Frost and Bloom: Selections from the Permanent Collection

January 19 – May 3, 2024

Frost and Bloom brings together works of art from the Zillman’s permanent collection that evoke feelings of winter and spring and how these seasons influence human experience. Images of landscapes document nature’s annual changes and are complimented by abstract pieces that represent how the environment may impact one emotionally and psychologically. 

Works depicting winter dominate this exhibit, representing the season in Maine that may feel like it lingers too long. In these works, color is reduced to stark white and black or the cool of monochromatic blues, with a few warm pops of red and yellow. In Maine Winter with Tree, artist Bernard Langlais uses these brighter hues to illustrate the inviting comfort of interior spaces. At the same time, the claustrophobia and restlessness resulting from months spent confined indoors can be felt from the surreal imagery of Roz Leibowitz’s Midnight Dream. Winter is also a season for reflection, nostalgia, and patience—emotions conveyed in the quietness of Michael Alpert’s Branch Mills Church and Beth Van Hoesen’s Postcards.  

Moving between galleries, notice the soft difference between Sylvia Plimack Mangold’s two prints Nut Trees. One in blue and the other in red, each hints at how the lengthening daylight hours begin the process of seasonal change. Spring’s emergence is expressed here with an exuberant burst of color, used playfully in Matt Phillip’s Ravel. As life returns to the landscape, lush greens and peach tones fill Prospect Park Series by Joseph DiGiorgio. Romare Howard Beardon’s In the Garden is an invitation to celebrate the outdoors and is a hopeful reminder that spring will blossom again.  

Sarah Renée Ozlanski 
Curatorial Intern 2023/2024 

 

  • Michael Alpert (American, born 1966). Branch Hills Church, China, Maine, 2005. Gelatin silver print. Gift of the artist, 2007.8.7
  • Will Barnet (American, 1911 – 2012). Waiting, 1975. Screenprint. Gift of Robert Venn Carr Jr., Class of 1938, 86.8.4
  • Romare Howard Bearden (American, 1914 – 1988). In the Garden, 1980. Lithograph. Gift of T.O. Mathues, 82.74.G
  • Carroll Thayer Berry (American, 1886 – 1978). Symbols of a Past, Maine Coast, 1960. Woodcut. Bequest of Carroll Thayer Berry, 78.77.G
  • Joseph DiGiorgio (Italian American, 1931 – 2000). Prospect Park Series, Summer #66, 1993. Oil pastel. Gift of Wally and Judith Mason, 97.11
  • Eyvind Earle (American, 1916 – 2000). Winter Quiet, 1982. Color serigraph. Gift of Robert Venn Carr Jr., Class of 1938, 86.8.13
  • Gordon Grant Hope (American, 1875 – 1962). First Snowfall, 1900. Lithograph. Gift of Associated American Artists, 63.76.G
  • Cleve Gray (American, 1918 – 2004). You Held My Hand, 1968. Color lithograph. Gift of Robert Venn Carr Jr., Class of 1938, 87.1.9
  • Bernard Langlais (American, 1921 – 1977). Maine Winter with Tree, 1946. Oil on canvas. Gift of Boston Sciences & Arts Foundation, 57.25.P
  • Roz Leibowitz (American, born 1954). The Midnight Dream, 2009. Ink and collage on board. Gift of the artist and Sears-Peyton Gallery, NYC, 2014.12.3
  • Sylvia Plimack Mangold (American, born 1938). Both works: Gift of Robert Venn Carr Jr., Class of 1938
    • Nut Trees (Blue), 1985. Drypoint and aquatint on Japan paper. 89.5.11
    • Nut Trees (Red), 1985. Drypoint and aquatint on Japan paper. 89.5.9
  • Eve Peri (American, 1897 – 1966). Both works: Gift of Elizabeth Bullock
    • End of Winter, 1960. Oil on paper. 2000.11.7
    • Untitled, 1921. Watercolor. 2000.11.2
  • Matt Phillips (American, born 1979). Ravel, 2013. Silica and pigment on linen. Gift of Steven Harvey and Matt Phillips, 2015.12
  • Beth Van Hoesen (American, 1926 – 2010). Postcards, 1964-65. Etching. Gift of the E. Mark Adams and Beth Van Hoesen Adams Trust, 2011.22.8
  • Stow Wengenroth (American, 1906 – 1978). Sanctuary, 1956. Lithograph. Museum purchase: The Kenduskeag Fund, 57.31.G