Michele Russo

To commence our 40th anniversary year, Russo Lee Gallery is pleased to present Works from the Estate & Private Collections by Michele Russo. This curated selection brings together rarely exhibited works spanning the late 1960s through the early 2000s, offering a comprehensive look at one of the region’s most enduring artists. Russo painted in well-established historical genres, including figuration, still life, and abstraction. His iconic figures are often presented within the classical figure/ground relationship, while his abstract compositions are best characterized by both simplification and monumentality. Russo’s keen understanding of visual structure and his distinctive minimalist sensibility lends itself to the large scale of his canvases, inviting viewers into compositions that feel at once contemplative and powerfully direct.

A seminal voice in the cultural life of the Pacific Northwest, Michele Russo (1909–2004) made profound contributions as an artist, educator, and advocate. After graduating from Yale in 1934 and marrying fellow artist Sally Haley, he settled in Portland in 1947. Russo taught at the Pacific Northwest College of Art for more than 25 years, shaping generations of emerging artists, and was a passionate proponent of the arts during the politically charged climate of the 1950s. His leadership helped establish the Portland Center for the Visual Arts, and in the 1970s he became the first artist appointed to the Metropolitan Arts Commission. Throughout his distinguished career, Russo exhibited nationally, with works now held in significant public and private collections. In 1988, the Portland Art Museum honored him with a major fifty-year retrospective, reaffirming his stature as a cornerstone of Northwest modernism. Additionally, his work was featured in the Portland Art Museum’s exhibition In Passionate Pursuit: The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Collection and Legacy. As we celebrate four decades of championing artists of the Pacific Northwest, Russo Lee Gallery is proud to honor an artist whose vision remains foundational to the region’s artistic identity.

Works from the Estate and Private Collections

January 8 – 31, 2026

Press Release