Robert Schlegel: Italian Journey
July 30 – September 27, 2025
Opening Reception: First Friday, August 1st, 5:30-7:30 pm.
Schlegel family in attendance!
Karin Clarke Gallery is pleased to present Italian Journey, a large,
solo exhibit of more than thirty smaller and medium-sized works by
the late and much beloved Oregon artist Robert Schlegel (1947-
2021). Many of these paintings on paper and canvas were created
during a trip to Italy in 2006, which Schlegel devoted to plein-air
painting, sketching, and studying the country’s artistic heritage.
Included are charming Tuscan hill towns, rolling hills punctuated by
cypress trees, as well as figures, still lives, and some of Schlegel’s
distinctive Oregon landscapes and houses. Most of these works are
being shown for the first time and all were recently framed for this special show that will surely
delight viewers and collectors alike.
Contrasting with the more subdued earth tones of his Oregon landscapes and farmhouses,
Schlegel’s Italian paintings feature a vibrant interplay of complementary colors: deep-green trees
and bright red rooftops, ochre fields and purple shadows. As always, compositional structure is
paramount: “There’s something about structure within me that I can’t seem to ever get rid of,”
Schlegel once said on PBS. Following land contours or the meanders of a river, his landscapes
are often based on a series of dynamic triangles and diagonal lines brought to harmonize with the
curves and verticals of trees. Meanwhile, in his cityscapes, triangular structures and diagonals are
integrated into a complex pattern of horizontal and vertical lines, softened in turn by the organic
shape of vegetation. Schlegel also liked to juxtapose landscape and manmade structures, and
Tuscany offered him plenty of opportunity to do so.
This emphasis on structure, on how colors, lines, planes, and shapes contrast and interact,
certainly served his lifelong intent to “move away from being photographically representational”
and to explore instead the fertile ground between abstraction and realism. Another crucial
element, and one very much at the root of the immense appeal of his work, was his willingness to
suggest expressively rather than precisely reproduce reality, to make room for mistakes, and to
give free rein to spontaneity and a singular vision often informed by whimsey. A playful stroke
or mark, an eloquent distortion, or a deliberate indeterminacy frequently inflects his pieces and
gives them a unique twist, mood, or quality.
Schlegel cited Giorgio Morandi as one of the painters who influenced him. After Morandi, with
its arrangement of overlapping bottles and shaky outlines, signals at once its direct inspiration
from the Bologna artist. Yet it is also instantly recognizable as a Schlegel, with its bold and
casual brush lines and found paper as support – here a page from a telephone book. Schlegel,
rather than providing an impression of solidity and durability, brings in an element of playfulness
and an intimation of ephemerality.
In this context, Schlegel’s series of bottle-shaped vases with flowers might almost be construed
as a more indirect and colorful tribute to Morandi. Coincidentally, the irregular shapes of the
vases, the wavering contours of vessels and blooms also appear in Morandi’s paintings. But
Schlegel, as is his wont, conjures up a lively texture out of visible brushstrokes, charcoal marks
and even collage, all of which make the still life objects seem alive. Echoing shapes and colors
also provide rhythm. Here too, the mood is playful, sometimes with a hint of melancholy as if
wilting might be imminent.
In this selection of Schlegel’s works, solidity of form seems to belong to figures, rather than still
life objects, whether the human subjects themselves appear awkward or self-assured. Schlegel’s
people are often ordinary and unassuming. Their features may be realistic, askew, or impossible;
merely suggested, blurred, or hidden. Yet each is seemingly caught in the process of being
themselves and each possesses an unmistakable specificity in the way they hold themselves,
inhabit their bodies awkwardly or with poise, appear oblivious or self-conscious. And we feel we
know something important about them.
Schlegel earned a BA from Willamette University and an MS from Portland State University. A
lifetime resident of Banks, Oregon, he became a full-time painter in 2002 until his untimely
death in 2021. He shared a studio with his brother Bill, also a printmaker and painter. His work
has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibits in California, Montana, Oregon and
Washington, and is included in many institutional collections across the country. The Hallie Ford
Museum also recently acquired a selection of his work to add to their permanent collection.
Additionally, Schlegel was featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting's Art Beat in 2016.
Schlegel’s family will be attending the opening reception on Friday, August 1st, from 5:30 to 7:30
pm. Please join us to celebrate this artist’s delightful work!
– Sylvie Pederson
Also check out other Arts events in Eugene, Fine Arts events in Eugene, Trips & Adventurous Activities in Eugene.
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