starting in 1960. After being appointed dean, he oversaw its transformation into the Pacific Northwest College of Art. At the Museum School, he worked with artists Louis Bunce, Michele Russo, and William Givler to develop and instill the principles of Modernism in a new generation of Oregon artist. Active in the establishment of the Oregon Arts Commission, Widman was also a founding member of the City of Portland Art Commission.

 

Born in New Jersey, Widman first studied art at Syracuse University before joining the army. While in Bremerhaven, Germany, Widman was influenced by the art and artifacts he saw at the archaeological museum. After he returned to the States, Widman attended the University of Oregon under Jack Wilkinson and David McCosh. Widman completed his MFA in 1956, to which this painting dates, after being taught in the Willamette Valley Style, an approach based on color theory and the color theories of Paul Cezanne. Widman continued to exhibit with success throughout his life, including at Reed College in Portland and the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University. We are pleased to offer this elegant and characteristic still-life, dating to the artist's early period.

 

Reference:

The Oregon Encyclopedia. Portland State University and the Oregon Historical Society website; Allen, Ginny and Jody Klevit. Oregon Painters: The First Hundred Years (1859-1959). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press, 1999; Hull, Roger. Harry Widman: Image, Myth and Modernism. Salem, Oregon: Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, 2009; et al.