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Recently, I discovered the paintings of Peggy Strong in an issue of American Art Review Magazine.    I was fascinated by the rich colors and brushwork in her portraits and their nuanced expressions.  It was a style that seemed bold and sensitive, and at the same time understanding classical proportion.  As I read on, what struck me was how early in her life she faced great odds against success of any kind.  While on a car trip across country to reach New York and travel to Paris for further art studies, she had an accident and became paralyzed. 

                Born in Tacoma Washington in 1912 to a family of some means, Peggy had devoted support for her recovery.  She never walked again and was confined to a wheelchair but continued to paint.  She joined arts organizations and participated in many juried shows, achieving numerous awards.  Her family encouraged her and she continued personal studies with Sarkis Sarkisian for portraiture, soon receiving a prestigious award from the Seattle Art Museum.  She was often lauded as a regional artist and written about as one with “indomitable pluck.” 

                Her paintings show the influence of the German Expressionist painters of the 1920’s.  In her lifetime, she mastered two art styles – abstract expressionism and stylized realism which she used for portraiture. Peggy loved the human figure.  When first hospitalized, she carved miniature figures from soap.  It is said that lying on her back, carving the soap held above her head, the shavings would fall in her eyes. She entered many competitions nationwide and won many prizes.  During the Great Depression she created murals through the Federal Art Projects of President Roosevelt and the New Deal.  One project was a large scale mural installation for the Post Office in Wenatchee, Washington.  She won the competition and was awarded $2600.   The mural had six large panels which she was able to paint by an elevator to lift her wheelchair designed by her engineer father.  He also created a steering and breaking mechanism for her car that helped her maintain some independence.  Her mural was a celebration of the history and industry of the region and included a stage coach, pioneers, logging and the apple and cattle industries.  When the six panels were complete the Seattle Art Museum exhibited the 18x7 foot work in September, 1940.  The Museum then gave her a solo art exhibit.  She completed a mural for the Tacoma Union Station in the USO Troops Transit Lounge.  The Paul Bunyan themed mural was later moved to the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma and now hangs in the Wheelock Student Center dining hall. 

                After this period, she moved to Denver and New York working on commissioned portraits.  She joined the prestigious Portraits, Inc. in New York City, which served a well to do clientele.  There she joined many of the finest portrait artists in the country working on the commissions.  Within a few years, Peggy headed back to the West Coast, first living in a houseboat in Sausalito then an apartment on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco.  She befriended Howard Thurman, the respected theologian and founder of the Fellowship Church which she attended.  His emphasis on those who were suffering or marginalized in society spoke to Peggy and she became close friends with him.  He wrote about her in his autobiography, clearly demonstrating his respect and admiration for her.  She gave him painting lessons, and he gave her a solo exhibition at his church. 

                Later on Peggy’s worked expressed more clearly her own suffering in life.  She traveled to Europe and visited many of the finest art museums where she discovered the works of Francisco de Zuburan and his depiction of martyrs.  Her later work shows this sense of sorrow and conflict that had now been revealed earlier.  Her death came early, in 1956, from kidney disease. She was just 44 years of age.

 

                As I reflect on her life and work, I am impressed by the beauty she saw in people and the world around her and how powerfully she represented this vision in her art.  She did not allow her disability to hinder her and moved forward confidently facing the real challenges her condition presented.  She is an inspiration, and her art is full of grace, boldness, movement and color.