This summer the Monhegan Museum of Art & History’s special show features an extraordinary gift: 91 artworks by some of the greatest artists associated with the island. To Monhegan, With Love: The Susan Bateson and Stephen S. Fuller Collection represents what museum director Jennifer Pye in the exhibition catalog calls “a treasure trove of Monhegan art” that “illuminates the lively networks of relationships and the spirit of artistic freedom that have long existed on Monhegan.”
Pye’s essay recaps in a lively manner those “lively networks” that often started with a word-of-mouth you-should-check-out-this-island nudge from a fellow artist. Most famously perhaps was Robert Henri’s insistence that his students, including Edward Hopper, George Bellows, and Rockwell Kent, make their way to Monhegan.
The history of the island’s art reflects just about every 20th-century “ism,” including impressionism. Paintings by Charles Ebert and Edward Redfield capture island scenes with brisk brushstrokes—impressions—their palettes favoring warm summer colors. A lively watercolor of a clothesline by Maud Briggs Knowlton might also fall into this category, the wash whipped by the wind.
With its mid-ocean location, Monhegan experiences its share of weather. The exhibition features a number of classic wave-on-rocks paintings. In “A Storm Brewing, Norton’s Ledge,” ca. 1920, Constance Cochrane catches a wave mid-crash. Equally dramatic is “Pines, Rock and Spray,” 1946, by Joseph De Martini. Another natural phenomenon captures the attention of a group of awestruck onlookers on Lighthouse Hill in “Northern Lights,” 1937, by Alfred Fuller.
The seasons also get their due. As a year-round islander, the aptly named Andrew Winter appreciated the off-season. You can feel the chill in his “Old Fish House,” 1936, the snow covering skiffs, lobster traps, roofs, and part of Manana Island, Monhegan’s harbor guardian. His fellow all-season painter Jay Connaway also found a muse in the winter months. In his “Monhegan,” 1937, a female figure braves the arctic-like elements.
The one non-Monhegan painting stands out: James Fitzgerald’s watercolor “Moon Streak,” also called “Katahdin Under Moonlight,” ca. 1952, one of his iconic images of Maine’s mighty mountain. Six other Fitzgerald paintings in the show testify to his love of the island and its hardy citizens.
Historian and Osher Map Library director Libby Bischoff admires how this “wonderful and lovely gift” represents much of Monhegan’s life and history. Fitzgerald’s funeral procession, Sears Gallagher’s net menders in a field, Edward Potthast’s bathers at Swim Beach, Emil Holzhauer’s fishermen playing cribbage: these and other images document a working—and playing—island.
The collection includes some Monhegan art-historical revelations. Who knew that painter and interior and furniture designer Lockwood de Forest painted on the island? Edward Deci did, that’s who. The late beloved curator and Monhegan art authority alerted Bateson and Fuller that de Forest’s 1905 oil on board “Monhegan, Maine” was coming up for auction. A service for Deci will take place on the island on Aug. 11.
The exhibition catalogue includes the collector couple’s account of why and how they assembled the artwork and what inspired them to gift it to the Monhegan Museum. They relate a fascinating journey of discovery and engagement—and pay tribute to this remarkable repository of island art and history.
“By returning these significant works to the island that inspired their creation,” writes Pye in the catalog, “Susan and Steve do so much more than make a generous gift. They enrich the cultural heritage of Monhegan and ensure that the vibrant artistic legacy of the island is preserved in perpetuity for the benefit of art enthusiasts, residents, and visitors alike.” Well done!
One special aspect of the exhibition: the museum is displaying the work in three different venues. In addition to the Assistant Keeper’s House Gallery and the Keeper’s House history displays on Lighthouse Hill, part of the collection will be on view at the Kent-Stoddard-Fitzgerald studio on Horn’s Hill. It is a moveable visual feast.
To Monhegan, With Love: The Susan Bateson and Stephen S. Fuller Collection runs July 1–Sept. 30. To confirm dates and times, visit www.monheganmuseum.org.
Carl Little is the author of The Art of Monhegan Island (Down East Books, 2004).
