Carl Morris, Pioneering Artist Who Nurtured Northwest Arts Community

PORTLAND - Carl Morris, whose abstract paintings of the Northwest helped nurture the region's fledgling arts community and brought him national recognition, has died. He was 82.

Morris died Thursday morning at St. Vincent Hospital and Medical Center after a heart attack, said hospital spokeswoman Catherine Keniston.

A towering presence in the Northwest arts community, Morris transferred the natural colors, rhythms and forms of the region to canvas using abstract images critics say convey a spiritual quality.

"There was no one like him in the history of Oregon painting," said John Weber, curator of a retrospective of Morris' work scheduled to open at the Portland Art Museum in September.

Morris was born in Yorba Linda, Calif., in 1911. His education came from the Chicago Art Institute and three years of study in Vienna and Paris. In 1938, he became director of the Spokane Art Center in Washington.

Morris found a tiny arts community with no galleries when he moved to Oregon with his wife, Hilda, a renowned sculptor, in 1941 to work on a mural commissioned for the Eugene post office.

"Carl sort of made it happen here," said Portland sculptor Mel Katz. "Carl was that figure who made art important in the community. He was a frontiersman."

Morris worked in the Portland shipyards during World War II. He met Mark Rothko, who introduced him to the New York community of abstract expressionists, including Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still.

His work found its way into exhibitions at America's most important museums.

After gallbladder surgery last week, Morris responded to questions about the purpose of his art, and wrote of the difficulty of explaining his work to people unfamiliar with abstract painting.

"Music is the most abstract of the arts. It is the envy of all the other forms. One listens to music and accepts the response. There is not the question, `What does it mean?' Yet the meaning is there in the listening.

"Painting should be viewed with the same openness of mind and heart," he said. "Just experience the work. Don't try to explain it. To explain it is to remove the mystery. To remove the mystery is to remove the content."

Morris was preceded in death by his wife, Hilda, and is survived by his son, David, a New York sculptor. No memorial services had been planned.