Raymond Leroy Hill (1891 – 1980)
Death Valley Pattern, circa 1930
Oil on canvas

20”h x 30”w
Signed lower right

Raymond Hill was noted early in his career for his watercolor western landscapes, especially views of Chelan, Washington and the Teton Mountains, and later, he painted abstractions. He was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts on January 8th 1891. He was a pupil at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence and The California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco California, and in Rome, Italy studied with Dante Sicci.

From 1927 to 1961, he was a professor in the art department at the University of Washington in Seattle, and as part of his teaching, established an “Art Vacation” program at Chelan.

He had one-man exhibitions at the Denver Art Museum; Seattle Art Museum; Gumps department store in San Francisco; Provincetown, Art Gallery; Providence Art Club. Tacoma Art League; Henry Gallery, and the University of Washington.

Hill suffered shell shock during World War I, and was extremely nervous appearing as a result. Of him, Andrew Chin, a student of Hill, said: “He got highly nervous, you know. And yet, surprisingly, see, his painting is so calm. . . there was almost a kind of Asian quality to his landscapes.” (Kangas)

Bio from Doris Dawdy, Artists of the American West