Editor's note: The Cape Cod Museum of Art provided
source material to Resource Library for the following article or
essay. If you have questions or comments regarding the source material,
please contact the Cape Cod Museum of Art directly through either this phone
number or web address:
-
Standing Tall: Lighthouses
in Cape and Islands Art
July 25 - September 8, 2013
Not so long ago there
were 31 lighthouses rimming Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and neighboring
islands like sentinels -- at least if you counted each of the "Three
Sisters" of Eastham. Even today, the number stands at 27, with many
of them still operational. It's small wonder that lighthouses have appeared
in many regional artworks. Some would say far too many -- and the phrase
"paintings of lighthouses" is sometimes used to dismiss clichéd
paintings of Cape Cod in general. It probably doesn't help their cause that
we have a lighthouse on the Cape and Islands license plate, on bags of Cape
Cod Potato Chips and as the logo for innumerable businesses. And what rack
of postcards doesn't have at least one picturesque scene of a seaside tower?
It's true there are many routine paintings of lighthouses
around. There are even some very good artists -- leery of guilt by association
-- who simply won't paint them. Others approach the subject with trepidation.
Yet, lighthouses truly have a mystique about them. They symbolize hope.
They're often beautiful. There is something quite dramatic about them, standing
tall and strong at the edge of the sea. Now that sailors have such aids
as electronic charting, GPS and radar, lighthouses no longer play the essential
role in navigation they once did (though they're still useful). But have
one threatened by erosion, and we spare no effort to save it. Elaine Starks
at Dennis Chamber of Commerce has said they get visitors every week who
want to know where they can find lighthouses. And many of the artists represented
here freely admit to being as fascinated by them as anyone, painting them
without apology -- while generally trying to find some fresh treatment that
ensures their originality.
I believe the time has come to reconsider these fascinating
structures as a valid artistic motif -- to recognize that, like any other
subject, they can carry authority and genuine emotional impact, depending
upon the skill, imagination and honesty of the artist. That's the mission
-- in part -- of "Standing Tall: Lighthouses in Cape and Islands Art,"
which is a mix of works of the past and, especially, the present. I hope
this show also will provide some sense of lighthouses' historical importance.
My main source in that regard has been Jeremy D'Entremont's wonderfully
comprehensive and user-friendly book "The Lighthouses of Massachusetts"
(Commonwealth Editions, 2007). I heartily recommend it if you're seeking
additional information.
Finally, my warmest thanks to Dennis chiropractor Dr. Richard
Singleton who -- with his wife, Jody -- has sponsored this exhibition. I
heartily recommend him if your back needs an adjustment.
- Cindy Nickerson, Guest Curator
(above: Kimberly duCharme, Brant Point Light, pastel
on sanded paper, 15 x 20 inches; Collection of the Artist)
(above: Donald Stoltenberg, Nobska Light, 1989, watercolor
on paper, 13 x 21 inches; Collection of the Artist)
Wall text from the exhibition
- Note: The text from the wall labels for the forty works
in the Standing Tall exhibition are in alphabetical order by the
artists' last names.
-
- Nantucket Treasure
- Sam Barber
- Oil on canvas
-
- COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST
-
- The bathing beauties are probably the main subject of
impressionist Sam Barber's sunny, high-key painting; but Brant Point Light
holds its own, quickly establishing the Nantucket locale. Whether the "treasure"
is the comely young women, the lighthouse or both is a little less clear.
-
-
- Chatham Twin Lights 1935
- Harold Brett (1880-1955)
- Oil on canvas
-
- COLLECTION OF ATWOOD HOUSE MUSEUM, CHATHAM
-
- A descendent of Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins,
Brett studied with Philip Leslie Hale and Frank W. Benson at the Museum
School in Boston, then later with noted illustrator Howard Pyle. He himself
was a successful illustrator, working on commission for such magazines
as Harper's Weekly, Colliers, Ladies' Home Journal and The
Saturday Evening Post. He also illustrated books, including
a number of Joseph C. Lincoln's Cape Cod novels. During World War I, Brett
created art posters for the Liberty Loan campaign. Like Norman Rockwell,
his work evokes nostalgia for simpler times in American life. He is featured
in Walter Reed's "The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000."
-
- In 1923, the venerable twin lights of Chatham had been
separated, with the north tower moved about 12 miles north to become Nauset
Light, replacing the last of the Three Sisters lighthouses in Eastham.
Brett likely worked from an old photo when he painted this interpretation
of the Chatham Light Station in 1935. But it has a gentle moodiness and
keen sense of place that suggest a far deeper affinity for the locale.
-
- In its new incarnation as Nauset Light, the relocated
tower also received a Fresnel lens from the remaining Sister. (A transplant
for the transplant?) The upper half of the tower was painted red in the
early 1940s. Nauset Light is the lighthouse pictured on the Cape and Islands
license plate and on bags of Cape Cod Potato Chips.
-
-
- Three Sisters, No. Eastham
- Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
- Oil on masonite
-
- PRIVATE COLLECTION
-
- It's probably safe to say that Ralph Cahoon is the most
famous native artist Cape Cod has ever produced. He was born and grew up
in Chatham, where the Chatham Light Station overlooking the Atlantic and
Stage Harbor Light on Harding's Beach must have been frequent sights. As
an adult, he and his wife, Martha, enjoyed pretty fair success as furniture
decorators and antiques dealers, first in Osterville and then in a big
Colonial home (now the Cahoon Museum of American Art) in Cotuit. In the
early 1950s, they started painting primitive pictures that took the smart
set (and others) by storm. Ralph, who had a flair for wit and whimsy, quickly
became identified with mermaids and their admiring sailor companions. A
great many of his scenes are set on the shores of Cape Cod; and, eventually,
having a lighthouse on a promontory at the horizon became something of
a trademark. Paintings where Cahoon made the lighthouse the main subject
aren't as common.
-
- This is a guess -- and only a guess -- about why he painted
the Three Sisters. He may well have seen them together during his childhood,
but was only about eight when they were split up. However, he probably
took an interest when the National Park Service reunited them on Cable
Road in Eastham in 1975. Perhaps he based the lighthouses on some historical
photo that was published at the time they were back in the news. He liked
history -- and took that approach quite frequently. But it's obvious some
of the scene came entirely from his imagination.
-
-
- Highland Light
- Robert Cardinal
- Oil on canvas
-
- COURTESY OF KILEY COURT GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN
-
-
- Back from the Edge 1996
- Peter Coes
- Acrylic on panel
-
- COLLECTION OF A. AND K. SHAH
-
- When the first Highland Light was built in Truro in 1797,
it stood more than 500 feet from the ocean cliff. Because of erosion, the
distance between the current lighthouse and the edge of the bluff had dwindled
to some 112 feet by the early 1990s. The Save the Light Committee -- a
group under the auspices of Truro Historical Society -- raised more than
$180,000 to move the tower. With these monies -- combined with substantial
federal and state funds -- the operation to move the 404-ton lighthouse
450 feet inland got under way in 1996. After being lifted with hydraulic
jacks, the lighthouse was placed on roller beams (supported by a wooden
framework). Hydraulic push jacks moved the structure five feet at a time
before they needed repositioning. The whole procedure took 18 days and
drew thousands of sightseers.
-
- One frequent observer was artist Peter Coes, who now
lives in Cummaquid, but resided in Provincetown at the time. "I found
it fascinating," he says. "You'd think it would fall over or
something, but it didn't." And the experience inspired his painting
"Back from the Edge," where fantasy mixes enchantingly with reality.
At the time, Coes -- known for his paintings of Cape Cod houses -- was
beginning to paint pictures showing the architecture miniaturized, as dollhouses,
on tabletops. He did the same thing with Highland Light -- and took other
artistic license besides. He added a model train (which puffs real steam),
though no train was involved in the actual operation. The fluorescent light
serves as a substitute sun.
-
- Coes has only put the American flag in two of his paintings.
He wrapped one around the lighthouse here because that's the way it was
in real life.
-
-
- She Wanted to Wonder 2005-2011
- Peter Coes
- Acrylic on wood
-
- COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST
-
- Peter Coes first started painting miniaturized houses
and lighthouses on tabletops in his interiors as in "Back from
the Edge." Eventually, he began constructing and carving them to sit
on actual tables or pedestals, as in "She Wanted to Wonder."
Waves, too, are a recurring motif in his work. He has sometimes painted
throw rugs where the "design" appears as stylized waves encroaching
on the sand.
-
- This is only one of several lighthouses among Coes' "three-dimensional
paintings," as he calls them. "Everyone loves lighthouses, and
I do, too," he says. "I was a boatman for a long time, and lighthouses
have a very comforting feel to them when you're coming into the harbor
at night." When Coes lived in Provincetown, he actually had a boat
he used as a floating studio for a time.
-
-
- Cape Cod '49
- Vernon Coleman (1898-1978)
- Oil on canvas
-
- COLLECTION OF THE CAPE COD MUSEUM OF ART GIFT OF
SIGMUND M. AND MARY B. HYMAN
-
- As Supervisor of Art for the Barnstable School System
from 1943 through the mid-1960s, Vernon Coleman taught hundreds of school
students. Following his retirement, he taught many others through adult
education courses and private classes. During the Depression he painted
more than a hundred murals under the Works Progress Administration, including
the prominent painting of the clipper ship Red Jacket at Barnstable Town
Hall. He was assistant stage manager for the opening season at the Cape
Playhouse and also designed sets for community theater groups. He was a
founding member of the Cape Cod Art Club (now Cape Cod Art Association).
-
- Coleman printed "Cape Cod '49 in the lower right-hand
corner of this piece, but the rocky coast looks much more like Maine
which is where Edward Hopper did many of his lighthouse paintings. With
its gleaming white buildings and the strong light on the rocks, Coleman's
lighthouse is quite Hopper-esque. It's likely he thought the idea of "the
Cape Cod lighthouse" was more important than the reality. This type
of generic Cape Cod painting was fairly common at the time.
-
-
- Morning Row Past Brant Point c. 2010
- William R. Davis
- Oil on panel
-
- COURTESY OF QUIDLEY & COMPANY, NANTUCKET
-
- William R. Davis of Harwich is a self-taught artist who
has mastered the luminist style of such 19th-century landscape artists
as Fitz Hugh Lane, Martin Johnson Heade and Frederic Church. Luminist landscapes
tend to be tranquil with, often, reflective water and a glowing sky. Brushstrokes
are smooth, almost invisible. "Morning Row Past Brant Point"
is a beautiful example. While Davis' marine scenes -- as well as his style
-- often hark back to the 1800s, there's nothing about this particular
view that necessarily relegates it to any particular time period. It might
even be today. The light at Brant Point has been red since 1933 to
differentiate it from the lights of neighboring homes.
-
- Davis -- who often puts lighthouses in the background
of his marine paintings -- readily admits to being fascinated by them.
He and his wife, Judy, rented a room at the keeper's cottage at Race Point
Lighthouse one very windy night. It was thrilling looking back at Provincetown
in the distance and seeing the powerful light sweeping over the dunes,
he says, calling the experience "a "different time and space."
-
-
- Long Point Light c. 1970s-1980s
- Salvatore Del Deo
- Oil on canvas
-
- COLLECTION OF HELEN AND NAPI VAN DERECK
-
- Sal Del Deo came to Provincetown to study with Henry
Hensche in 1946 and moved there permanently in 1954. During the intervening
years he opened two popular restaurants Ciro & Sal's and Sal's
Place and has painted pretty much every subject relevant to life
at the Cape's tip. His robust style ranges from realistic to abstract --
with stops at any number of variations in between. With "Long Point
Light" he dramatized the square beacon that stands at the entrance
to Provincetown Harbor by reducing it to its simplest terms and adopting
an unusually low vantage point (perhaps from behind the remains of the
Long Point Battery, constructed by the Union Army during the Civil War).
Del Deo has referred to Long Point Light as the "metronome" of
Provincetown, according to the painting's owner, Napi Van Dereck. We don't
know if it can keep a beat, but it does provide a visual center for the
East and West ends of town when viewed from across the harbor.
-
-
- Wellfleet Light 1973
- D. Cary Dodd (1918-1986)
- Watercolor on paper
-
- COLLECTION OF THE CAPE COD MUSEUM OF ART GIFT OF
MRS. D. CARY DODD
-
- Billingsgate is the Atlantis of Cape Cod an island
that has disappeared, or nearly so. When the Mayflower reached Cape Cod
Bay in 1620, it was a 60-acre island just south of what is now Jeremy Point
in Wellfleet. An exploring party that included Miles Standish spent a night
there. During the first half of the 19th century there was a small community
on Billingsgate, including more than 30 homes, a school, a factory for
extracting oil from pilot whales, a baseball team and a lighthouse to mark
the entrance to Wellfleet Harbor. After an 1855 storm divided the island
in half, a second lighthouse was built on higher ground in 1858. The island
continued to erode despite the addition of a sea wall in 1888. The last
families moved away in the early 1900s, leaving only the lighthouse keeper
and his family there year-round. Many of the houses were saved by floating
them over to Wellfleet and Eastham on rafts. Abandoned in 1915, the 1858
lighthouse was destroyed by a December storm the same year. For a time,
the island had a light atop a skeleton tower. Although the island had essentially
washed away by 1942, a sandbar littered with granite foundation blocks
and bricks from the lighthouse is still visible at low tide.
-
- Dodd, who lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, worked from
a circa 1900 photograph when he painted this watercolor in 1973. That year
he was director and artist-in-residence of the Zephry Gallery in Orleans.
In 1974, he was artist-in-residence at Bramhall Gallery in Eastham.
-
-
- Brant Point Lighthouse
- Kimberly duCharme
- Pastel on sanded paper
-
- COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST
-
- Brant Point Light is the country's second oldest light
station. (Only Boston Light is older.) A grand total of nine lighthouses
have stood there on the west side of the entrance to Nantucket Harbor,
with the first erected in 1746 and the last one -- by far the most enduring
-- in 1901. (Among the causes of their demise: fires, a tornado, general
deterioration and shifts in the channel.) At 26 feet tall, the present
wooden tower also has the distinction of being one of New England's shortest
beacons. It's a pretty little thing, however, with the addition of a pediment-topped
entryway. Chatham artist Kimberly duCharme zeroed in on just a small portion
of the light's black lantern, white tower and the pediment to create this
pastel. It's an eye-catching study in the interplay of geometric forms
-- yet, at the same time, thoroughly indicative of all that's charming
about Brant Point Light.
-
-
- Lighthouse at Night c. 1930
- Harold C. Dunbar (1882-1953)
- Oil on board
-
- COLLECTION OF ATWOOD HOUSE MUSEUM, CHATHAM
-
- Harold Dunbar studied with a number of important impressionists,
including Edward H. Barnard, who introduced him to Chatham. Dunbar established
the Chatham School of Painting in 1915 and moved to town permanently a
few years later. In addition to being a prolific artist, he was the editor
of The Cape Cod Beacon and wrote a weekly column. His lovely little "Lighthouse
at Night" has an illustrative quality -- as if there's a story behind
it -- but we don't know his intention in painting it. The lighthouse itself
seems idealized, sitting up there on the headland shining forth hopeful
rays of light. Rather like the Vernon Coleman painting to its left, this
Dunbar conveys a nostalgic vision of Cape Cod that doesn't quite square
with reality.
-
-
- Highland Light
- Mary Giammarino
- Oil on masonite
-
- COURTESY OF JULIE HELLER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN
-
-
- Race Point Light
- Wayne S. Gowell
- Etching on paper
-
- COURTESY OF JULIE HELLER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN
-
- The light station at Race Point was the third on Cape
Cod, following Highland Light in Truro and the twin lights at Chatham.
The strong crosscurrents and sandbars off Provincetown's Back Beach made
this a treacherous place for vessels sailing anywhere south of Cape Cod
from Boston. (And, before the Cape Cod Canal was built, it was impossible
not to navigate them.) Installed in 1875, the current tower is a cast-iron
model that was frequently issued by the U.S. government in the 1870s and
1880s. The keeper's house has been carefully restored and is available
for overnight stays.
-
-
- To the Lighthouse 1997
- Red Grooms
- Aquatint etching on paper 1/50
-
- COLLECTION OF THE CAPE COD MUSEUM OF ART PURCHASED
WITH FUNDS FROM JAMIE AND STEPHANIA MCCLENNEN
-
- Red Grooms is a multimedia artist best-known for his
colorful "Pop art"
constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life. But in this
wonderfully tongue-in-cheek print, he imagines himself watching Edward
Hopper painting a lighthouse on site -- though somehow we know he's an
observer removed in time. Clearly Grooms is poking fun at the way in which
Hopper's masterful lighthouse paintings sparked the proliferation of so
many routine versions. Yet, his title, "To the Lighthouse" (think
"Ode to the West Wind" or "Ode to a Nightingale"),
isn't without respect. Grooms -- who studied with Hans Hofmann in Provincetown
the 1950s and, for a time, was married to and collaborated with Mimi Gross,
the daughter of Provincetown/New York sculptor Chaim Gross -- managed to
do a lighthouse painting without really doing a lighthouse painting. Notice
the rock that's anchoring the easel, to keep it from blowing over.
-
-
- Twin Lights and Lighthouse Keeper's House 1885
- Calvin Hammond (1847-1918)
- Oil on canvas
-
- COLLECTION OF ATWOOD HOUSE MUSEUM, CHATHAM
-
- Like so many of the American folk artists who preceded
him in the early 1800s, Chatham native Calvin Hammond was a housepainter
who tried his hand at painting on canvas -- clearly with charming results.
He liked painting local sites that had some history, such as this picture
of Chatham Light Station.
-
- When the first light station was established on the high
bluff overlooking Chatham's outer beach in 1808, it was decided there would
be two towers to distinguish it from the solo tower, Highland Light, at
Truro. The structures Hammond painted were the third to serve as the Chatham
Light Station. (Just a few years after No. 3 went into operation, the towers
from light station No. 2 toppled onto the beach as the cliff gave way to
erosion.) Installed in 1877, they were 48-foot conical cast-iron towers
with two 1?-story wooden dwellings (for two keepers) between them. Hammond
exaggerated the towers' shape in a delightful way.
-
- Later in life, Hammond studied to be a mortician in Boston
and returned to operate a funeral parlor in Chatham.
-
-
- Stage Harbor Light 2011
- James Holland
- Oil on canvas
-
- COURTESY OF LEFT BANK GALLERY, WELLFLEET
-
- Jim Holland enjoys painting architecture -- and does
so with a spare realism and sense of solitude reminiscent of Edward Hopper,
an artist whose work he admires. He paints a lighthouse every couple of
years or so, he says. "They're very iconic, and I love to find a way
of painting them that's not a huge cliché." His innovation
for painting Stage Harbor Light was to diminish the light station within
the larger context of the sky and landscape, in an effort to heighten the
sense of isolation. The lighthouse is, in fact, at the end of Harding's
Beach near the entrance to Stage Harbor, right on the Cape's "elbow."
It was about a mile-and-a-half walk on the beach to get there, Holland
says.
-
- Built in 1880, Stage Harbor Light was decommissioned
in 1933 and replaced with an automated light on a skeleton tower. The lantern
was removed shortly thereafter and never replaced. The lighthouse property
is now in private hands.
-
-
- Winter Afternoon, Highland Light 2013
- Steve Kennedy
- Oil on canvas
-
- COURTESY OF KILEY COURT GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN
-
- Wellfleet artist Steve Kennedy generally works en plein
air, but photographed this scene to paint in the studio. He paints lighthouses
now and then, but says: "If you're going to do them, there probably
has to be a little bit of a twist to it." In this case, it was the
drama of the snow and the alternating strata of darks and lights in the
sky. The almost horizontal rays of the sun make the white lighthouse glow
with a striking intensity. We've all seen that late winter afternoon effect.
Here, it gives the Highland Light tower an added air of majesty.
-
- Truro's Highland Light -- also known as Cape Cod Light
-- was the first light station on Cape Cod. The first tower was built in
1797, the third (and current) one in 1856. Since 1626 -- when the Sparrowhawk
ran aground off Orleans -- there have been countless shipwrecks along the
coast from Chatham to Provincetown. That 50-mile stretch is sometimes called
an "ocean graveyard." More than a thousand wrecks have occurred
off the coast of Truro and Wellfleet alone. The site for the lighthouse
was selected, in part, because it was about a mile from particularly dangerous
shoals. And the
- experts of the day deemed that setting it on Truro's
Highlands -- bluffs 150 feet above the beach -- would make it all the more
visible for ships at sea.
-
-
- The Relief Lightship at Woods Hole 1938
- Charles R. Knight (1874-1953)
- Oil on canvas
-
- COLLECTION OF FALMOUTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUMS
ON THE GREEN
-
- Best-known for his paintings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric
creatures, Charles Knight did much to popularize prehistory. He painted
many murals for natural history museums and zoos and illustrated many books
on dinosaurs during the first half of the 20th century.
-
- Knight spent one wonderful summer in Woods Hole with
his family and apparently painted the Lightship Relief during that visit.
The U.S. Coast Guard had seven relief ships that wandered up and down the
coastlines to substitute for the regular lightships when they needed repair.
This ship may have been the U.S. Coast Guard's Relief 78/505, built in
1904 using the same type of steel used on the Titanic and sunk following
a collision in 1960. Knight likely saw it docked at the Coast Guard station
in Woods Hole either just before or after a stint at the Nantucket shoals.
-
-
- Leaving Nantucket c. 2005
- David Kooharian
- Oil on panel
-
- COURTESY OF QUIDLEY & COMPANY, NANTUCKET
-
- Mashpee artist David Kooharian tends to paint a subject
for a while, then moves on to others. During a lighthouse phase a few years
back, he took photos of Brant Point as he was leaving Nantucket Harbor
on the ferry. He says he considers photos to be "notes," supplementary
to just soaking up the atmosphere. While acknowledging the lighthouse as
an "iconic" image, his chief interest was to capture the feeling
of a hot and humid summer afternoon. "I don't like to romanticize
the picture too much or change the scene," he says. As he hoped, "Leaving
Nantucket" transports us back to a particular time, day and place
in the artist's experience. His view from the ferry's deck is one thousands
of other Nantucket visitors have seen.
-
-
- Nauset Light 1949
- Lawrence Kupferman (1909-1982)
- India ink on casein
-
- COLLECTION OF THE CAPE COD MUSEUM OF ART
-
- Lawrence Kupferman was the chairman of the painting department
at Massachusetts College of Arts. He summered in Provincetown and participated
in the groundbreaking Forum 49 show with the likes of Robert Motherwell,
Richard Pousette-Dart, Weldon Kees and Karl Knath. While Kupferman borrowed
motifs from the real world, he sought to explore a more spiritualized comprehension
of the cosmos through his art. The title "Nauset Light" certainly
suggests he had some experience of the lighthouse, but the manner in which
it inspired him remains mysterious. Yet, the shape that dominates this
piece is powerful. We do know Kupferman believed life began in the sea
and often painted biomorphic or microscopic forms. All of the little filament-like
lines in this picture seem like bits and pieces of electrical circuitry!
-
-
- Lighthouse at Sundown
- Joan Cobb Marsh
- Oil on canvas
-
- COURTESY OF KILEY COURT GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN
-
- The lighthouse in Joan Cobb Marsh's atmospheric painting
is Race Point Light, located off the Back Beach in Provincetown, welcoming
vessels as they round the clenched fist of Cape Cod. But its identity is
almost beside the point: The painting is really about a fleetingly beautiful
moment experienced by the artist. With the tower and lighthouse keeper's
house in silhouette, we know less about the structures than we might, but
share more deeply in the emotional impact. Marsh selected a viewpoint that
leaves a significant space between the structures, somehow heightening
the sense of wild isolation.
-
-
- The Old Lighthouse 2006
- Susan O'Brien McLean
- Oil on canvas
-
- COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST
-
- A barrier beach six miles long and a half-mile wide,
Sandy Neck creates -- and provides protection for -- Barnstable Harbor
on the Cape's north side. In the early 1800s, the harbor bustled with whalers,
fishing boats and trading vessels. The first lighthouse at the end of the
dune-swept peninsula was just a lantern on top of the keeper's dwelling.
In 1857, it was replaced by the current 48-foot-tall brick structure, painted
white. Two women served as keepers at Sandy Neck Light Lucy Hinckley
Baxter from 1862 to 1867 and Eunice Crowell Howes from 1880 to 1886. Both
succeeded husbands who had died.
-
- Over the years, sand accumulated to the east, leaving
the lighthouse at some distance from the peninsula's tip. It was decommissioned
in 1931, and a skeleton steel tower with an automated light (in operation
until 1952) set up closer to the harbor's entrance. The lantern was removed
from atop the lighthouse in 1933. The tower remained in this truncated
condition until 2007 -- the year after "The Old Lighthouse" was
painted.
-
- Osterville artist Susan O'Brien McLean was fascinated
by the summer cottage colony clustered near Sandy Neck Light, so a friend
took her over there in his boat so she could take some pictures. "I
love these buildings -- they have souls," she says. "I think
it's kind of a spiritual place. You feel like you're in another world out
there."
-
-
- Summer at Sankaty 2013
- Janet Munro
- Mixed media on masonite
-
- COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST
-
- Distinguished by a wide red band midway up its white
tower, Sankaty Head Light was built in 1850 in the village of Siasconset
on the southeast coast of Nantucket. The original 53-foot tower constructed
of brick and granite still stands and remains in operation, having been
moved approximately 400 back from an eroding bluff in 2007. Sankaty is
the tallest lighthouse on the Cape and Islands. In addition, it was the
first lighthouse in Massachusetts equipped with a Fresnel lens -- and the
first in the country to have a Fresnel lens installed as part of its original
equipment. (French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel had developed a lighter,
more compact lens for lighthouses in the 1820s. It had greater focusing
power, so as to throw light greater distances.) Nationally recognized folk
artist Janet Munro has imagined Sankaty Head Light presiding over a real
nice clambake.
-
-
- Long Point
- Ray Nolin
- Oil on canvas
-