Portland Museum of Art
The modern main building of Portland’s art museum, designed by I. M. Pei & Partners, is an arresting redbrick presence on Congress Square. The museum features selections from its own fine collections along with touring exhibits and works on loan. Begun as the Portland Art Society in 1882, the museum has over the years amassed particularly strong holdings of American artists with Maine connections, including Winslow Homer, N.C. and Andrew Wyeth, and Edward Hopper, along with Wabanaki art and basketry, a substantial collection of 20th-century photography, and a strong collection of contemporary work donated by the Alex Katz Foundation (the renowned painter is a seasonal Mainer). Recent special exhibitions have highlighted the printmaking of Eve Biddle, the fashion paintings of Alex Katz, and touring highlights from the American Folk Art Museum. The museum’s film series, shown on an auditorium big screen, is a worthy substitute for the arthouse cinema Portland lacks.
Note: The museum is currently undergoing a $100 million expansion, which will double the exhibition space. But it has done so by aquiring new, nearby buildings, to museum visits shouldn’t be affected.
If you’re into American masters, check out the tour of the Winslow Homer Studio at Prout’s Neck in Cape Elizabeth, offered on Monday and Friday in the summer ($65, van trip from museum; call to reserve well ahead). Homer spent the last 26 years of his life there, staring at the rockbound coast and creating some of his most famous works.
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The modern main building of Portland’s art museum, designed by I. M. Pei & Partners, is an arresting redbrick presence on Congress Square. The museum features selections from its own fine collections along with touring exhibits and works on loan. Begun as the Portland Art Society in 1882, the museum has over the years amassed particularly strong holdings of American artists with Maine connections, including Winslow Homer, N.C. and Andrew Wyeth, and Edward Hopper, along with Wabanaki art and basketry, a substantial collection of 20th-century photography, and a strong collection of contemporary work donated by the Alex Katz Foundation (the renowned painter is a seasonal Mainer). Recent special exhibitions have highlighted the printmaking of Eve Biddle, the fashion paintings of Alex Katz, and touring highlights from the American Folk Art Museum. The museum’s film series, shown on an auditorium big screen, is a worthy substitute for the arthouse cinema Portland lacks.
Note: The museum is currently undergoing a $100 million expansion, which will double the exhibition space. But it has done so by aquiring new, nearby buildings, to museum visits shouldn’t be affected.
If you’re into American masters, check out the tour of the Winslow Homer Studio at Prout’s Neck in Cape Elizabeth, offered on Monday and Friday in the summer ($65, van trip from museum; call to reserve well ahead). Homer spent the last 26 years of his life there, staring at the rockbound coast and creating some of his most famous works.
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Bookstore
Available as paperback
and as e-book.
