Henk Pander papers

Dutch artist Hendrik Pieter (Henk) Pander was born in Haarlem, Netherlands in 1937. The first of ten children born to Jacob (Jaap) Pander and Hendrica Smedes Pander, he began painting at the age of 9. He learned from his father, also a painter and illustrator, while drawing and painting as a youth on the Haarlem dunes.

Pander studied art at Amsterdam’s Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten between 1956 and 1961. He won the Silver Medallion of the Prix de Rome in 1961 and the Therese van Duyl-Schwarze Portrait Award in 1964. While in Amsterdam, he was commissioned to create works for the Dutch Government, the Dutch National Railways, and the City of Amsterdam. In 1965, Pander immigrated to Portland, Oregon, where he still resides.

While in Portland, Pander’s commissions include portraits of Governor Tom McCall and Governor John Kitzhaber; documentary paintings for Project Galileo for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and murals for the Port of Portland, the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, the Oregon State University Memorial Union, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Pander’s awards include the first Oregon Arts Commission Master Fellowship in Painting in 1991, the State of Oregon Governor’s Award for the Arts in 2005 and the Regional Arts and Cultural Council Visual Artist Fellowship. His exhibitions have been in Museums and Galleries across the United States and the Netherlands including the Portland Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the New England School of Art and Design, the Vakbondsmuseum, and the Museum Henriette Polk.

In addition to his painting, Pander was co-founder of the Storefront Theatre in 1970, founded the City of Portland’s Visual Chronicle, and served on the Portland Metropolitan Arts Commission and Public Art Advisory Committee. He also designed sets for the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, the Portland Dance Theater, the Oregon Ballet Theater and the Storefront Theatre.