Impressionism and modernism in Maine.(Current and Coming)

Like their counterparts who spent summers at the various art colonies in Connecticut, another group of artists discovered an impressive landscape on the tiny island of Monhegan, off the coast of southern Maine, during the summer of 1903. This idyllic spot had earlier provided inspiration for artists like William Trost Richards and Aaron Draper Shattuck. During the early twentieth century Monhegan Island represented a microcosm of the art scene elsewhere in the country, where proponents of the impressionist style coexisted with those who championed modernism. An exhibition that investigates these polarities as evidenced by those who painted on Monhegan is on view through September 30 at the Monhegan Museum, located near the lighthouse. The show is entitled Side by Side on Monhegan: The Henri Circle and American Impressionists and includes forty-one works painted by two dozen artists between 1903 and 1920.

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The year 1903 is pivotal because that summer Robert Henri visited his friend the Pennsylvania impressionist Edward Willis Redfield in Boothbay Harbor on the Maine coast. From there Henri took the ferry to Monhegan, where he spent four days making about two dozen oil sketches. He responded most to the foggy atmospheric conditions rather than the raking light that so appealed to the impressionists. He and Redfield returned to Monhegan in August, painting for about a month. Henri had a large group of students in New York City, and he urged them to travel to Maine. Among those who heeded his advice were Rockwell Kent and George Bellows. As Susan Danly observes in the catalogue to this exhibition, many of these artists painted similar scenes, yet the results are quite different. The impressionist painters elected to paint sweeping ...