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Ad Code: 4
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An example of work by Robert Bruce Inverarity
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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Biography from Stevens Fine Art:
| Robert Bruce Inverarity was a multi-talented individual who accomplished much in his lifetime. He was born in Seattle Washington July 7, 1909. In 1928 he became a student of Mark Tobey and shared an apartment with him. Tobey was teaching at Cornish College, Seattle at the time, and Inverarity eventually took over his classes.
Inverarity belonged to many prestigious organizations and print clubs and exhibited widely during his life. He was a painter, a print-maker, an author and also a photographer. He taught at the University of Washington before becoming head of the WPA for the state of Washington.
Pertaining to his achievements in the art world he had a one-man show at the Edward Weston Gallery, Carmel, Calfornia, 1929, and also a show of his paintings that same year in June at the Blanding Sloan Gallery among many others.
He was a member of the Northwest Printmakers Society and the California Watercolor Society. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London; and had a piece exhibited at the New York World’s Fair in 1939 and exhibited with the Brooklyn Society of Etchers in 1931. He had a one man show at the Hudson Bay Company, Vancouver, BC in 1931 and also a one man show at Gump’s in San Francisco in 1935.
While living in the Northwest, he traveled extensively doing paintings, pastels and watercolors of Alaska and etchings of old Seattle landmarks; some that no longer exist.
His artworks recorded awesome scenery visited with titles such as Kodiak, Alaska; Neah Bay, Washington; and Russian Church, Sitka Alaska.
Inverarity was permanently influenced by Northwest Indian motifs. In 1941, he designed two large murals done in linoleum mosaic depicting the history of chemistry for Bagley Hall, the University of Washington’s chemistry building.
Inverarity was also a noted author. He is said to have published six books and numerous pamphlets and papers including: The Art of the Northwest Coast Indians (published by the University Press Berkeley, 1950); Moveable Masks and Figures of the North Pacific Coast Indians (published by Bloomfield Hills, 1941); Northwest Coast Indian Art (published Seattle, 1946); and Masks and Marionettes of the Northwest Coast Indians, (published 1940).
Dr. Inverarity designed camouflage for the Navy before becoming head of the 13th Naval District’s art section in 1945. He was a dedicated anthropologist spending some twenty years in research among the tribes of the Northwest Coast. As such he was a Fellow of the American Anthropological Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He had an article printed in the Yearbook of Anthropology in 1955 titled “Anthropology in Primitive Art.”
During his years of study among Indian tribes from Oregon to the Yakatut Bay, 1000 miles north into Alaska, he began to amass what became an unrivaled collection of cultural Indian artifacts. Inverarity’s desire was to keep this collection intact. He was offered a “a tidy sum” and a promise to keep the collection together by the British Museum in 1976. Thus, this “last great collection of its time,” was stolen out from under the nose of rival museums here in the U.S.
Concerning his photography, Inverarity was friends with some of the best known artists of the 20th Century and photographed portraits of such noted artists as Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Morris Graves, Mark Tobey, Stanton McDonald Wright, Rockwell Kent and Man Ray. While photographing friends in the art world, he was busily documenting totem poles and landmarks with photos of the Northwest Coast and interspersing his books with the wonderful scenes that he captured.
One other facet of his life we cannot neglect was his administrative abilities. While an accomplished artist, anthropologist and author, Inverarity also took on other responsibilities. He developed and directed the International Folk Museum in Santa Fe (1953); the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, New York (1955); and the Philadelphia Maritime Museum (1976). In this capacity, he was a member of the American Ethnological Association and the American Association of Museums.
His accomplishments are truly monumental and astounding. One finds rarely a man with so many talents and such a large body of work to his credit.
He died Aug. 6, 1999. |
Biography from AskART:
| Born in Seattle, Washington on July 5, 1909, Robert Bruce Inverarity graduated from the University of Washington. He was a resident of Seattle in 1940 and Los Angeles in 1942-49.
During 1969-76 he was director of the Philadelphia Maritime Museum.
He died in La Jolla, CA on Aug. 6, 1999.
Exhibitons include the California Water Color Society, 1942-49. | Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
Who's Who in American Art 1940; Social Security Death Index (1940-2002). | | Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here. |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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