Howard Rackliffe (1917-1987) renowned American abstract landscape painter drew upon the organic influences of nature, creating expressive compositions that recall the early American Modernists, but are infused with a bold and direct approach that is entirely Rackliffe’s own. Annual travels to the Maine coast served as fodder for his paintings that so passionately capture the rugged and elemental nature of the Down East landscape. Rackliffe was also an accomplished pianist and poet.

Rackliffe’s paintings have been featured in one-person exhibitions at the Todd Gallery, NY; the New Britain Museum of American Art, CT; and the Caldbeck Gallery, ME., and in group exhibitions at the Virginia Museum, Richmond, VA; Jacques Seligmann Gallery, NY; and the Ringling Museum, Sarasota, FL. He was one of eight artists featured in the 8 From Connecticut exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1960, that also included Cleve Gray and Bernard Chaet. His work was the focus of a retrospective exhibition in 1990 at the New Britain Museum of American Art, CT. that traveled to the Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, ME. Rackliffe’s works are represented in the collections of the Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA; Columbia University, NY; New Britain Museum of American Art, CT; Portland Museum of Art, ME; the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, MA and the Farnsworth Museum, ME.