The Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah is set to showcase a comprehensive retrospective of Ray Strong’s Northern California landscapes, including his evocative portrayals of Mendocino County. The exhibit, titled “Earth Portraiture: Ray Strong’s Northern California Landscapes,” opens this Friday.
The new exhibition will kick off with two special events at the museum. The opening reception is scheduled for Friday, from 5 to 8 p.m., featuring live music by bassist Pierre Archain. On Saturday at 2 p.m., guest curator Mark Humpal will present an illustrated talk titled “The Man Behind the Brush: Landscape Artist Ray Strong.”
Ray Strong, born in 1905 in a small Oregon town, was a multifaceted artist whose career spanned landscape painting, museum diorama creation, art education, and arts administration. Known for his engaging personality and profound understanding of his era, Strong began painting at the age of nine and continued his practice into his late 90s. His encounter with Portland-based gallerist Mark Humpal in Santa Barbara led to a significant turn in Humpal’s career, shifting his focus from a book on Oregon Impressionist painters to a detailed biography of Strong.
Humpal describes Strong’s commitment to painting as essential to his existence: “Painting every day for him was like eating and breathing. It was an urge that never waned.” As the third of six children, Strong’s early artistic inclinations were nurtured with watercolor lessons. However, his life was marked by tragedy when his older brother, Hillman, died in a hiking accident. This loss deeply affected Strong and influenced his work for many years.
In the mid-1920s, Strong studied at the California School of Fine Arts, now known as the San Francisco Art Institute. Although he formed valuable connections, he struggled with the school’s modernist direction under director Lee Randolph. Strong resisted the push towards abstraction that dominated the post-World War I art scene, preferring to remain true to his realist vision.
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