The other night I went to a reading by Taylor Larsen from her book Stranger, Father, Beloved at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM). I haven’t read the book yet, but from what I’ve heard, Larsen has created complex and compelling characters.
One of the advantages of attending evening programs is the chance to wander through an empty gallery or two. In addition to David Hilliard’s large format photos, I saw “Drawings from the Permanent Collection,” on view through August 28, 2016.
Curated by Christine McCarthy, the Executive Director of the Museum, the show pulls from PAAM’s 3,000 plus works by over 750 twentieth century and contemporary artists who have worked in Provincetown and on Cape Cod. Most of them are nude drawings.
We know how I love nude artworks. The fluid lines of the female form are so alluring. So much of the woman’s essence is captured from the seemingly simple swoosh of a line defining her back, her shoulder, the swell of her breast, the roundness of her bottom Or, in the case of de Groot’s pieces, with its sharper lines, her modern strength.
Here are six nude drawings from the permanent collection of PAAM. If you’re in Ptown be sure to stop in.
Fritz Bultman (1919-1985)
Tacke, 1968
Graphite on paper
Fritz Bultman, Tacke (detail)
Tony Vevers (1926-2008)
untitled (nude, back), 1963
Mixed media on paper
Irving Marantz (1912-1972)
Study of a Bather, n.d.
Charcoal on paper
Nanno de Groot (1913-1963)
untitled (female nude 2/29/1956), 1956
Graphite on paper
Nanno de Groot (1913-1963)
untitled (female nude 3/3/1956), 1956
Graphite on paper
Installation at PAAM