Langlais Sculpture Preserve Bernard Langlais (1921 - 1977)
Extant
576 River Road, Cushing, Maine, 04563, United States
1966 - 1977
The Preserve is open from dawn to dusk.
About the Artist/Site
In 2010, Colby College of Waterville, Maine, received a large bequest of artworks by Bernard “Blackie” Langlais from the artist’s widow, Helen Langlais, as well as a 90-acre property in Cushing, Maine, that the couple occupied from 1966 to 1977. The Colby College Museum of Art has acquired 180 artworks from this gift for its collection, which already contained a dozen sculptures and wood reliefs by Langlais, making theirs the single largest holding of the artist’s work.
Born in Old Town, Maine, Langlais studied painting at the Corcoran School of Art, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Brooklyn Museum School, and received a Fulbright Scholarship to Oslo, Norway. While living in New York City in the 1950s and early 1960s, Langlais experimented with the medium of wood. He created abstract reliefs that caught the attention of the art world in the era of Abstract Expressionism, assemblage, and Pop art, and earned him a solo exhibition at the esteemed Leo Castelli Gallery in 1961. In 1966, after spending a decade of summers on the mid-Coast of Maine where he was a founding member of Maine Coast Artists in Rockport (now the Center for Maine Contemporary Art), Langlais was drawn back permanently to his native state. He returned to figuration in his work, often drawing from the animal kingdom for his subject matter. Late in his life, he constructed more than 100 large-scale wood sculptures, which he erected on the land around his Cushing home. A number of outdoor sculptures still remain on the property, although many show the ravages of time and weather.
Recognizing the importance of the site to the artist’s legacy, and to the rich history of the arts on the mid-Coast, Colby Museum Assistant Curator Hannah Blunt contacted Kohler Foundation about possible preservation of the collection and site. In December 2012, Colby made a gift of nearly 3,000 Langlais artworks to Kohler Foundation. Kohler Foundation preserved and ultimately gifted these works, which include wood reliefs, paintings, sculptures and works on paper, to non-profit institutions throughout Maine and the United States, enabling other communities to enjoy Langlais’ spirited art.
*Text courtesy of Kohler Foundation, Inc.
Materials
wood
Map & Site Information
576 River Road
Cushing, Maine, 04563
us
Latitude/Longitude: 44.041652 / -69.2108333
Nearby Environments
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