An American master, obscured by the shadows of the past, content to linger in the periphery of giants, at long last comes to light.
Born
October 23, 1918
Tacoma, WA
dIED
August 11, 1999
San Francisco, CA
Byron Randall led an extraordinary life. From his early years in Salem, Oregon, to his years settling down in a chicken coop in Tomales, California, he led a life as colorful and vibrant as his paintings. Byron traveled the world and it drastically shaped his art and his view of the world itself. At once sharp and blazing in your face the injustices of capitalism, fascism, sexism, the crimes against indigenous peoples.. yet in the next breath pulling you deeper into the beauty of the imaginal realm. Byron’s art is multifaceted, enigmatic. While he is unafraid to show the pains of this world, he is dually emboldened to showcase its beauty, with humor and whimsy, never crossing that thinnest of lines from the satirical into the cynical.
the man
Born in Tacoma, WA.
Raised in Salem, OR.
1918
Worked as a waiter, cook, booker, harvest hand, and chief cook in the Marion County Jail, painting in spare time.
1936-1938
In these pages we will explore the life, times -and most importantly, art- of Byron Randall. As listed above, we give a brief overview of his life, a fair sampling of his works and where they can be found on display, and -very soon- more in-depth conversations discussing all things Byron with the ‘In The Periphery’ podcast series. This series will cover everything from Byron’s political views, social/political/environmental activism, to the art itself and why his work and name are largely unknown to this day, despite having worked alongside such herculean artists as Emmy Lou Packard, Pablo O’Higgins, Frida Kahlo.. to name a few. This series will go on to serve as the basis for the Byron Randall Project’s next evolutionary leap, a large format art book that will further showcase his works and his story.
But for now, we invite you dear viewer to dive into the imaginative and exhilarating world of Byron Randall. He’s an outlier, a free thinker.. look closely.. in his art, as in his life, the details are in the periphery.
First one-man show at Salem Federal Art Center; One-man show at Whyte Gallery, Washington, DC; Featured in Newsweek Magazine, Oct. 16th 1939.
1939
Marries Canadian sculptor, Helen Nelson, influential in forming his commitment to social activism; Moved to Mexico; First child is born - Gale - Sept. 1940. Continues to develop as a painter, inspired by the vibrant people and landscapes of Mexico.
1940
Retrospective show at Salem Federal Art Center; Byron and Helen in North Beach area of San Francisco.
1941-1942
Joins WWII effort as a Merchant Marine, where he was a member of Marine Cooks and Stewards Union, which had a strong communist element; Works as a ship’s baker and continues to paint, inspired by shipboard scenes and travels to Hawaii, South Pacific Islands, Australia, and New Zealand.
1943-1945
Served as an arts correspondent for a Canadian news agency in Yugoslovia for six months; Travels to Eastern Europe, painting and making prints of post war imagery, including a series from Poland on Jewish themes, featuring portraits of Jewish refugee children and rebuilding the Warsaw ghetto.
1946-1947
Show of Yugoslav paintings at American Contemporary Gallery, Hollywood, CA; Show of Yugoslav prints in Toronto, Canada; Paintings included in 8th annual exhibition of the Society for Contemporary American Art, Chicago Art Institute.
1947-1948
Second child is born - Jonathon - May, 1948; Moves family to Mount Tamalpais/Mill Valley in San Francisco Bay Area; Illustrates Communist Manifesto in Pictures.
1948
Continues to show work in California, including SF MOMA exhibition that included paintings by Robert McChesney and Emmy Lou Packard.
1949-1953
1956-1958
One-man show at Tree Arts Gallery, Poughkeepsie, New York; Mural commissioned and executed by the Young Men and Women’s Hebrew Association, Montreal, Canada; Tragedy strikes when Byron’s wife, Helen, is killed by a car while crossing the street with eight year old Jon. Byron and his children return to San Francisco, moving to Water St., which inspires a series of mixed media paintings.
1959-1968
1969-1970
Marries print-maker and muralist Emmy Lou Packard, setting up a guesthouse and art gallery in Mendocino, California; Byron and Emmy Lou become founding members of Northern California’s chapter of the Peace and Freedom Party, organizing against the Vietnam War; As political and environmental activists, Byron and Emmy Lou are credited playing a prominent role in the campaign to protect the Mendocino coastline from commercial exploitation; Byron’s only grandchild is born - Laura - 1963; Byron completes series of oils on Mexican themes, carved and printed a series of lino and wood blocks; Exhibition at Salem Art Museum-Bush House of work between 1957 and 1960; Solo art show at Ampex Gallery, Palo Alto, CA.
Byron retreats to Hawaii to work on watercolor series; Byron and Emmy Lou divorce upon his return.
Byron travels to Mexico City, training with Pablo O’Higgins, and becomes a member of Taller Grafica.
1953
1954
Flees to Canada with family due to anti-communist hysteria prevelant in the United States at that time. Lives in Toronto and Montreal; As a card carrying member of the Communist Party for seventeen years, Byron captured the attention of the FBI, which began an extensive dossier on Byron’s political views.
1962
1964
“Emmy Lou and I decided today to do a series of prints on the theme of peace. We will use skeletons as the central element, those being eminently suitable to the present human condition… we want to contribute. Must write a letter to President Kennedy urging not to resume nuclear tests. This would continue the spiral that must certainly at some point result in Doomsday for a great part of humanity.”
Show of 30 prints in Moscow. The opening airs on Soviet Television.
1970 - 1980
Byron movest to Tomales, CA where he converts a chicken coop into his studio and establishes a guest house and gallery space; Continues to travel, spends large amount of time in Hawaii; Meets third wife in 1982, Eve Wieland, who dies of cancer three years later.
1978 - 1979
Byron travels to Scotland, purchasing a flat near his daughter Gale in Inverness, Highlands; Lives in Inverness for over a year, painting a large series of watercolors inspired by the Scottish landscape.
1980 - 1989
Byron continues to paint in oils and watercolors, creating an extensive linocut series of small prints, dense and often veering on abstraction, titled the ‘Kicking the Moon’ series; With a lifelong interest in labor and tools, Byron is credited by Guinness Book of Records with having the world’s largest collection of potato mashers.
1989 - 1999
As Byron’s health declined, Byron’s son Jon lived and cared for him in Tomales for the remainder of Byron’s life; Byron continued to produce many paintings during this time.
