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On 10 July
2010 an exhibition titled DAYS LUMBERYARD STUDIOS 1914-1972 will open
at the newly refurbished galleries of the Fine Arts Work Center in
Provincetown. This survey exhibition will feature artwork spanning
almost one hundred years that was created by artists who once occupied
studios at Days Lumberyard in Provincetown. A broad and eclectic mix of
artwork in a variety of media by over twenty artists will be on view.
The Days Lumberyard Studios in Provincetown Massachusetts ranks among
the most important incubators for artists of the twentieth century. Two
of that century’s most influential teachers –Charles Webster Hawthorne
and Hans Hofmann- and many of their students, worked in studios there.
In fact, more than one hundred artists had studios at the lumberyard
and/or the adjacent Brewster Street annex between 1914 and 1972. Some
of the most highly regarded American artists of the time maintained
studios at Days for at least one season. Among them were: Edwin
Dickinson, Ross Moffett, Charles Hawthorne, Vaclav Vytlacil, Myron
Stout, Fritz Bultman, George McNeil, John Grillo, Peter Busa, Robert
Motherwell, Lester Johnson, Jan Muller, and numerous others.
Accounts differ with respect to the date that artists began using the
studios at Days Lumberyard. Records indicate that Frank Days Sr.
acquired the 24 Pearl Street property in 1911. The first evidence
of artist’s studios on the property as indicated in town tax records
was 1916; however, Ross Moffett’s account claims that he and Henry
Sutter were the first to occupy studios there in 1914. Vaclav Vytlacil
has been quoted as saying that he paid five dollars per month for his
studio rental at Days in 1914 as well. Other early occupants included
Charles Hawthorne, Edwin Dickinson, and John Frazier. While artists had
discovered the natural beauty of Cape Cod and appreciated the special
qualities of the sunlight long before Days Lumberyard came into being,
it now seems clear that the development of Days Lumberyard Studios as
affordable artists’ studios -in conjunction with the influx of students
attending classes at Charles Hawthorne’s and later Hans Hofmann’s
schools -was crucial in sponsoring the collegial atmosphere that
allowed this community of artists to flourish on the outer Cape. This
combination of factors and the active presence of the artists
themselves made Provincetown one of the premier and art historically
significant Art Colonies in the United States.
In 1972, the Fine Arts Work Center acquired the Days Lumberyard
property, and to this day many of the original studios continue to be
used as living and work spaces by artists who have been awarded
fellowships by the Work Center. The Fine Arts Work Center itself was
founded in 1968 by a group of distinguished Provincetown writers and
visual artists a number of whom had studios in the original Days
Lumberyard. The visual artists who founded the Fine Arts Work Center
include Jack Tworkov, Myron Stout, Salvatore Del Deo, Gil Franklin,
Philip Malicoat, Fritz Bultman, and Robert Motherwell. The Fine
Arts Work Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to continuing
the same tradition and spirit of artistic creativity that was
engendered by the artists of Days Lumberyard so many years ago. The
Work Center has awarded over 800 fellowships to emerging writers and
visual artists over the past forty years.
The Fine Arts Work Center exhibition Days Lumberyard Studios will be
curated by David Cowan and James Bennette, of ACME Fine Art in Boston,
a gallery that specializes in twentieth century art by Provincetown
artists. The artwork comprising the exhibition will be drawn from
private sources and from ACME Fine Art and other galleries in the
region. All of the artwork will be for sale to benefit the Fine Arts
Work Center, Provincetown.
The Hudson D. Walker Gallery at the
Fine Arts Work Center is located at 24 Pearl Street in Provincetown,
MA.
Gallery hours are Monday - Friday, 1-5pm; Satruday & Sunday,
11am-3pm.
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