MAC Artist Profile

Henk Pander

Henk Pander and his oil painting, "View from the West Hills," are the subject of our fourth in an ongoing series of articles introducing MAC members to the club’s impressive collection of Northwest artists curated over the past 50 years.

We interviewed Henk at his home and studio in SE Portland where he has lived for 37 years. We arrived and were introduced to his wife, Jody, whom he had married just two days before our meeting! Being in their home is the equivalent of being in a theater. The props, fabrics, plants, and fresh flowers that Henk incorporates in his work are integral to both his living space and three-story studio. They serve as dramatic backgrounds for his work while simultaneously creating sensory stimulation.

Hendrik (Henk) was born in 1937 and raised in Haarlem, the Netherlands. The eldest of 10 children, he and his siblings were influenced by their father, Jaap Pander, a well-known artist, illustrator, and portrait painter. Henk and four of his siblings became respected artists in their own right. “We are an artistic family, and my dad was a perpetual influence,” Henk commented. He spoke at some length about his life during World War II, specifically about witnessing events that continue to haunt him — the constant terror of air raids, Nazis breaking into homes, his father hiding, neighbors disappearing, the family’s lack of food, and their constant struggle to survive. It was this background that left an indelible mark on Pander and has resulted in his commitment to create meaningful, complex pieces.

Pander graduated from Amsterdam’s prestigious Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (Academy of Fine Arts) in 1963. He immigrated to the United States, arriving in Portland in 1965 with his wife, Marcia, and their young son, Jacob. When he first arrived he accepted a teaching position at the Museum Art School. After 1968 he became an independent artist who made his living in portrait painting and set design for local theaters. His first exhibition was in 1966 at the Portland Art Museum where he was impressed by artists Robert Colescott and Jay Backstrand both of whom, like Pander, incorporated race, sex, and politics into their work. Now, more than 50 years later, he continues to believe that art should reflect the contemporary and often challenging issues of our time.

The MAC piece, "View from the West Hills," a 6x20-foot oil painting, was commissioned for the club’s front entrance in 1986 and completed in 1987. When Pander was originally approached by the chair of the Art Committee, he responded: “I know just what this space needs!” Pander did the original watercolor study en plein air from Market Street Drive in the Goose Hollow neighborhood. The initial composition study — a smaller watercolor still life — currently hangs in the ladies’ lounge area of the Women’s Locker Room.

"View from the West Hills" remained in the front entry for more than 30 years until last year’s front entry remodel. It is now hung on the high wall opposite the Sports Pub, where it appears to be an actual window. Pander told us that the painting describes the relationship of the club to the city of Portland. We were curious about the moon in the background, and he explained that it is intended to portray the larger world we live in, and that it unites the right and left side of the painting. Pander was told by an architect from the firm Zimmer Gunsul Frasca that the spires protruding on the horizon were an inspiration for the spires of the Portland Convention Center, which was constructed shortly after he finished the MAC commission.

The influence of the Dutch Masters and 20th century Dutch painting is clearly evident in Henk Pander’s works, and it is juxtaposed with his observations on contemporary history. The result is intense, complex art that documents the events of our times and invites the viewer to interpret them. His two sons, Jacob and Arnold, known commercially as The Pander Brothers, are filmmakers, artists, muralists, and award-winning creators of comic books. They were commissioned by the MAC in 2020 to create "Next Level," the large mural in the Fitness Room.

When he is not working in his studio, Pander enjoys the outdoors and the beautiful landscapes of the American West, Pacific Northwest, Arizona, and Northern Europe. He often travels in his trailer for weeks at a time, painting watercolors en plein air.

Pander has made a 60-year career of recording the important contemporary and often poignant events of our times through portraits, still lifes, and large-scale compositions. His portraits of Governors Tom McCall and John Kitzhaber hang in the state Capitol in Salem. His portrait of Jo Ann Hardesty, the first Black woman elected to Portland City Council, was purchased by and can be viewed at the Portland Art Museum. He has also painted events such as the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, the 1999 wreck of the New Carissa, and the 2001 World Trade Center ruins, all of which focus on visual evidence in the aftermath of catastrophe.

The artist is part of collections at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, the Smithsonian, the Frye Museum in Seattle, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon, the Henriette Polak Museum in Zutphen, Netherlands, the Portland Art Museum, the Oregon Historical Society, the Hallie Ford Museum, and the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, along with numerous private collections and others.

Upcoming exhibitions include a Portland show at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, 724 NW Davis St. from Feb. 3 to May 15.

Henk Pander can be reached at hpander@comcast.net or via his website, henkpander.com.

—Jeanne Neville and Nancy Smith