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The American modernist painter Edwin Dickinson resided and worked in Provincetown from 1912-1937, where he created numerous landscapes, still lifes, figurative works and self-portraits. It was in Provincetown that the artist also created his masterworks: large, enigmatic multi-figured paintings, such as "The Fossil Hunters (1926-28)," and "Interior (1916)." In her essay on Dickinson, art historian Mary Abell states: "Throughout his life, the artist refused to discuss what his paintings or drawings meant beyond the purely formal or literal level. Dickinson's art is filtered through his own psyche, memory, emotions and experience, emerging as a metaphorical equivalent in a distinctive visual language."
In this lecture, Mary E. Abell, who was the curator of the comprehensive 2007 exhibition at PAAM, Edwin Dickinson in Provincetown 1912-1937, will discuss Dickinson's art, life and education (including the seminal influence of the artist and teacher Charles W. Hawthorne), his relationship to Provincetown, and his importance to twentieth century American art.
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| Mary Ellen Abell earned her Ph.D. in Art History at The Graduate Center, City University of New York (2001), focusing on American art. Her dissertation is entitled “Edwin Dickinson: His Work, Teaching and Critical Reception.” She has written two essays on Dickinson's work for the Edwin Dickinson: Dreams and Realities catalog (2002), which accompanied the traveling museum exhibition organized by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. From 1987-1994, she was Director of the Long Point Gallery in Provincetown. Mary has spent 35 summers on the Outer Cape and is married to the painter Carmen Cicero; she and her husband reside in New York during the winter. She is Associate Professor in the Visual Arts Department at Dowling College, Oakdale, New York. |
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