Ray Strong
American artist (1905-2006)
Ray Stanford Strong (January 3, 1905 – July 3, 2006) was an American painter from Corvallis, Oregon. He associated with the New Deal muralists in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Early life and education
Ray Strong was born in Corvallis, Oregon, the youngest of three brothers. Though trained in law, his father ran the family saw mill. Because of illness Ray was home schooled for two years, during which time he became intrigued by painting and drawing.
Strong was educated at the California School of Fine Arts (now known as San Francisco Art Institute) in San Francisco and the Art Students League of New York.
He later founded the San Francisco Art Students League (a cooperative space featuring an art gallery, art classes, and art supply store) and participated in the Works Progress Administration during the 1930s. He wanted to travel to Spain to fight in the Spanish Civil War but was persuaded by his friend Ansel Adams to remain in the United States and paint.
Works
Strong's 1934 painting, Golden Gate Bridge, was chosen by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to hang in the White House, celebrating the feat of engineering.
Strong's artwork includes the oil on canvas mural titled San Gabriel County in the San Gabriel, California post office, commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, and completed in 1938.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7298168. VIAF identifies the subject as 17158757. The Library of Congress control number is nr2002022084. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1905, 2006, 1934 and 1938.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ray Strong” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.