Maine Perspective Front Page
Donations of Contemporary Prints Enhance University Collection
Lithographs by contemporary artists Roy De Forest and Leon Golub are among 40 works recently donated to the University of Maine Museum of Art.
Two anonymous donors gifted the 40 modern prints to the University, home of the largest fine arts collection owned entirely by the citizens of Maine. The Museum of Art's print collection, one of the most extensive in the region, now includes nearly 6,000 works.
The newest additions round out the University collection, expanding the breadth of its modern holdings.
"Most of the pieces in the University collection stop at 1988," says University of Maine Museum of Art Director Wally Mason. "What we were missing were pieces created in the last decade when many artists chose political or contemporary issues as subject matter."
Until now, the Museum of Art's print collection contained no works by De Forest, an artist who has influenced at least two generations. De Forest is best known for his comical drawings of dogs that appear in the most unlikely contexts. The six lithographs now in the collection depict the complex and the whimsical comic-strip style commentary that has become a De Forest hallmark. De Forest is associated with the Funk art movement of the '60s.
Four photo lithographs by Golub also fill contemporary gaps in the UMaine collection. The politically charged works take on such controversial topics as police beatings, presented against anonymous inner city backdrops. Golub is known for his large-scale works fathoming the depth of human experience through figural distortion. His work most recently was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art.
Also included in the donation are prints by two Canadian artists, John Carr and J.C. Heywood, whose works can be used as study collections.
Works by De Forest and Golub contemporaries now in the collection were made possible by a donation by Robert Venn Carr to his alma mater in 1997 and 1986.
Other recent additions to the collection include 50 works to be donated in the next three years by Maine artist Siri Beckman. The works constitute a portfolio of prints by artists from every state. Beckman was the Maine representative in Colorprint U.S.A., a national exhibition of original fine art prints that toured the country in 1998.