Castine Historical Society Seeks Guest Curator
October 15th, 2020
The Castine Historical Society is seeking a qualified art historian with proven experience to curate and design an exhibition focusing on the Clark Fitz-Gerald archives, along with some borrowed sculpture from community members and Maine museums. The exhibit will run from June 6 – October 10, 2022. Please view the complete description, scope of services, and application information HERE.
In 2017, the children of the sculptor, Clark Fitz-Gerald (1917-2004), donated his extensive archives to the Castine Historical Society. Fitz-Gerald, who was an important figure in 20th-century art lived and worked in Castine from the 1950s until his death. The collection demonstrates that Fitz-Gerald’s life – as a student, teacher, and a creator – revolved around his art. The archives document Fitz-Gerald’s working process, showing the development from his early sketches and notes to his finished sculpture.
The archive contains hundreds of speeches, letters, notes, articles, newspaper clippings, and over 1,100 photographic prints. In addition, the archives include fifty-five sketchbooks and sixteen notebooks and journals that document Fitz-Gerald’s work process. The sketchbooks and journals include his drawings of flora, fauna, and the human form as well as playful cartoon and character studies of his friends and community members. The photographs are a mixture of prints by professional photographers that capture Fitz-Gerald at work in his studio, the finished installations of his sculpture, and snapshots of family scenes at home. For a number of Fitz-Gerald’s sculptures, the Historical Society has early concept drawings, a photograph of the finished piece, reviews and gallery comments, related letters, and artist’s notes. (To learn more see Fitz-Gerald’s son’s illustrated talk sponsored by the Historical Society several years ago HERE).
