Nicole Wittenberg, “Climbing Roses 4,” 2024, oil on canvas. Image courtesy of the artist
Last year, Speedwell Projects initiated a long-overdue retrospective of Alison Hildreth’s work, coordinating with New Era Gallery in Vinalhaven and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) in Rockland to present three bodies of the artist’s extensive oeuvre. This summer, these sorts of collaborations are engaging five institutions (and a sixth in France) to present the work of two mid-career gestural artists with profound relationships to nature and to the historical arc of landscape painting (and other genres) — Nicole Wittenberg and Ann Craven.
Works by Nicole Wittenberg will be on display at multiple museums this summer, including the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. Photo by Annabelle Collette
“I think we’re seeing a generational change at museums in Maine,” says Devon Zimmerman, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA), which kicked off the season of partnerships on April 18 with “A Sailboat in the Moonlight” (through July 20) an exhibition of Wittenberg’s pastels, large-scale landscape paintings and nocturnes. “The new order is willing to work collaboratively instead of competitively,” he believes.
Nicole Wittenberg, “August Evening 3” 2024, oil on canvas.
Zimmerman and former CMCA director Tim Peterson began talking about dual Wittenberg shows last year. Now, the CMCA’s new executive director, Robert Wolterstorff, has brought the second phase of the collaboration, “Nicole Wittenberg: Cheek to Cheek,” to life. The CMCA’s exhibition concentrates on massive paintings of flowers created with brooms (one canvas is about 6 x 13 feet). It opened on May 24 and runs through Sept. 14. Wittenberg will have yet another show at the Fondation Le Corbusier — “Ain’t Misbehavin’” — opening on June 12 in Paris.
At the Farnsworth Art Museum, a stone’s throw from the CMCA, chief curator Jaime DeSimone hatched the idea for multiple exhibitions spanning different bodies of work by Ann Craven. “Ann Craven: Painted Time (2020-2024)” opened at the Farnsworth May 3 and runs through Jan. 4, 2026. It comprises some of the museum’s own holdings, which are accompanied by several paintings from Karma, Craven’s New York gallery, and is divided into four parts, one each for Craven’s most common themes: moons, trees, flowers and birds.
“The Farnsworth’s show is born out of our annual Maine in America award,” explains DeSimone. “Ann was selected by the Board of Trustees and staff as the 2025 Maine in America recipient and as part of this recognition, a major exhibition accompanies the award. The Farnsworth’s exhibition is the anchor to the celebration of the 2025 Maine in America Award, which honors Craven’s exceptional contributions to Maine’s arts and culture.”
“To have two powerful, dynamic artists who are women in midcareer — two painters across the road from each other who know each other and respect each other’s work — is an enormous gift to visitors to Maine,” enthuses Wolterstorff, pointing out one of the great advantages of these collaborations. Zimmerman adds, “There’s not an institution in the state that could present the scale and breadth of these artists’ work in one place.”
Ann Craven, “Moon (Blue Night, Red Trees, Cushing, 8-24-21, 9:15PM), 2021,” 2021, oil on linen. Image courtesy of the artist and Karma
Next up for Craven is The Portland Museum of Art’s (PMA) “Spotlight: Ann Craven” (May 14 to Sept. 14), a “pop-up” exhibition of four works —”three loans from her studio and Karma, and one from our collection,” says Sayantan Mukhopadhyay, PhD, assistant curator of modern and contemporary art at the PMA. “Ann Craven’s painting in the PMA’s collection is a cornerstone of our holdings in contemporary art. We are excited to celebrate her and her longstanding commitment to Maine.”
Finally, from May 22 through Aug. 17, Bowdoin College Museum of Art presents the first in a series of three consecutive installations, “Ann Craven | Painted Time: Moons (Laboratory).” This initial iteration is curated by Anne Collins Goodyear, the museum’s co-director. Housed in the Zuckert Seminar Room, it will consist exclusively of moon paintings. This will be followed by two other rotations: one curated by Jay Sanders, executive director and chief curator of Artists Space (July 1-18), and another by Adam Weinberg, director emeritus of the Whitney Museum of American Art (July 20-Aug. 17) — both in New York.
Ann Craven, “Wasn’t Sorry (Looking, On Black, with Cherries),” 2024. Image courtesy of the artist and Karma
By concentrating so single-mindedly on this body of work — which Craven paints sequentially to explore themes of memory, time and repetition — something astounding comes through, believes Goodyear. “There’s a sublime quality to Ann’s moon paintings. It verges on the overwhelming, something we struggle to apprehend. They push us beyond our comfort zone into awe, into the quality of sublimity.”
Coincidentally, she adds, this exhibition “falls on the thirtieth anniversary of her first exhibition of moon paintings.” Unintentionally, the show also coincides with a retrospective of the work of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, another painter who had a significant relationship with both the representation of the sublime and the moon.
Ann Craven, “Tree (Purple Beech, Spring Night Sky, Again, Again),” 2024, oil on linen. Image courtesy of the artist and Karma
Serendipity aside, however, there are beneficial practical aspects to these collaborations for museums. Aside from creating a critical mass of exhibition space that enables a comprehensive exposition of an artist’s work for the museum-goer, there are also savings on co-op advertising (as OMAA and the CMCA are doing). And the ensuing conversations amongst museum staff, in-house and invited curators, amplifies the existing scholarship available.
Zimmerman, for one, is already onto another collaboration for OMAA, this time with Bates College on the work of Carl Sprinchorn, set to open next year.
“In many ways, it reflects the camaraderie that is happening among curators, institutions and others,” concludes Goodyear. “And I consider that incredibly capacious.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “A Sailboat in the Moonlight”
WHERE: Ogunquit Museum of American Art, 543 Shore Road, Ogunquit
WHEN: Through July 20
HOURS: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily
ADMISSION: $15 adults, $13 seniors and students, members and children under 12 admitted free
INFO: 207-646-4909, ogunquitmuseum.org
WHAT: “Nicole Wittenberg: Cheek to Cheek”
WHERE: Center for Maine Contemporary Art, 21 Winter St., Rockland
WHEN: Through Sept. 14
HOURS: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday
ADMISSION: Free for Rockland residents, members and children under 18; $10 general; $8 senior and students
INFO: 207-701-5005, cmcanow.org
WHAT: “Ann Craven: Painted Time (2020-2024)”
WHERE: Farnsworth Art Museum, 16 Museum St., Rockland
WHEN: Through Jan. 24, 2026
HOURS: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Monday (through April)
ADMISSION: $20 adults, $18 seniors (65 and over), $10 students (17 and over), free for Rockland residents and children 16 and under
INFO: 207-596-6457, farnsworthmuseum.org
WHAT: “Spotlight: Ann Craven”
WHERE: Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Square, Portland
WHEN: May 14-Sept. 14
HOURS: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday
ADMISSION: $20 adults, $18 seniors and students 22+, free for members and visitors 21 and under, free to all 4-8 p.m. Friday
INFO: 207-775-6148, portlandmuseum.org
WHAT: “Ann Craven | Painted Time: Moons (Laboratory)”
WHERE: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 9400 College Station, Brunswick
WHEN: May 22-Aug. 17
HOURS: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday (until 8:30 p.m. Thursday) and 1-5 p.m. Sunday
ADMISSION: Free
INFO: 207-725-3275, Bowdoin.edu
