Portland Art Museum & PAM CUT
Judy Pfaff is an innovator, acclaimed for her groundbreaking work in installation art during the 1970s. At a time when minimalism was prized, she approached spaces with maximal intention, filling galleries with maze-like accumulations of materials in linear and geometric shapes. Some have called it “painting in space.” Pfaff’s works on paper, like the one… Read more
Happy New Year! Artists have long marked the occasion by sending original prints to their friends and family. In this example by German sculptor and printmaker Renée Sintenis (1888–1965), the pup looks exhausted by the festivities. The artist took advantage of drypoint’s ability to create a raised ragged edge to capture ink (known as the… Read more
As many of us gather this weekend with our households, extended family and friends, or even just our furry companions, we will center time together, and may even take a moment to sing, play games, watch a movie, or go for a walk. This piece by Maurice Denis, featured in the current exhibition, Private Lives,… Read more
Are you ready for the holidays? In this lithograph, American artist Adolf Dehn (1895–1968) offers us a view of Christmas Eve in 1931. There are only a few small presents beneath the tree–perhaps a reference to the Great Depression that was seizing the country–but the little fir is covered with lights and ornaments. Two busy… Read more
Emerging Zodiac is an exceptional example of Parkinson’s work and her dedicated interest in the human body in relation to the greater cosmos. The model of the dancing figure is artist Eiko Otake, a movement-based, interdisciplinary artist who has performed several times @picapdx. Inspired by Otake’s movements, Parkinson has documented these performances. Emerging Zodiac is… Read more
As the current Private Lives exhibition makes clear, the Nabis artists loved depicting children. Not only were they part of the artists’ intimate family circles, but children also offered an example of how to view the world with a fresh perspective. Drawing inspiration from Pierre Bonnard’s Family Scene, we invite you to write from the… Read more
After a hot, dry, summer, I cheered the recent return of rain to Portland. More than 100 years ago, French artist Pierre Bonnard captured the magic of a rainy night in Paris. In the foreground, a woman with a plumed hat trimmed with red flowers moves to the right. Behind her, another parisienne gingerly steps… Read more
As cooler temperatures roll in, I am already feeling nostalgic for summer. This moody etching by Beatrice S. Levy captures some of the longing and freedom of the season. Born in Chicago and educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Levy quickly distinguished herself in both painting and printmaking. In 1915, Song… Read more
It has been more than one year since Write Around Portland and the Portland Art Museum began collaborating on weekly, art-inspired writing prompts to sustain our souls and our sense of connection during the pandemic. Write Around Portland staff and writing workshop facilitators have created over 60 writing prompts inspired by works in the Portland… Read more
Artist, teacher, and color theorist Josef Albers spent decades refining his concepts of color relationships and form. Formulation: Articulation, published after his retirement from the art department at Yale University, is a compendium of Albers’s research. Albers considered this book to be a work of art in its own right—not purely didactic. In his words,… Read more