New spring show at Wiscasset Bay Gallery
Keith Oehmig, "Island Houses," oil on board, 36" x 36" at Wiscasset Bay Gallery through June 25. Courtesy of the artist
William Lester Stevens "Harborfront, Cape Ann," oil on canvas, 25" x 30." Courtesy of the artist
Keith Oehmig, "Island Houses," oil on board, 36" x 36" at Wiscasset Bay Gallery through June 25. Courtesy of the artist
William Lester Stevens "Harborfront, Cape Ann," oil on canvas, 25" x 30." Courtesy of the artist
"Spring Arrivals - Three Centuries of American and European Art" will open on Saturday, May 24, at the Wiscasset Bay Gallery in celebration of the gallery's 41st season.
Featuring works by prominent 19th and 20th century American artists as well as European realists, impressionists and modernists, the exhibition will include a diverse array of subject matters from marine paintings, city views, genre scenes to landscapes.
Highlighting the American coastal works is a vibrant and painterly oil by William Lester Stevens (American 1888-1969) of a New England fishing harbor rendered in rich reds and oranges complementing the blues and greens of the sea. By the age of 18, Stevens was exhibiting at the National Academy of Design in New York. He then went on to study at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston under the influential American Impressionist, Edmund Tarbell.
On the Maine front, paintings by William Zorach (American 1887-1966) and his daughter, Dahlov Ipcar (American 1917-2017) bring a modernist perspective to the show. Ipcar's "Fox and Two Geese" oil captures a dynamic tension between the flying geese and their pursuer, a racing red fox who looks hungrily upward. Abstracted caseins and watercolors by Morris Shulman (1912-1978) and Yolanda Fusco (American 1920-2009) interpret the shoreline and interior of Monhegan Island in bursts of brushstrokes and color, bringing Abstract Expressionism from New York City to the remote island.
Crossing the "Pond," the viewer encounters the bustling boulevards of Saint-Germain-des-Pres filled with horses and carriages and Parisians strolling about in their finery in Henri Grenier's (French 1882-1940) richly detailed gouache. The horse races in the Bois de Boulogne are rendered in delicate washes by Gabriel Spat (French/American 1890-1967).
Among the contemporary New England works is Keith Oehmig's "Island Houses" painted in broad, thick brushstrokes. Billowing clouds form over Monhegan's harbor and Manana and contrast with the deep blue seas of the island in September.
"Spring Arrivals -Three Centuries of American and European Art " will be on display through Wednesday, June 25 at the Wiscasset Bay Gallery.
Open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. the Gallery is located at 75 Main St./Route 1 in historic Wiscasset Village. For more information, call 207-882-7682, or visit wiscassetbaygallery.com.
