VISUALLY ARRESTING, PROFOUNDLY CONTEMPLATIVE

By Eric J. Taubert2 min read
Kuniyoshi
Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Bather with Cigarette, 1924, Oil on canvas, 42 1/4” × 25 1/4”. Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase Fund, Deaccession Funds/ City of Dallas (by exchange) in honor of Dr. Steven A. Nash, 1988.22. © 2023 Estate of Yasuo Kuniyoshi / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Image courtesy Dallas Museum of Art.

You would be well-challenged to name another art museum anywhere in the world blessed with the beauty of location possessed by the Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA). This absolute jewel of a museum is so strategically positioned on such a picturesque piece of coastal Maine property that visitors are often torn between whether to continue mindfully appreciating the exhibited art or allow their senses to be irretrievably seduced by the beguiling kaleidoscope of coastline magnificence surrounding that art.

Sun glinting off of salt water. Slick and craggy rocks. Lobster boats entering and leaving Perkins Cove. Stone-strewn and rugged coastal ravines where effervescent waves splash, sizzle and gurgle.

All of this natural splendor — and more — is part and parcel of the experience of visiting the OMAA. Indeed, the Southern Maine coastline is an extension of the museum property itself — and the OMAA (with its signature curtain glass window, a new ADA-compliant glass-enclosedvestibule, and a garden-laden sculpture park) has taken full advantage of their three-acre singular site to the benefit of their valued guests and members.

Now, having opened on April 29 and continuing through July 16, (and partially owing to the existence of a one-of- a-kind personal art collection — more on that a little later), the OMAA is hosting a captivating and immersive exhibition that perfectly aligns with the museum’s distinctive beach town setting: “Shifting Sands: Beaches, Bathers, and Modern Maine Art.”

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