Maine has always played a rich and varied role in the art of photography. For hundreds of years, photographers, like other artists, have made their way to Maine to capture the natural beauty and human culture of the state. So, too, have many photographers come from Maine, and many contributions by Mainers have been made to the medium. Maine in Photography is the first comprehensive overview of the history of photography in the state. Providing basic knowledge of the most important people and institutions to have promoted photography, this volume also studies the ways in which photography has informed the understanding of the social and cultural history of Maine. Beginning with the earliest daguerreotype portraits of the 1840s, this history traces the growth of the medium—emphasizing key contributions, such as the Stanley brothers’ invention of the dry plate process—through to the present. Key topics addressed throughout the book include the importance of photography in documenting labor and economic life, the close relationship between photography and the growth of tourism, and the role of Maine photographers in advancing the medium as a fine art form. Published in conjunction with the Maine Photo Project, this is a unique and timely addition to the body of work on the importance of Maine to American art.

Images that document the changes in -- and challenges of -- life in the real Maine.

A revelatory exploration of Winslow Homer’s engagement with photography, shedding new light on his celebrated paintings and works on paper One of the greatest American painters of the 19th century, Winslow Homer (1836–1910) also maintained a deep engagement with photography throughout his career. Focusing on the important, yet often-overlooked, role that photography played in Homer’s art, this volume exposes Homer’s own experiments with the camera (he first bought one in 1882). It also explores how the medium of photography and the larger visual economy influenced his work as a painter, watercolorist, and printmaker at a moment when new print technologies inundated the public with images. Frank Goodyear and Dana Byrd demonstrate that photography offered Homer new ways of seeing and representing the world, from his early commercial engravings sourced from contemporary photographs to the complex relationship between his late-career paintings of life in the Bahamas, Florida, and Cuba and the emergent trend of tourist photography. The authors argue that Homer’s understanding of the camera’s ability to create an image that is simultaneously accurate and capable of deception was vitally important to his artistic practice in all media. Richly illustrated and full of exciting new discoveries, Winslow Homer and the Camera is a long-overdue examination of the ways in which photography shaped the vision of one of America’s most original painters.

What better way to celebrate 50 years of book publishing than to celebrate everyday life in Maine. Gathering the work of 50 photographers from all over the state, the book captures the day to day lives of ordinary Mainers. Primarily a book about people, these images are arranged to follow the course of a day, starting with morning routines, passing through the events of the day, and closing at night It's a stunning tribute to the extraordinary that can be found in the ordinary. Together these images compose a moving portrait of a small place at a small moment in time.

Marsden Hartley had a lifelong personal and aesthetic engagement with Maine, where he was born in 1877 and where he died at age sixty-six. As an important member of the artistic circle promoted by Alfred Stieglitz, Hartley began his career by painting the mountains of western Maine. He subsequently led a peripatetic life, traveling throughout Europe and North America and only occasionally visiting his native state. By midlife, however, his itinerant existence had taken an emotional toll, and he confided to Stieglitz that he wanted “so earnestly a ‘place’ to be.” Finally returning to the state in his later years, he transformed his identity from urbane sophisticate to “the painter from Maine.” But while Maine has played a clear and defining role in Hartley’s art, not until now has this relationship been studied with the breadth and richness it warrants. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Verdana} Marsden Hartley’s Maine is the first in-depth discussion of Hartley’s complex and shifting relationship to his native state. Illustrated with works from throughout the painter’s career, it provides a nuanced understanding of Hartley’s artistic range, from the exhilarating Post-Impressionist landscapes of his early years to the late, roughly rendered paintings of Maine and its people. The absorbing essays examine Hartley’s view of Maine as a place of light and darkness whose spirit imbued his art, which encompassed buoyant coastal views, mournful mountain vistas, and portraits of Mainers. An illustrated chronology provides an overview of Hartley’s life, juxtaposing major personal incidents with concurrent events in Maine’s history. For Hartley, who was strongly influenced by such artists as Paul Cézanne, Winslow Homer, and Albert Pinkham Ryder, Maine was an enduring source of inspiration, one powerfully intertwined with his past, his cultural milieu, and his desire to create a regional expression of American modernism.

Quilting has a rich history in Maine and America and its popularity has surged in recent years as people return to traditional handcrafts. The history of quilting in Maine is a story of community and Maine State Museum curator Laurie LaBar coaxes stories out of objects and uses those stories to enlighten, entertain, and bring new voices to Maine history. The first book of its kind, Maine Quilts 250 Years ofComfort and Community is the accompanying volume to a major two-year exhibit at the Maine State Museum. Stories abound, and lesser known aspects of the state’s history are brought to light, but the star attractions are the quilts themselves. Ranging from surviving Colonial era quilts to present day creations, more than 150 are presented in full color.

Photographer Frank Chillemi experienced the coast of Maine with its evocative light and beauty for the first time in 1988, and in his heart he has never left. Working, studying, and teaching along these shores ever since, Frank has produced a body of work, represented in this book, that reflects his love, passion, and utmost respect for the land and the sea, its maritime traditions, and the people who call this coast home.

Describes the geography, history, government, people, culture, and attractions of Maine.