Sam Hugh Harris
American, 1919-2018

Artist, poet and writer Sam Hugh Harris was born in Los Angeles in 1919, the son of Sam Hyde Harris (1889-1977) who distinguished himself as a early California plein air landscape painter, illustrator, and teacher.

Like his father, the younger Sam Harris began his artistic vocation at an early age, first under his father’s tutelage and later, studying figurative and still life painting at the Otis Art Institute and the Carmel Art Institute.

After serving in Asia during World War II, Harris spent five years traveling and painting in Europe. His art was exhibited widely to great success in France and Italy. Coming home to Carmel-by-the-Sea with his Italian wife Silvana Conte, he continued painting in oil, watercolor, ink and gouache, rendering five distinct subjects with his impressionist’s brush: European and Monterey Peninsula landscapes; interior, spiritual journeys; mythological landscapes; superb portraiture; and unique meditations on all aspects of life as an artist, including profound ruminations on artistic legacy.