The art colonies of New England played a key role in the creation of an American national identity in the early 20th century. Art colonies in Old Lyme and Cos Cob, Connecticut and Ogunquit and Monhegan, Maine were inspiration for nationally recognized artists including Edward Hopper, Childe Hassam, Rockwell Kent, and George Bellows, among others. The exhibition chronicles the development of impressionist Connecticut and modernist Maine and feature 73 works drawn from the collections of the Portland Museum of Art and the Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Generously supported by Scott and Isabelle Black with additional support from Surf Point Foundation. Corporate support provided by Dead River Company. Media support is provided by WCSH 6, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, and MPBN.

Behind-the-scenes with Chief Curator Tom Denenberg

In the News:

Maine Sunday Telegram story by Bob Keyes 6/21/09

Antiques & Fine Arts Essay by Tom Denenberg, Early Summer 2009

Edward Hopper, “Monhegan Houses, Maine,” circa 1916, oil on panel, 9 x 13 inches. Credit line on file.

One of the most revered American artists of the past century, Andrew Wyeth had deep roots here in Maine. In the late 1920s, his father, the painter and book illustrator N. C. Wyeth, bought a house in Port Clyde and Andrew began to spend his summers on the coast of Maine. He made his first visit to Winslow Homer’s studio at Prouts Neck in 1936, and eventually he and his wife Betsy bought their own summer house in Cushing, near the Olson farmstead where Andrew painted some of his most acclaimed works. In more recent years, the Wyeths retreated offshore to Benner Island, creating a landscape and set of buildings that reflect his painted world. Wyeth’s paintings are marked by muted colors, attention to the details of nature and the purity of vernacular architecture, and a remarkable facility of brushstroke—from the miniscule marks in his temperas to the looser and more liquid washes in his watercolors. This special exhibition of nine works from the Museum’s permanent collection pays tribute to Wyeth’s legacy in the history of American art. An exhibition of work by Andrew’s father, N. C. Wyeth, is on view in the adjacent gallery.

Andrew Wyeth (United States, 1917–2009), Raven’s Grove, 1985, tempera on panel, 30 x 26 inches. Portland Museum of art, gift of Elizabeth B. Noyce, 1991.26. © Andrew Wyeth

The Portland Museum of Art presents eight figurative N. C. Wyeth masterworks in an exhibition that explores the artist’s role in the creation of a mythic American historical landscape. Robust, intelligent, and extraordinarily productive, N. C. Wyeth (1882–1945) created bold imagery that animated poems, novels, and historical texts by such well-known authors as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Fenimore Cooper, and Robert Louis Stevenson. The most famous illustrator of his day, Wyeth’s vision of the past imbued his art with a heroic quality that colored the very way a generation viewed its nation.

N.C. Wyeth (United States, 1882–1945), Black Spruce Ledge, 1941, tempera and oil on Renaissance panel, 42 x 52 inches. Collection of Linda Bean Folkers.