1916-2012
The undisputed master painter of wildfowl on the wing is Harry Curieux Adamson whose exhibition of art, prints and posters includes 45 oil paintings plus numerous sketches and temperas from his 60-year career. Throughout his lengthy career, Adamson has observed, studied and painted waterfowl migrations and is best known for his flocks of mallards and pintails although occasionally he paints bighorn sheep, condors, falcons, and tropical birds.
Although not a hunter himself, the viewpoint of many of his art prints and posters is from the position of a duck blind, and he is an arch conservationist having donated more than three million dollars to conservation causes.
Born November 14, 1916, in Seattle, WA, Adamson, one of three children, was the second son of Harry E. and Augusta Adamson. The family settled on a four-acre farm just east of Hayward, CA, where young Harry grew up with 500 chickens and 200 apricot trees. He collected snakes and found he loved to draw and paint.
After serving our country for more than four years in World War II, the artist began his pursuit of a full-time career in portraying wildfowl in oil. Gradually his work found wider acceptance and in 1952 a pintail painting was purchased by the then President of Mexico, Miguel Aleman Valdez.
Throughout his lengthy career, Adamson had observed, studied and painted the colorful participants in the massive annual waterfowl migration. Although best known for his landscapes awash with flocks of mallards and pintails, on occasion Adamson has painted bighorn sheep, condors and falcons, and the unusual and colorful tropical birds encountered during his many trips abroad.