#000503
Paintings of Maine
Arnold Skolnick (editor); text by Carl Little
A handsome 1991 gallery-between-covers, *Paintings of Maine* gathers full-color reproductions of the state as seen by nineteenth- and twentieth-century painters — the coast, islands, woods and light that drew artists north for well over a century. Selected by designer and anthologist Arnold Skolnick and accompanied by Carl Little's crisp commentary, the book moves among such figures as Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Rockwell Kent, Fairfield Porter and the Wyeths, with Little's notes sketching each painter and the Maine art scene around them. It's less an argument than an invitation — a browseable, affectionate survey of why Maine has been called one of America's great studios. It speaks to lovers of American art and of Maine alike.
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The editor
Arnold Skolnick was a graphic designer, painter and book packager — perhaps best known for designing the dove-and-guitar Woodstock poster — who assembled a series of regional art anthologies through his Chameleon Books. The accompanying text is by Carl Little, a Maine poet and art writer who has become one of the leading chroniclers of the state's painters and has authored many related volumes.
The book
Published by Clarkson Potter in 1991, it pairs large plates with short, informative captions rather than a continuous scholarly narrative, tracing Maine's pull on American art from the Hudson River generation through the modernists and beyond.
How to read it
Approach it as a visual anthology to browse rather than a critical history to study. Its pleasures are the pictures and the sense of accumulated tradition; those wanting deeper analysis can turn to Little's later, more focused titles.
For more context
Companion volumes include The Art of Maine in Winter and Art of the Maine Islands, both with Little and Skolnick.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Arnold Skolnick (editor); text by Carl Little
- Publisher
- Clarkson Potter
- Place of publication
- New York
- Year
- 1991
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Art
- Location
- Colorado
Places