Percy L. Manser (1886–1973) was born in Kent, England, and attended the King Charles School of Art in Tumbridge Wells before immigrating to Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1904. Although Manser did not paint for eight years after his arrival, he did develop a fondness for the rugged beauty of North America. He married a Canadian woman, Clementine, and moved with her to British Columbia, where Manser made a living painting theater sets. In 1917, the couple moved to Hood River, Oregon, to take up fruit farming.
Manser was involved with the managing of the orchards, but spent most of his time making landscape paintings inspired by the natural grandeur and light of the mountains and valleys of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and Washington. He exhibited his paintings for the first time in 1919 at the Hood River County Fair. Soon after, his paintings received regional and national recognition earning him an eminent place in Northwest art.
During his career he won over 100 awards in exhibitions from Portland to New York. Several times during the 1930s he was selected to represent Oregon at the American Artists Professional League exhibition at Rockefeller Center in New York, and ended that decade with exhibits at the Seattle Art Museum and the Portland Art Museum.
As it does today, Maryhill Museum of Art served as a showcase for emerging Northwest artists when it opened in 1940, and the museum's first director, Clifford Dolph (1901–1979), developed a congenial relationship with Manser that resulted in several solo exhibitions at the museum from 1941 through 1956. In 1959, his work was featured at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle.
It was not uncommon for Percy Manser to have over twenty exhibitions and speaking engagements each year and then spend winters making new paintings. For example, in 1947 Manser’s exhibitions of new works included the following: Pacific Northwest Annual in Spokane, Washington; National in Springville, Utah; Oregon Society of Artists at the Portland Art Museum; Annual Spring Exhibit in Laguna Beach, California; and solo exhibits at Elfstrom Gallery in Salem, Oregon, at J. K. Gill Gallery in Portland, and at Greaves Gallery in San Francisco.
In an undated letter from Manser to Dolph, he states that he had sold his orchard and was painting full time but that he still had to decline numerous exhibition invitations because he had sold everything in the studio. When Manser was asked by a newspaper reporter about his tireless work ethic, he replied, "There are no shortcuts for one who wants to make good. Painting demands arduous work and study. One can become so occupied by his work that he forgets even his age."
Manser's devotion to his work resulted in his paintings being placed in the permanent collections of the Oregon Historical Society, the U.S. General Services Administration Collection at the Portland Art Museum, the History Museum of Hood River County, the University of Oregon, the University of Idaho, and numerous other institutions, as well as in dozens of private collections. This current exhibit provides an opportunity for a new generation of art viewers to become familiar with his work.
View a 5-minute video presentation of the Grandeur and Light exhibit given by Lee Musgrave, Curator of Exhibits.
