maine and its artists: an exhibition at colby college

Maine and Its Artists: An Exhibition at Colby CollegeAuthor(s): William B. MillerSource: Art Journal, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter, 1963-1964), pp. 160+162Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/774518 .

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MAINE AND ITS ARTISTS

An Exhibition at Colby College

"In our time the same forces which drew artists to Maine in the past are still in ef- fect; the land and sea, which are unchanged and for the most part unchangeable, and the opportunity for solitude in which one's thoughts can evolve at their intended pace. If we wished to find the artists themselves, we would, therefore, go to sparsely populated places that are difficult to find, where the most evident thing is the presence of nature. But their works are what interest us, and those gathered together here demonstrate that the stimulus of Maine is still as strong in the period from 1940 to the present as ever be- fore."

Professor James Carpenter begins thus the discussion of contemporary art in Maine in the book Maine and Its Role in American Art.1 The book and the exhibition formed parts of the sesquicentennial celebration at Colby Col- lege, Waterville, Maine in 1963. Both were sponsored and organized by the Department of Art and the executive committee of the Friends of Art at Colby. The exhibition, which was on view during the summer at the College Art Museum, was later shown at the Portland Museum of Art and subsequently went to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Whit- ney Museum of American Art, New York. The research which preceded the presentation of the exhibition and the publication of the book has formed the nucleus of the Archives of Maine Art-a census of artists active in Maine, and files of photographs, documents and clippings pertaining to art in Maine since its beginnings.

In the exhibition a group of portraits from the eighteenth century represent military men, landowners and their families prominent in the affairs of the Province of Maine in colonial times. The Bowdoin College Museum of Art contributed the magnificent portrait of Brigadier Samuel Waldo by Robert Feke. Copley's portraits of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner and of Benjamin Hallowell-both owned by descendants of the families-complete the group from the colonial period. William King-the first Governor of the State of Maine-is depicted in the portrait by Gilbert Stuart. Continuing in the nineteenth century the portraits include work of limners such as William Matthew Prior and itinerants such as

1 Maine and Its Role in American Art, 1740-1963, Editors: Gertrud A. Mellon and Elizabeth F. Wilder; Introduction by Mary Ellen Chase; Texts by Louisa Dresser, Nina Fletcher Little, James Thomas Flexner, Donel- son F. Hoopes, Lloyd Goodrich, John I. H. Baur and James M. Carpenter. Published by the Viking Press, Inc., New York, 1963; $10.00. 178 pp., 151 illustrations, 17 in color.

There is a separate catalogue for the exhibition Maine and Its Artists. 32 pp., includ- ing excerpts from the book above, 30 illustrations, 4 in color. Published by Colby College, 1963. $1.50.

John Brewster Jr. as well as painting by men with some professional training such as J. P. Hardy of Bangor.

The work of local talents in the nineteenth century demonstrates that quality emerges hap- pily in Maine in places and at times least sus- pected. View of East Machias (fig. 2) by Hall, a painter otherwise unknown, reveals an in- ventiveness in shapes and surprisingly pleas- ing color juxtapositions. The exhibition in- cludes sculpture in wood and stone from this period.

By mid century Maine's coast and inland had been "discovered" by the men of the Hudson River School. The extraordinarily loose and deft sketches by Church-from the Cooper Union Museum-provided the artist with the data for his highly finished landscape paintings. Examples of both may be seen in the exhibition. Fitzhugh Lane (fig. 3) made several summer trips to Maine around mid century. In the book James Thomas Flexner speaks of Lane's "vernacular mode . . . glori- fied with a clear breathless poetry." The trained artists-Vedder and Sargent, for ex- ample-found in Maine a vacation land and motifs for paintings which, some would argue,

Fig. 1. Gallery in the Bixler Center showing from left to right: William King, by Gilbert Stuart, c. 1806, lent by the State of Maine; Brigadier Samuel Waldo, by Robert Feke, c. 1750, lent by Bowdoin College; Desert Rock Lighthouse, by Thomas Doughty, 1847, lent by the Newark Museum.

reveal the artists' quality better than their more formal endeavors. Eastman Johnson fre- quently returned to the state of his birth to paint such rural scenes as Sugaring Off in Fryeburg. Childe Hassam on the Isles of Shoals saw rocks and surf through eyes trained in the French Impressionist manner (fig. 4).

Maine has been "discovered" again and

Fig. 2. East Machias, by G. L. Hall, 1858, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Julian Strauss. Fig. 3. Lumber Schooner, Penobscot Bay, by Fitz-

hugh Lane, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Francis W. Hatch.

Fig. 4. Seaweed and Surf, Appledore, by Childe Hassam, 1912, lent by the Babcock Galleries.

Fig. 5. Movement, Sea and Sky, 1946, by John Marin, lent by the William H. Lane Foundation.

ART JOURNAL XXIII 2 160



again.-Prout's Neck by Homer, Ogunquit by Woodbury, Monhegan Island by Kent, in- numerable scenes along the coast by Marin (fig. 5), the mountain, the fishermen, and the granite coasts by Hartley (fig. 6), Cushing by Wyeth. The leaders have been followed-to put it in an aphorism-and the list in the Archives adds up to more than a thousand names of artists active in Maine in the twentieth century. One can compare and contrast in this exhibition interpretations of Maine's sea, land and sky through virtually all the major impulses in American art of the past one hundred years. Reuben Tam's recent brooding image-Eclipse of the Moon- prompts one to compare it with the somber Cliffs and Sea by Robert Henri. Frederick J. Waugh responded in his way to motifs of sea and shore in the same Maine which now provides Kienbusch with points of painterly departure. Of the canvases of Waldo Peirce one encounters a boisterous response to Maine in the summer-time, whereas Henry Varnum Poor transcribes rural Maine with astonishing nuances of color in more muted modes. Among the younger men Alex Katz paints in a manner that is new yet related to responses evoked by artists of an earlier day.

A century ago young men left Maine to seek careers in sculpture. Now sculptors come to Maine. Still active are William Zorach (fig. 7) and Robert Laurent (fig. 8) who have both spent more than forty summers here with their families. For the book Photographer Albert Fenn posed sculpture against its Maine background. Clark Fitzgerald's Boy appears in both book and exhibition.

again.-Prout's Neck by Homer, Ogunquit by Woodbury, Monhegan Island by Kent, in- numerable scenes along the coast by Marin (fig. 5), the mountain, the fishermen, and the granite coasts by Hartley (fig. 6), Cushing by Wyeth. The leaders have been followed-to put it in an aphorism-and the list in the Archives adds up to more than a thousand names of artists active in Maine in the twentieth century. One can compare and contrast in this exhibition interpretations of Maine's sea, land and sky through virtually all the major impulses in American art of the past one hundred years. Reuben Tam's recent brooding image-Eclipse of the Moon- prompts one to compare it with the somber Cliffs and Sea by Robert Henri. Frederick J. Waugh responded in his way to motifs of sea and shore in the same Maine which now provides Kienbusch with points of painterly departure. Of the canvases of Waldo Peirce one encounters a boisterous response to Maine in the summer-time, whereas Henry Varnum Poor transcribes rural Maine with astonishing nuances of color in more muted modes. Among the younger men Alex Katz paints in a manner that is new yet related to responses evoked by artists of an earlier day.

A century ago young men left Maine to seek careers in sculpture. Now sculptors come to Maine. Still active are William Zorach (fig. 7) and Robert Laurent (fig. 8) who have both spent more than forty summers here with their families. For the book Photographer Albert Fenn posed sculpture against its Maine background. Clark Fitzgerald's Boy appears in both book and exhibition.

Marjorie S. Logan

Marjorie S. Logan, who was head of the Art Department at Milwaukee-Downer College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1921 until her retirement in 1952, died at Springfield, Illinois, on August 5, 1963. Miss Logan created in a small college art department, a balanced offer- ing of fine art, crafts, and art history, main- tained in its midst, a strong, small exhibition gallery. She taught the freshman design courses herself, affirming vigorously that design was as important for every student as English com- position.

She was especially concerned with design and was a graduate of the Emma M. Church School of Art in Chicago when this school pioneered in the midwest with the design ideas of Arthur Wesley Dow. She also taught at this school. She took graduate work at Wellesley College, at the University of Chicago, and the Chicago Art Institute, and was awarded, in 1927 and 1928 fellowships at Harvard Univer- sity by the American Institute of Architects. She studied with Joseph Binder, the Viennese de- signer, and painted with Charles Hawthorne and Grace Cornell. Then she taught at the University of Texas.

While on the National Committee on Fine Arts of the American Association of University

Marjorie S. Logan

Marjorie S. Logan, who was head of the Art Department at Milwaukee-Downer College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1921 until her retirement in 1952, died at Springfield, Illinois, on August 5, 1963. Miss Logan created in a small college art department, a balanced offer- ing of fine art, crafts, and art history, main- tained in its midst, a strong, small exhibition gallery. She taught the freshman design courses herself, affirming vigorously that design was as important for every student as English com- position.

She was especially concerned with design and was a graduate of the Emma M. Church School of Art in Chicago when this school pioneered in the midwest with the design ideas of Arthur Wesley Dow. She also taught at this school. She took graduate work at Wellesley College, at the University of Chicago, and the Chicago Art Institute, and was awarded, in 1927 and 1928 fellowships at Harvard Univer- sity by the American Institute of Architects. She studied with Joseph Binder, the Viennese de- signer, and painted with Charles Hawthorne and Grace Cornell. Then she taught at the University of Texas.

While on the National Committee on Fine Arts of the American Association of University

Fig. 6. Hurricane Island, Vinal Haven, 1942, by Marsden Hartley, lent by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Morton and Saltonstall, Architects, extended the exhibiting space in the Bixler Center at Colby to accommodate the one hundred twenty seven works shown. The Center was open daily and more than ten thousand visitors viewed the exhibition during the summer. The Department of Art is now planning an exhibition of Art in Maine of the Twentieth Cen- tury for next summer. Christopher Hunting- ton, the newly appointed Curator for the Museum, is in charge of this forthcoming exhibition.

WILLIAM B. MILLER Colby College

Fig. 6. Hurricane Island, Vinal Haven, 1942, by Marsden Hartley, lent by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Morton and Saltonstall, Architects, extended the exhibiting space in the Bixler Center at Colby to accommodate the one hundred twenty seven works shown. The Center was open daily and more than ten thousand visitors viewed the exhibition during the summer. The Department of Art is now planning an exhibition of Art in Maine of the Twentieth Cen- tury for next summer. Christopher Hunting- ton, the newly appointed Curator for the Museum, is in charge of this forthcoming exhibition.

WILLIAM B. MILLER Colby College

Women in 1931, she wrote, with Agnes Bas- sett, a syllabus, "Design in the Fine Arts". It was used throughout the country and dealt with the interrelationship of all the arts. Her own statement was, "A broader view inte- grates the creative faculty with all human abili- ties and sees design as fundamental to growth."

In 1928 she brought Dr. Paul Sachs of Har- vard to Milwaukee and in this year the Carnegie Corporation endowed her department with a $50,000 grant for art slides, mounted prints and photographs, and art books. In 1938 she inau- gurated the Chapman Memorial Library Gallery with a choice showing of six Renoirs. During World War II she assembled a group of four- teen Van Goghs, later had the first showing of the work of Max Weber in Milwaukee, and at the Centennial of the college in 1951 secured, from museum and private collections a showing of, "100 Years of Landscape Painting by Amer- ican Artists". In 1942 she invited Dr. Emanuel Winternitz to the campus as visiting professor in art and music, after which she offered a course in Related Arts.

At her retirement, a gift from Lucia Russell Briggs, then President of Milwaukee-Downer, established a student loan collection of prints

Women in 1931, she wrote, with Agnes Bas- sett, a syllabus, "Design in the Fine Arts". It was used throughout the country and dealt with the interrelationship of all the arts. Her own statement was, "A broader view inte- grates the creative faculty with all human abili- ties and sees design as fundamental to growth."

In 1928 she brought Dr. Paul Sachs of Har- vard to Milwaukee and in this year the Carnegie Corporation endowed her department with a $50,000 grant for art slides, mounted prints and photographs, and art books. In 1938 she inau- gurated the Chapman Memorial Library Gallery with a choice showing of six Renoirs. During World War II she assembled a group of four- teen Van Goghs, later had the first showing of the work of Max Weber in Milwaukee, and at the Centennial of the college in 1951 secured, from museum and private collections a showing of, "100 Years of Landscape Painting by Amer- ican Artists". In 1942 she invited Dr. Emanuel Winternitz to the campus as visiting professor in art and music, after which she offered a course in Related Arts.

At her retirement, a gift from Lucia Russell Briggs, then President of Milwaukee-Downer, established a student loan collection of prints

Fig. 7. Reclining Cat, 1935, by William Zorach (carved from a Maine boulder), lent by the Down- town Gallery.

Fig. 7. Reclining Cat, 1935, by William Zorach (carved from a Maine boulder), lent by the Down- town Gallery.

Fig. 8. Tuna, 1955, by Robert Laurent, lent by the artist. Fig. 8. Tuna, 1955, by Robert Laurent, lent by the artist.

and paintings called The Marjorie S. Logan Picture Library.

Miss Logan was one of seventeen persons from seventeen institutions in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, who met in 1938 to organize the Midwestern College Art Con- ference, and she was the secretary-treasurer in 1945 when the expansion of membership opened to include art schools, art centers, and teachers colleges, and added the States of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Nebraska.

Her father, the Reverend Thomas Dale Logan, was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church which Lincoln attended. In 1909 he preached the Lincoln Centennial sermon. He preached, also, the sermon for a negro who lost his life in the Springfield race riot.

Her family was closely associated with the family of Vachel Lindsay and she owned some of his first pictures. When he became a poet some of his first, chanted readings, especially, "General William Booth Enters Heaven" was beat out in rhythms to "washed in the blood of the lamb" on an armchair in the Logan parlor.

MARY L. MEIXNER Iowa State University Ames, Iowa

and paintings called The Marjorie S. Logan Picture Library.

Miss Logan was one of seventeen persons from seventeen institutions in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, who met in 1938 to organize the Midwestern College Art Con- ference, and she was the secretary-treasurer in 1945 when the expansion of membership opened to include art schools, art centers, and teachers colleges, and added the States of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Nebraska.

Her father, the Reverend Thomas Dale Logan, was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church which Lincoln attended. In 1909 he preached the Lincoln Centennial sermon. He preached, also, the sermon for a negro who lost his life in the Springfield race riot.

Her family was closely associated with the family of Vachel Lindsay and she owned some of his first pictures. When he became a poet some of his first, chanted readings, especially, "General William Booth Enters Heaven" was beat out in rhythms to "washed in the blood of the lamb" on an armchair in the Logan parlor.

MARY L. MEIXNER Iowa State University Ames, Iowa

ART JOURNAL XXIII 2 162 ART JOURNAL XXIII 2 162



maine and its artists: an exhibition at colby college

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