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Showing: History of the Museum |
History of the Ogunquit Museum of American Art Visitors often ask how a nationally recognized art museum came to be located in a small coastal fishing village in southern Maine. The answer lies in both the beauty of the area, which lead to the formation of the famous Ogunquit Art Colony in the late 1890’s, and the drive and generosity of the Museum’s founder, Maine painter and philanthropist Henry Strater. Henry
Strater first came to Ogunquit in 1919 to study at Hamilton Easter Field’s
Summer School of Graphic Arts. After success as a painter and years in
Paris as part of the Lost Generation, he built a permanent home in Ogunquit
in 1925. In the early 1950’s he purchased an oceanfront spot that
generations of painters had come to know as Narrow Cove, and chose architect
Charles S. Worley, Jr. to design a museum.
The OMAA was completed in 1953, and the collection grew rapidly with donations by Strater, John Marin and other artists and collectors. Images from the OMAA's history (click an image to see it larger):
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Ogunquit
Museum of American Art, 543 Shore Road, Ogunquit, Maine 207-646-4909 |
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