An artist of uncommon skill who quietly shaped Montana's early contemporary arts scene is finally getting his due.

The work of the late Henry Meloy is on display at the Holter Museum of Art through Dec. 30 in an exhibition called "The Portraits."

If you know a Meloy in Helena, there's a good chance they're somehow related to Henry, and that includes nationally known writer Maile Meloy and her brother, musician Colin Meloy, front man of indie rock band The Decemberists, to whom Henry is a great uncle.

Although they never knew him, even those two probably owe a debt to Henry and the early Meloys, who, according to Helena attorney Mike Meloy (their father), raised their children in a household where art was a way of life.

To Mike, Henry was Uncle Hank, the East Coast college professor who spent his summers in Montana making art alongside his father, ceramist Peter Meloy.

"It was just as ordinary to have someone painting us as it was to have cereal in the morning," says Mike, who remembers his uncle as a gentle man who painted and sketched prolifically.

During the school year, Henry was an art professor at Columbia University and ran around with a group of well-known artists and actors in New York City.

"He was in New York because that's where his creative energies were rejuvenated I think," says Mike. "It's where things are happening."

As one of few family members with a decent-paying job, Mike says that Henry would regularly send money to his family back home. In fact, a $50 check from Henry allowed Peter to finish a semester at the University of Montana School of Law one year when times were especially tight.

Along with the thrill of New York City, Henry also loved Montana and he returned every summer to paint on the family ranch in Townsend.

One year, Henry and Peter became acquainted with a local art lover named Archie Bray, with whom they quickly became good friends.

"Dad and Hank were doing pottery and they got their clay from Archie," says Mike.

Peter and Archie eventually hatched a plan to build a pottery for artists at Archie's brickyard.

Only Peter was alive to see the plan through, but Henry's limited involvement left a lasting impression on artists in Montana, including the late Rudy Autio, who described Henry as an artist of "sublime ability" and often credited him as an important influence.

Henry Meloy died of a heart attack in Grand Central Station at the age of 49.

After his death, the family held onto his extensive collection, which went mostly unseen for many years.

In recent years the collection was donated to the University of Montana, which agreed to preserve, catalogue and exhibit the works.

The traveling exhibition now featured at the Holter includes intimate family portraits as well as female figures done in a variety of styles.

Mike, who says he was too young to appreciate his uncle's talent when he was alive, says the exhibit has given him new appreciation for pieces that he's seen many, many times.

"I have really never seen all of this stuff hanging in a way that really displays his brilliance," says Meloy.

In his view, Henry's skill lies in the ability to suggest depth with just the simplest series of brushstrokes.

"He just has this either innate or learned ability to use a line," Meloy says.

"That's one of the things that most really great artists have in common," he added.

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