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Hilda Morris

American, 1911-1991


Details
Names

Hilda Morris

Morris, Hilda

Born

Pittsburgh 1911

Active

New York

Portland

Died

Orange 1991

Occupation or Type

painter

sculptor

Northwest artist

Oregon artist

Bio

In 1938 Hilda Morris moved to Spokane to work in the sculpture department of the WPA Art Center. She headed the Federal Art Project in Seattle in 1940-1941 where she met and married a young painter, Carl Morris. By this time she had gained international fame as a sculptor. They moved to Portland in 1941 and she joined the staff of the Museum Art School where she taught until 1943. She began exhibiting paintings including watercolors that served as studies for sculpture. The importance of angle and stroke was demonstrated both in her sculpture and her painting. Her later sumi ink work shows strong Asian influence. "What counts is the initial gesture." She favored root-like shapes and the circle as subjects. Titles "ancient" and "primal" often appear. She and her husband Carl won the Governor's Award for the Arts in 1985.

Artist biography reproduced with permission from the authors, Oregon Painters: the First Hundred Years (1859-1959), Ginny Allen and Jody Klevit.

Gender

Female

Related People

Teacher of: Mary Davis (American, 1907-1989)

spouse: Carl Morris (American, 1911-1993)

Related Artworks
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