Panorama view from the summit of Mount Battie, Camden, Maine
My wife Anna and I share a love for the coast; especially in Maine and we wanted to visit the state to see the sites and take in some museums along the way.
The ride through New York and Massachusetts had fog and downpours of rain - so we didn't stop for long. But we lucked out coming into Maine, the clouds parted and we took a rest, then found a lovely cabin near the Camden harbor.
Fitz Henry Lane, oil painting with a view of Camden Hills
For years I have had the poster above hanging in my house of a painting by Fitz Henry Lane of the Camden Harbor and the hills beyond. The summit of Mount Battie which you see in this painting is the highest point in the area and gives you the best views up and down the coast. So we took the auto route to the top and had a wonderful panorama, which I highly recommend!
A bit further along in our trip on Route 1, we decided to stop at Rockland to go into The Farnsworth Museum. They have some classic seascapes like the painting above, but they also have contemporary art like this painting by Alex Katz that you see below:
Alex Katz "Sunset ll", 2008, oil on linen
Now in his 90s, Alex Katz is still working and he has a studio a little further up the coast in Lincolnville.
His art looked strong and was staged near a sculpture by Robert Indiana that spoke of the Pop culture that I grew up with.
LOVE by Robert Indiana
At The Farnsworth, they also featured an artist that I was not familiar with and her work was very interesting. Take a look at the paintings of Lynne Drexler ( 1928-1999 ). She was overlooked during her years making artwork, and I can't remember ever seeing her name associated with other abstract artists from the mid-20th century. Here are a couple of standouts that were donated to the Farnsworth:
Lynne Drexler, oil on linen, 1965
Lynne Drexler, oil on linen
I was glad to see these paintings by Lynne Drexler, and I wonder why it took so long for her artwork to gain some recognition. Many artists have their home in Maine, but I did not know that Louise Nevelson started out in Rockland before moving to New York City and establishing her international reputation. The Farnsworth Museum had a wonderful selection of her artwork including sculptures and paintings, many of which were new to me.
Portrait of Louise Nevelson
Nevelson Sculpture on view at The Farnsworth
Many of the Louise Nevelson sculptures on view I had seen before in New York City, including a very tall piece that is related to a large scale work she presented at the Museum of Modern Art ( MOMA ).
Louise Nevelson
The Farnsworth Museum also has a collection of works dedicated to the Wyeth family of artists, many of which were donated to the museum. I remember that when I was making a painting on Mohegan Island off the coast of Maine, I walked past a house owned by Jamie Wyeth, though he was not present .
N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and Jamie Wyeth are represented in the museum and most of these paintings
explore various aspects of realism.
I was vey pleased to come across another realist painting by Rockwell Kent which you see below:
Painting by Rockwell Kent
Rockwell Kent prepared us for some of the scenes we would see along the coast, and we were looking forward to that. We left Rockland and stopped in to see the Penobscot Marine Museum and found that collection which consists of paintings by artists like James Buttersworth of the mid 1800s, and many ship models made in the past. We had a great time singing along with sea chanteys in a collection that they had at this Marine Museum. We were in Searsport, where they built and launched many of the schooners that hauled great quantities of granite that came from quarries that dot the land. This was industry in the past that helped build the cities we now know.
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Searsport was a ship building capitol!
In my next post to "The Visual ArtWorker" I plan to write about our visit to The Clark, in western Massachusetts on our way back to the Rochester area. All too brief, but we LOVED our time away!