The Cape Ann Museum is pleased to launch On Opposite Tacks: When Artist John Sloan & Capt. Solomon Jacobs Crossed Wakes in Wartime Gloucester, by local author Chester Brigham, on Saturday, December 10 at 3:00 p.m. The book launch will include a slide presentation, book signing and reception. This program is free and open to the public. To make a reservation or for more information, please call Jeanette Smith at 978-283-0455, x11 or email jeanettesmith@capeannmuseum.org.
John Sloan, major American artist identified with the Ashcan School, and Capt. Solomon Jacobs, schooner fisherman and ocean adventurer, were both in Gloucester, Massachusetts from 1914 until 1918. John Sloan, during five consecutive extended summers in Gloucester, was reinventing himself as an artist in the wake of the 1913 Armory Show, and was painting many of his finest works. Capt. Jacobs was winding down a colorful career of voyaging and enterprise, but was not yet ready to go quietly. Then America entered World War I, and the Gloucester fleet was decimated by U-boat attacks. On Opposite Tacks explores the contrasts and parallels between the two men that shaped their differing responses to life and war.
For Chester Brigham, Goose Cove in Gloucester has always been home port, even when he was off in college, in the service, or earning a living as a freelance business writer. Since returning to the cove full-time, he has focused on writing about the many dimensions of Gloucester and Cape Ann fisheries history and the arts. He first wrote about the interplay of these elements of the local culture in The Stream I Go A-Fishing In, about a musical fisherman. Then came Gloucester’s Bargain With the Sea in which he explored aspects of Cape Ann that have inspired painters and authors. Now, with On Opposite Tacks, he compares, side by side, the career of an eminent American artist with that of a legendary fishing captain – and finds surprising parallels amid the profound contrasts.
Funding for this program was made possible through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, 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