Barbara and Jack McLarty papers, 1937-2008

Jack McLarty (1919-2014) was a major Oregon modernist painter, with numerous works in the Hallie Ford Museum of Art collection. After graduating from Benson High School in Portland, he attended the Museum Art School and the American Artists School in New York City. He returned to Portland to teach for many years at the Museum Art School (now the Pacific Northwest College of Art). In 1961, he and his wife Barbara established the Image Gallery in Portland, one of the first Oregon galleries to deal in modern art.

Mclarty's work is said to have been influenced by his many trips to Mexico. Mediums include paint (oil, acrylic), print, and occasionally stained glass design and sculpture.

Barbara McLarty was born in Alberta, Canada in 1919 and moved to Oregon with her family as a child. She received her B.A. in Speech from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon in 1941. Since the early 1960s she has been actively involved in the Portland art scene. From 1961 to 1986, she operated the influential Image Gallery along with her husband.