Provincetown Art Association and Museum

Hawthorne teaches a plein air class

The Provincetown Art Colony is the oldest of the nineteenth-century summer art colonies on the East Coast. The first art school there was established in 1899 by Charles Hawthorne.[3][8] On August 22, 1914, a group of prominent artists along with local business men and women established the Provincetown Art Association. Among the artists were Hawthorne, Oliver Newberry Chaffee, Marsden Hartley, Charles Demuth,[9] Oscar Gieberich, William Halsall, Gerrit Beneker, E. Ambrose Webster, and Kenneth Stubbs.[10]^: 5 For the first two years, the Association met monthly at members' homes or at the home of its first President, William H. Young, who was President of the local Seamen's Savings Bank.[10]^: 9[11]^: 115 As lectures were included, the meetings moved to the Church of the Pilgrims near Town Hall.[10]^: 9

The organizing artists donated works and mounted two juried exhibitions in the summer of 1915 at the Provincetown Town Hall, beginning a tradition of collecting and exhibiting the work of local artists.[10]^: 11 By this time, Provincetown had become a refuge of artists and expatriates returned from war-torn Europe. The town was firmly established as "The Biggest Art Colony in the World" (Boston Globe, 8/8/16). PAAM strengthened its role as the anchor of this art colony through the purchase of two plots of land, the Bangs property in 1919, and the adjoining house on the east side in 1920, with the latter plot forming the site of the current gallery building.[10]^: 11

The Association's first director was Harry N. Campbell in 1917, followed by E. Ambrose Webster and John "Wichita Bill" Noble.[10]^: 9 His son, John A. Noble, also became a prominent artist.

John Cuthbert Hare was also a member who eventually became known as the "Dean of Cape Cod Artists"[12]

PAAM's artist founders had come out of the Impressionist tradition and thus did not readily accept the new Modernist movement. Faced with aesthetic differences among its artist membership, however, the organization worked to maintain a balance in the work it exhibited.

True to its mission, PAAM mounted separate "Modern" and "Regular" summer exhibitions between 1927 and 1937. In the "First Modernistic Exhibition" of July 1927, the Association exhibited for the first time Modernist artists such as Jack Tworkov, Niles Spencer, and George Ault, among others.[10]^: 48

Partial conciliation was reached between modernists and conservatives in August, 1936 when the Association voted to mount a combined exhibition in 1937 with concurrent exhibitions hung in the same gallery on opposite walls.[10]^: 62

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  Bror Nordfeldt, "The Art Student", 1921
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  Minnie Rogers Steele, "The Sally Annie", 1923
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  Margaretta Gratz Brown, "Commercial Street"

The Depression years of the '30s and the war years of the early '40s were difficult times for the town and the Association. The Hawthorne Memorial Gallery was completed in 1942, and initially featured 12 paintings by Charles Webster Hawthorne, including "The Trousseau" and "The Family".[10]^: 92 Although annual shows were canceled, volunteers managed to maintain a reduced schedule despite the challenges created by gasoline rationing, conscription, blackouts and economic hardships during the World War II years.[10]^: 94

By 1947, the regular schedule of two summer exhibitions had been reestablished along with catalog printing, with new artists featured such as Madeleine L'Engle, Howard Mitcham, Xavier Gonzalez and Adolph Gottlieb.[10]^: 107 The rise of Abstract Expressionism—intensified by the location of Hans Hofmann's summer school here—again riffled the deep divisions within the arts community during the '50s.

When PAAM celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1964 with a retrospective show of its major artists, the organization focused on gaining national attention for Provincetown's considerable contribution to American art. The effect was a boon for the organization. Activities increased, new galleries were added, the exhibition schedule expanded, a storage vault was built to house the expanding collection, and once again PAAM showed itself as the center of the local art world.

As PAAM grew throughout the next three decades, the organizational structure of the museum continued to include strong representation from both the artist and lay communities. PAAM'S dual purpose of the organization—to be a collecting museum and a professional artists' association—has been consistently supported over the course of its history. The collection has been the basis for many exhibitions and has served scholars, researchers and other museums. Including close to 2,500 works from artists who have lived or worked on the outer Cape.

PAAM continues to acquire both historical and contemporary works. The galleries also offer accommodating venues for chamber music, jazz, dance and spoken word performances. The new studio classrooms offer spaces for children and youth education programs, as well as for adult courses in the Lillian Orlowsky/William Freed Museum School at PAAM.[13]

Select art historical events in Provincetown over the past 100 years

PAAM's permanent collection features artists who have lived and worked on the Outer Cape. Some artists represented in the collection include Varujan Boghosian, Paul Bowen, George Elmer Browne, Oliver Newberry Chaffee, Carmen Cicero, Ciro Cozzi, Charles Henry Demuth, Edwin Dickinson, Chaim Gross, Charles Webster Hawthorne, Robert Henry, Henry Hensche, Hans Hofmann, Erik Koch, Franz Kline, Karl Knaths, Blanche Lazzell, William Littlefield, Peter Macara, Ross Moffett, Robert Motherwell, Man Ray, John Singer Sargent, Jack Tworkov, Andy Warhol, E. Ambrose Webster, Mike Wright, and James R. Zimmerman.