Gordon Gilkey

Gordon Gilkey had a diverse and fascinating life. He studied art at the Art Students League, New York and the University of Oregon, Eugene earning the first degree they awarded in printmaking. During World War II, he served in the United States Army Air Corps and advised on cultural monuments to be spared from bombing. Following the Allied victory, Gilkey was named Chief of the War Department’s German War Art Program tasked with returning looted art to its rightful owners.

After the war, Gilkey became a professor and later dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Oregon State University. After retiring from the university he became the Curator of Prints and Drawings at Portland Art Museum. In 1993, he and his wife donated their extensive print collection to found the Vivian and Gordon Gilkey Center for the Graphic Arts at the museum.