Last Call for exhibitions at Cape Ann Museum

The Cape Ann Museum’s three temporary exhibitions are on view through January 31, 2010:

Churches of Rural New England, Photographs by Steve Rosenthal features images from Rosenthal’s recently published White on White: Churches of Rural New England published by The Monacelli Press with photographs by Steve Rosenthal, essay by Verlyn Klinkenborg, and afterword by Robert Campbell. Rosenthal began photographing New England churches in the mid 1960s, and the photographs which appear in the exhibition and book are his personal selection taken over succeeding decades. These are the buildings which give New England towns and villages a unique sense of place and define, in many minds, the New England character.

A Narrative of Life and Glory, Paintings by Gordon Goetemann is Goetemann’s exploration, indeed his celebration, of Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, one of the most monumental musical scores of the 20th century, and the man who created it. In Gustav Mahler, Goetemann has found both a kindred spirit and a muse, whose musical masterpiece is the basis for these paintings. Gustav Mahler’s 2nd Symphony addresses themes which Goetemann believes are relevant in today’s culture: the quest to find freedom in the face of adversity; courage in the face of dislocation; and eternal life in the face of human decay. Goetemann chose Mahler’s 2nd Symphony as the fountainhead upon which to start a new journey. For five and a half years he has worked on fifteen paintings which express his visual interpretation of the symphony.

Women Artists from the Cape Ann Museum Collection features works spanning nearly 200 years, from the carefully wrought mourning samplers and theorem paintings of women born on the eve of the American Revolution, through the works of several talented women artists working on Cape Ann today. Spotlighted in the exhibition will be recent works by Carolyn Harris and Laurel Hughes.

Highlights will include portraits by Susannah Paine, one of the earliest itinerant painters to travel through the area during the first half of the 19th century, and the luminescent landscapes of Mary Blood Mellen, who worked alongside Fitz Henry Lane during the 1850s.

Several examples of works by women who benefited from the opening up of art educational opportunities during the latter half of the 19th century will also be featured including those by Adelaide Cole Chase, Felicie Waldo Howell and Lucy Taggart. Artists from the late 19th ‘ early 20th century will also include Alice Beach Winter, Theresa Bernstein, Elizabeth Wentworth Roberts, Ellen Day Hale and Alice Schille.

Also on view will be watercolors by women such as Audella Hyatt, who studied with Boston painter William Morris Hunt but never gained the artistic recognition that others of her generation did, and women (including Ellen Day Hale and Gabrielle de Veaux Clements) who excelled in the art of etching.

In addition to paintings, the Cape Ann Museum will display a selection of sculptural works done by Cape Ann women including examples of bronzes by Anna Hyatt Huntington and Katherine Lane Weems and more recent works by Anita Curtis.

Spotlighted in the exhibition will be recent works by Carolyn Harris and Laurel Hughes.

The Museum’s weekly docent tours will include an overview of the exhibitions. The Highlights of the Collection tours are offered every Friday and Saturday at 11:00 a.m. and on Sunday at 2:00 p.m., and are included with Museum admission.

Funding for these programs was made possible through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency which promotes excellence, access, education and diversity in the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences, in order to improve the quality of life for all Massachusetts residents and to contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.

The Cape Ann Museum is located at 27 Pleasant Street in Gloucester. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Museum is closed during the month of February, on Mondays, and on major holidays. Admission is $8.00 adults, $6.00 Cape Ann residents, seniors and students. Children under 12 and Museum members are free. The Museum is wheelchair accessible. For more information please call: (978) 283-0455. Additional information can be found online at www.capeannmuseum.org