William Cumming

William Lee Cumming (March 24, 1917 – November 22, 2010) was a noted 20th-century American artist, often associated with the Northwest School. A controversial figure - he was a hardcore Stalinist for a long period, was married seven times, and was generally outspoken and opinionated - he eventually came to be respected as an important innovator and highly distinctive stylist in modern art, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.

Biography Evening Conversation, 1956, William Cumming. Collection of Woodside/Braseth Gallery. Cumming was born March 24, 1917, in Kalispell, Montana, to James Rutherford and Helen Dorcas (Edmiston) Cumming. His father was a salesman. The family moved to Portland, Oregon, and then, when Cumming was seven, to Tukwila, Washington, a farming community south of Seattle.

Although Cumming was close friends with most of the artists identified as members of the 'Northwest School', his mature work had little to do with the earth-toned, nature-inspired abstraction of the genre. His art was usually figurative, capturing moments of daily life using light and shadow to create form in broad strokes, and utilizing contrasting, vibrant colors to move the viewer through the painting and accentuate the main elements. His scenes usually included people or animals, either in motion or in slice-of-life portrayals. Facial details are minimal. As a life drawing instructor, Cumming would note that you could recognize a friend down the road just by their gait and posture, without ever seeing their face. Body language is a key element in his work. Because of this, he advocated that students paint figures from memory of observation instead of direct figure drawing.

In the late 1950s and early 60s Cumming's work won prizes in several northwest competitions, and in 1961 the Seattle Art Museum presented a very successful solo exhibition. During his marriage to Sue Kruger (at seventeen years, the longest of his seven marriages) he moved to Upper Preston, Washington, where the two raised horses, which became a frequent subject of Cumming's art. He continued teaching for the rest of his life, becoming well known for his outspoken opinions. He derided the pretensions of fine art, declaring that his favorite painter was Eustace Ziegler, a popular painter of romantic Alaskan landscapes. Another book, William Cumming: The Image of Consequence, by Cumming and Matthew Kangas, was also published in 2005, in conjunction with an exhibition of Cumming's work at the Frye Art Museum.

Cumming died of congestive heart failure on November 22, 2010, at age 93 in Seattle, Washington. William Cumming is buried in Seattle's Lakeview Cemetery, the same cemetery where founders of Seattle and Bruce Lee are laid to rest.