Farnsworth Art Museum

Rockland, Maine

(207) 596-6497

The Farnsworth has multiple entrances, this one at the corner of Main and Elm Streets. Photo courtesy of John Hazeltine.



 

 

Edwin Gamble

October 12, 1997 - January 4, 1998

 

Apple Curlew

Edwin Gamble

 

In her introduction to an essay on the Farnsworth Art Museum's upcoming exhibit of artist Edwin Gamble's work, curator Susan Larsen quotes the French artist Henri Matisse. "There is an inherent truth which must be disengaged from the outward appearance of the object to be represented," said the great French master. "This is the only truth that matters." The Farnsworth's Gamble show opens Oct. 12 and closes Jan. 4 in the museum's Main Street Gallery. About 55 pieces of Gamble's distinctive sculpture and brushwork will be exhibited on gallery walls silk-screened with shore scenes. The sculpture includes 35 pieces in wood and bronze; the 20 paintings are largely in the Japanese sumi ink medium rendered in Gamble's abbreviated and naturalistic style. "It is with great delight that we present this selection of works...the exhibition is an invitation to spend a bit of time in the artist's quiet, centered, patiently focused world," says Larsen.

The Matisse quote seems particularly descriptive of Gamble's work, which so intimately distills meaning and essence from appearance in nature. The deft brushwork of his sumi ink paintings of sea birds and shore scenes communicates the essence of motion and being - the turn of a bird's wing, the airy mass of a feathered body, the exquisite reach of a heron's neck.

Born in Boston in 1922, Ed Gamble is a widely known Maine artist who lives and works near Brunswick. Trained initially in a pre-medical program, Gamble decided instead to embark on an artistic course of study that led him to New York's Parson' s School of Design and eventually to a prestigious sculpture prize at Columbia University. Over the course of his long career he expanded his artistic vision at the Skowhegan School of Art, during private instruction with Andrew Dasburg in Taos, New Mexico, studies at the Santa Fe Studios of Church Art, and during independent study in Italy.

Mr. Gamble's work has been the subject of one-person exhibitions at the Farnsworth, the Portland Museum of Art, at Brown University and Bates College, the Egan Gallery in New York, the Maine and Connecticut Audubon Societies, the Caldbeck Gallery in Rockland, the Barlow Gallery in Hallowell, the June Fitzpatrick and the David Hitchcock galleries in Portland and numerous other public and private venues in Maine and the Northeast.

Text and photos courtesy of Farnsworth Art Museum.


Search for more articles and essays on American art in Resource Library. See America's Distinguished Artists for biographical information on historic artists.

This page was originally published in 1997 in Resource Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information.

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