Michele Russo

(American, born 1909, died 2004)

Late artist Michele Russo (1909-2004) created figurative paintings exploring the human form and the human condition.

Born in Connecticut, Russo received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Yale University in Connecticut in 1934. He moved to Portland, Oregon in 1947 with his wife, fellow artist Sally Haley. He taught art at the Pacific Northwest College of Art from 1947 until his retirement in 1974. He co-founded the Portland Center for the Visual Arts in 1973, and was appointed to the Metropolitan Arts Commission in 1977. A fifty-year retrospective of his work was exhibited at the Portland Art Museum in 1988.