Pacific Northwest Regional Art

JSMA’s wide-ranging collection of Pacific Northwest art offers the opportunity for in-depth study and appreciation of the arts of Oregon and beyond, primarily from the twentieth century to the present day. Rather than limit “Pacific Northwest” to a tightly defined set of U.S. states, JSMA’s attention to the art of this region considers local, regional, national, and international perspectives and incorporates works made in, about, and by artists with connections to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and the greater surrounding areas of the western United States.

Institutional interest in Pacific Northwest art was established in the 1950s. Portland-based journalist, playwright, and art collector Virginia Haseltine saw an affinity between the arts of China, Korea, and Japan and that of the Pacific Northwest, and she spearheaded efforts to expand the UOMA’s collection to include contemporary regional art. In 1963, over one hundred works owned by Haseltine were exhibited at UOMA in the exhibition Pacific Northwest Art: The Haseltine Collection. Among the sixty-one regional artists included were Louis Bunce, Betty Feves, Robert Colescott, Gordon Gilkey, Morris Graves, Paul Horiuchi, Manuel Izquierdo, George Johanson, LaVerne Krause, David McCosh, Carl Morris, Hilda Morris, Amanda Snyder, Mark Tobey, and Jan Zach.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Haseltine continued to make major gifts of contemporary art to UOMA (University of Oregon Museum of Art, now JSMA) and her endowment established in the 1960s continues to provide support for additional acquisitions of Northwest artists’ works. In the decades since, the museum has maintained its focus on collecting, researching, and exhibiting Pacific Northwest art, with special attention on increasing representation of artists and perspectives not included in the original Haseltine gift.

Selected Works