BERTA WALKER GALLERY Creative Couples: 1890-Present

Seven Exhibitions, Two Galleries, 175 Creative Couples actors, artists, writers, filmmakers, photographers, musicians, dancers, curators

Creative Couples Exhibition #5 of series of 7 PROVINCETOWN July 26 - August 17

Opening Reception Friday, July 26, 6 - 8 PM

Dorothy Lake Gregory, "Ross Moffett, Sailing", oil on panel, 11.5 x 15.5"

Ross Moffett, (1888-1971) , Unloading the Catch of the Day, oil on canvas, 21 x 30"

one couple focus exhibitions Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872-1930) & Marion Campbell Hawthorne (1870-1945)

Oliver Chaffee (1881-1944) & Ada Gilmore (1882-1955) Ross Moffett (1888-1971) & Dorothy Lake Gregory (1893-1975)

and

creative couples of the Hawthorne & Hensche schools Salvatore & Josephine Del Deo, Arthur & Heather Egeli,

Cedric Egeli & Joanette Hoffman Egeli, Henry Hensche & Ada Raynor, Agnes Weinrich, Helen Weinrich & Karl Knaths; George & Shirley Yater

Please note

EXTENDED IN WELLFLEET through July 27 Creative Couples of the Fine Arts Work Center

A magical Trio: Karl Knaths & Helen Weinrich Knaths & Agnes Weinrich

Creative Couples Exhibition #5 , opening July 26 in Provincetown Celebrating Charles W. Hawthorne's legacy through focus exhibitions of Charles & Marion Hawthorne and his students Oliver Chaffee, Ross Moffett, Dorothy Lake Gregory, and Agnes Weinrich. Additionally, creative couples from the Henry Hensche School will be shown.

As much as Hawthorne advanced his theories on how to see color and paint, he did not tell his students what to paint. It was as much a philosophy on how to see and live life to the fullest as a philosophy of painting. Charles W. Hawthorne wrote "Art is a necessity, beauty we must have in the world. Painting and sculpture and music and literature are all of the same piece as civilization, which is the art of making it possible for human beings to live together. When I speak of art I mean painting, architecture, music, the art of literature,

sculpture, the theatre in fact everything that's creative - anything that makes a thought, an idea, or a thing grow where nothing grew before...".

Charles W. Hawthorne, (1872-1930) Carcassone, 1929, watercolor, 14 x 20"

Berta Walker Gallery celebrates Hawthorne's great truth through its season-long celebration of Creative Couples of the Provincetown Art Colony, 1890-Present, and indeed all individuals who have created art, architecture, music, poetry brought it to the consciousness of our community and the world. In the Berta Walker Gallery's 30th Anniversary celebration, we are presenting the category "creative couples" as a guideline for making it possible to briefly visit, in one season, the Colony's unique history of hundreds and hundreds of exceptionally creative individuals in many mediums in the arts. Through these Creative Couples we celebrate Hawthorne's words that "art makes it possible for human beings to live together! Art is the necessity of civilization."

Oliver Chaffee, (1881-1944)

Indian, c. 1938-40, oil on board,

23 7/8 x 18"

Creative Couples in Focus Charles Webster Hawthorne & Marion Campbell Hawthorne

Oliver Chaffee & Ada Gilmore Ross Moffett & Dorothy Lake Gregory

Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872-1930) artist

and Marion Campbell Hawthorne

(1870-1945) artist

Throughout the early decades of this century, the name CHARLES WEBSTER HAWTHORNE was virtually synonymous with the thriving community of Provincetown painters, sculptors, writers, musicians and actors, that gathered in Provincetown each summer. Hawthorne opened his school in

Provincetown in 1899. Earlier, in 1896, he discovered William Merritt Chase's summer school, where he was to meet his future wife, Marion Campbell, a very gifted young painter. Born in Lodi, Illinois, he grew up near the ocean in Richmond, Maine, where his father was a captain of the trading ships that plied the New England coast. He left Maine for New York City in 1890. Marion and Charles married in 1903, and worked together during the time Charles ran his Provincetown art school, until he died in 1930. In 1908, their son, Joseph, was born. Joe was a musician and orchestra conductor who later launched the Provincetown Symphony. Like many artists' wives, Marion devoted her time to domestic chores, raising her son and advancing her husband's career. In 1936, she compiled and published her husband's teaching notes, "Hawthorne on Painting." A one-person exhibition of Marion's watercolors was recently presented at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum to rave reviews. Berta Walker had presented a one-person show for Marion Hawthorne in 1991 at the outset of her new gallery in Provincetown, in collaboration with Marion's son Joseph Hawthorne. Also shown, were the recently discovered watercolors of Charles Hawthorne's, which Walker helped Joe Hawthorne organize for a major exhibition at the Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.

Marion C. Hawthorne, (1870-1945) From Miller Hill, Provincetown, oil on board, 16 x 18"

Marion and Charles married in 1903, and worked together during the time Charles ran his Provincetown art school, until he died in 1930. In 1908, their son, Joseph, was born. Joe was a musician and orchestra conductor who later launched the Provincetown Symphony. Like many artists' wives, Marion devoted her time to domestic chores, raising her son and advancing her husband's career. In 1936, she compiled and published her husband's teaching notes, "Hawthorne on Painting." A one-person exhibition of Marion's watercolors was recently presented at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum to rave reviews. Berta Walker had presented a one-person show for Marion Hawthorne in 1991 at the outset of her new gallery in Provincetown, in collaboration with Marion's son

Charles W. Hawthorne, (1872-1930) The Pasture, Provincetown, c. 1927-30

watercolor, 14 x 20"

Joseph Hawthorne. Also shown, were the recently discovered watercolors of Charles Hawthorne's, which Walker helped Joe Hawthorne organize for a major exhibition at the Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.

Oliver Chaffee (1881-1944) artist & Ada Gilmore (1882-1955) artist

OLIVER CHAFFEE first came to Provincetown in 1904 studying with Charles Hawthorne for four summers. He then moved to France, returning again to Provincetown in 1914 because of the threat of war. Many of his friends in Paris, with whom he'd painted and to whom he'd introduced his cherished teacher Charles Hawthorne, joined him, including Hartley and Blanche Lazzell. In 1920-24, Chaffee & his family traveled throughout France, and he maintained an apartment in Paris, exhibiting at the Salon

d'Automne. With health problems and his desire to stay in Europe, he was divorced. He then moved to Vence, "A faraway Provincetown suburb." where he enjoyed the camaraderie of his Provincetown friends including Hartley, Yasuo Kuniyoshi and Reginald Marsh, while establishing contacts with European artists such as Chaim Soutine, Albert Gleizes, Jules Pascin. Chaffee married Ada Gilmore in 1926, an artist whom he had known from prewar Paris and Provincetown. They settled in Vence until 1928 when they returned to Provincetown where they became active in modernist circles that included Agnes Weinrich & Karl Knaths.

Oliver Chaffee, Coral Snake, 1935-36, watercolor, 12 1/2 x 14 1/2"

ADA GILMORE was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1883 and died in Provincetown in 1955. She was recognized as both a print maker and water colorist. Her first art training took place at the Belfast School of Art in Northern Ireland, where Gilmore lived with an aunt after the death of her father when she was 12 (her mother had died four years earlier). After returning to the United States in 1900, she studied at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Gilmore exhibited drawings in the Independent Artists group show in New York City in 1910, and three years later, traveled to Paris. There, she studied woodblock printing with Ethel Mars, an artist who was part of Gertrude Stein's avant-garde circle. In 1915 she came to Provincetown with a small group of expatriate artists from Europe. In Provincetown she continued with printmaking and is one of the original six artists (along with Blanche Lazzell, B.J.O. Nordfeldt, Ethel Mars, Maud Hunt Squire, and Mildred McMillen) credited with the genesis of the Provincetown white-line woodblock print. She traveled to France in 1923 for a reunion with her former instructor and friend, Ethel Mars. During her time in Vence, France, she became reacquainted with Oliver Chaffee, and

Ada Gilmore, (1882-1955), Calla Lily & Rose, 1932, watercolor on paper, 14 x 16 1/2"

the two married. Profoundly inspired by the Modern style of artwork produced by Oliver Chaffee and circle of artists with whom he was associated, which included Marsden Hartley, Jules Pascin, and Albert Gleizes, Gilmore began to replace printmaking with painting. She continued painting for the remainder of her career. Gilmore's small, delicate, fresh watercolors and white line prints are homey, everyday scenes of women gardening, doing laundry, and resting, as well as insightful "portraits" of village cottages and streets. They have a bright, light-filled quality that appears totally modern today. Her white line woodcuts "intentionally replicate the translucent quality of watercolor paintings and were often mistakenly identified as such," wrote Barbara Parker, curator 1988, "Ada Gilmore Woodcuts and Watercolors" Mary Ryan Gallery in New York City. Ada Gilmore's art is scarce and it is with huge pleasure that Berta Walker Gallery will be able to re-introduce this special artist again in Provincetown.

Ross Moffett (1888-1971) artist & Dorothy Lake Gregory (1893-1975) artist, illustrator

ROSS MOFFETT is a Provincetown artist of legendary status. Chris McCarthy, Director of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum observed: "Ross Moffett was a groundbreaking Modernist using Provincetown to create a new way of seeing." Arriving in Provincetown to study with Charles Hawthorne in 1913, Moffett settled here full-time in 1915, becoming one of the founders of the Provincetown Art Association. Along with art historian, poet and musician Josephine Del Deo, Ross Moffett was largely responsible for preserving over 3,000 acres of state-owned Province Lands included in the Cape Cod National Seashore today. It could have gone to developers but Instead became part of a wonderful park preserved for everyone, a place of wilderness, "just around the corner" from the busy streets of Provincetown. The son of an Iowan farm family, Moffett painted with an intense personal focus, composing canvases which inevitably reflected the character of his life on the farm; he transposed those values to the life of the Provincetown fisherman. For over half a century Ross Moffett lived and worked in Provincetown, painting its beaches and harbors, its dunes, homes, fishing vessels and its people. "My subject was life in Provincetown as I absorbed it visually during my many walks in the town...". An archaeologist and painter, he painted and protected the Provincetown environment from 1913 until his death in 1971. By 1919, Moffett was painting with enormous energy and gaining "a reputation as a 'young lion' of the art community," wrote Josephine Del Deo in her book Figures in A Landscape: The Life and Times of the American Painter, Ross Moffett (1888-1971). She also described his art as "compelling and enigmatic", and portraying a "mystic solemnity." The world is enhanced by the great friendship Ross Moffett and Josephine Del Deo shared. Josephine spent 40 years writing a book that allows us special insight not only to Ross Moffett's life, but also into the lives of many of the great artists who have lived and worked in Provincetown for now over 100 years. Ross Moffett... In 1926, participating in the Carnegie International exhibition, Moffett was to be described

Ross Moffett, (1888-1971), Intellectual Pawn Shop, 1930, oil on canvas,

25 x 20"

as "one of the best of the young Provincetowners," by Harvey B. Gaul, critic of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, world renowned musician, and summer resident of Provincetown since 1915. (And, in the great "six degrees of separation tradition," Harvey Gaul was Berta Walker's grandfather.)

DOROTHY LAKE GREGORY was born in Brooklyn, NY and showed artistic talent early in life. As a teenager, she was already doing professional line drawings of children for a local newspaper. At age 17, she and her brother were taken by their father to Europe to be exposed to classic art and music. After her return, she enrolled at the Pratt Institute in New York and studied at the Art Student League with Robert Henri. It was there that she would meet her future husband, Ross Moffett. At the urging of a fellow student, Gregory went to Provincetown in 1914 to study with Charles Hawthorne. It was there that her relationship with Moffett developed; their marriage lasted for almost 51 years.

Dorothy Lake Gregory, (1893-1970), Circus Juggler, casein, 12 x 10"

EXTENDED IN WELLFLEET

through July 27

Creative Couples of the Fine Arts Work Center

Left Irene Lipton, Right Phil Smith

A Magical Trio: Karl Knaths &

Helen Weinrich Knaths & Agnes Weinrich

top, Agnes Weinrich, bottom, Karl Knaths left. Karl Knaths, right, Agnes Weinrich

CLOSING THIS SATURDAY IN PROVINCETOWN

Robert Henry artist & Selina Trieff artist Carmen Cicero artist & Mary Abell writer and art historian

Grace Hopkins "Patterns of Portugal" abstract photography taken in Portugal

Upcoming Exhibitions

PROVINCETOWN GALLERY (Receptions Friday, 6 - 8 pm) August 23 - September 14 One Couple Exhibitions: Blair & Paul Resika and Miz & Hans Hofmann Creative Couples: Students of Hofmann & Abstract artists

WELLFLEET August 3 - August 31 One Couple Exhibition: Nancy Whorf artist & Herman Tasha, jeweler "Creative Solos" of the BWG: Donald Beal, Varujan Boghosian,Romolo Del Deo, Joseph Diggs, Gilbert Franklin, Ed Giobbi, Grace Hopkins, Brenda Horowitz, Judyth Katz, John Kearney, Anne MacAdam, Erna Partoll, Sky Power, Susumu Kishihara, John Thomas Reception: Saturday, August 10, 4 - 6 pm

Gallery Hours PROVINCETOWN

May 23 to June 30: 11am to 4pm, Thursday to Monday, closed Tuesday, Wednesday July: 11am to 4pm, closed Tuesday August 11am to 5pm, closed Tuesday September: 12pm to 4pm, Thursday to Sunday October on: Weekends, 12 to 4pm or by appointment

WELLFLEET May 23 to June 30: 11am to 4pm, Thursday to Monday closed Tuesday, Wednesday July: 11am to 4pm, closed Tuesday, Wednesday August 11am to 5pm, closed Tuesday September: 12 to 4pm, Thursday to Sunday October on: By appointment

"Berta Walker's gallery mission is voiced in the motto that has guided her over the years, 'Presenting the History of American Art as seen through the Eyes of Provincetown'. She aims for nothing less than documenting the role that artists associated with Provincetown have played in the major movements in American art...making the past vital to the living artists she represents, replenishing the present with a curatorial finesse that is highly regarded." Andre van der Wende, Provincetown Arts Representing: Donald Beal, Varujan Boghosian, Polly Burnell, Romolo Del Deo, Salvatore Del Deo, Joseph Diggs, Rob DuToit, Ed Giobbi, Elspeth Halvorsen, Robert Henry, Grace Hopkins, Brenda Horowitz, Penelope Jencks, David Kaplan, Judyth Katz, Anne MacAdam, Danielle Mailer, Erna Partoll, Jim Peters, Sky Power, Blair Resika, Paul Resika, Peter Watts, Murray Zimiles Frequent guests: Susumu Kishihara, Dana McCannel, John Thomas Estates: Gilbert Franklin, Budd Hopkins, John Kearney, Gloria Nardin, Selina Trieff, Ione Gaul Walker, Nancy Whorf Masters in Our Collections: Gerritt Beneker, Byron Browne, Oliver Chaffee, James Floyd Clymer, Jim Forsberg, Sue Fuller, Dorothy Lake Gregory, Marsden Hartley, Charles Heinz, Charles W. Hawthorne, Hans Hofmann, Edward Hopper, Karl Knaths, Blanche Lazzell, Lucy L'Engle, Herman Maril, Ross Moffett, Vollian Rann, Helen Sawyer, Carl Sprinchorn, Agnes Weinrich. Provincetown Folk Art and Ancient African Carvings and Bronzes

Grace Hopkins, Director

Berta Walker, Curator

David Henry Perry, Manager, Provincetown

Cristina Hadzi, Manager, Wellfleet