Current Exhibitions

March 15 – November 15, 2023

A Pictorial Sequence Painted by R. H. Ives Gammell Based on The Hound of Heaven series is inspired by a 182-line religious poem by English poet Francis Thompson (1859–1907). The poem was first printed in 1890 and was later included in the Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse (1917). Thompson’s work was an influence on J. R. R. Tolkien, who presented a paper on Thompson in 1914.

R.H. Ives Gammell, an American painter of the Boston school, was drawn to the poem from childhood. But where in Thompson’s poem a man is pursued by God, Gammell’s interpretation reflected not so much a religious conversion but “a history of the experience known as a mental breakdown.”

Gammell began making plans to execute the pictorial sequence during World War II and completed the work in 1956. The 23 large paintings incorporate symbols drawn from C.G. Jung, ancient and medieval cultures, and biblical and mythological sources. For Gammell, Jung’s work had provided the link between “myths, symbols, and poetic imagery, and the perpetually recurring emotional patterns of human life from which they evolved.” The paintings were last displayed together at Maryhill in 2013.

I … Panel I from A Pictorial Sequence by R.H. Ives Gammell Based on “The Hound of Heaven,” 1941–1956, oil on board, 79” x 31”; Gift of the R.H. Ives Gammell Studios Trust, Collection of Maryhill Museum of Art, 2000.14.2

March 15 – November 15, 2023

In 2023, Maryhill Museum of Art will feature an exhibition on works of art that display nighttime scenes, so-called Nocturnes. From its wide ranging and eclectic collection, the Museum with one foot in the past and another in the future, offers cityscapes and landscapes captured at twilight and after dark. Featured works include Sailing Ships, Nantucket Light by Edward Moran, The Funeral of Victor Hugo by Alfred Phillipe Roll, multiple nighttime scenes of Portland streets by Guy Gilray and Michael Flohr, and a large diptych by Okanagan/Sinixt artist Joe Feddersen.

Alfred Philippe Roll (French, 1846–1919), The Funeral of Victor Hugo, 1885, oil on canvas, 27” x 33”; Gift of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, Collection of Maryhill Museum of Art, 1951.7.249

March 15 – November 15, 2023

Following R.H. Ives Gammell’s work beyond The Hound of Heaven, the Museum’s American Classical Realism Gallery will feature portraits by Gammell, his students, and his students’ students. These insightful works join painter Stephen Gjertson’s The Folly of Samson, already on display in the Gallery.

R.H. Ives Gammell (American, 1893–1981), Frances Easton Tufts, 1923, oil on canvas, 35” x 28”; Gift of Paul and Emily Keller, Collection of Maryhill Museum of Art, 2006.12.3