Labors of love
Manzanita’s Hoffman Gallery is offering a rare opportunity to view an astonishing, historic art collection highlighting the work of the preeminent Runquist Brothers, curated by retired Portland Art Museum curator Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson.
Two lectures by Laing-Malcolmson will accompany the show: “Social Activism and Burnt Stumps: Two Brothers’ Living Art” on Sunday, June 2, and “Social Realism and Government Funding: Works Projects Administration Art in and beyond Oregon” on Sunday, June 9.
Arthur and Albert Runquist were children of Scandinavian immigrant parents who settled in Aberdeen, Washington, at the end of the 19th Century to farm and log. Their love for art and the natural environment, strong work ethic and belief in social equality has gifted later generations with a powerful, thought-provoking body of drawings and paintings.
This mini-retrospective exhibit begins with early works done in the 1920s, moving through a significant, often-controversial Depression Era body of work while the brothers found employment as mural and easel painters with the Works Projects Administration and in the Oregon shipyards, to images that capture the wild beauty of the North Oregon Coast. The art, spanning five decades, defines a transitional period of United States history.
During the 1920s, the Runquists studied art at the University of Oregon, the Art Students League in New York and the Portland Museum Art School. There they studied with the head of the painting department, Henry Fredrick Wentz, who loaned them his Neahkahnie beach cottage from 1946 to 1963, providing an ideal, rustic environment to pursue their painting.
The charcoal, pencil and ink drawings, watercolors and oil paintings in the exhibit capture industrial forces championed by WPA artists, while clearly illustrating the plight of the worker. Deeply involved in workers’ rights and advocating unionization, Arthur was severely beaten by a group of thugs, resulting in a long-term hospitalization. Viewed by many as socialist/communist sympathizers, they were ostracized from Portland’s art scene.
Moving to Neahkahnie provided a refuge where the beautiful, but often harsh, coastal environment served as a metaphorical equivalent to the workers’ struggles. The Neahkahnie area paintings depict subtly colored, often expressionistic views of the landscape and people. Wind contorted trees, logged and burnt forests and figures eking a living from the land and sea become prime subjects.
Most of the brothers’ art currently resides in private collections, so a selection of pieces in the show are on loan from a group of generous Runquist collectors. A few paintings and a number of drawings are available for sale.
The Sunday lectures on June 2 and 9 begin at 1 pm. Tickets are $15.
The exhibit will be on display through June 29 at the Hoffman Gallery, located at 594 Laneda Avenue in Manzanita, open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 5 pm. For more information, go to hoffmanarts.org or call 503-368-3846.