Bowdoin collection a look at past> Diversity of artworks at college museum impressive

BRUNSWICK — Free admission is as good a deal as you’re going to get on the coast of Maine at any time of year. But the Bowdoin College Museum of Art is more than a good freebie sandwiched between lobster dinners and trendy craft shops. It is a glimpse into another era, when art was more than expression. It was a means of preserving a culture.

It’s easy to pick out the Walker Art Building when you turn off U.S. Route 1 and Brunswick’s historic Maine Street. With its rear wall paralleling Upper Park Row, the only domed building on campus is itself a work of art. The museum’s brochure calls the century-old building “one of its finest works of art,” fashioned in the Beaux-Arts style of the time.

Expansive granite steps border the main campus and set the stage for classic arches and a brick and marble floor inside the rotunda, beyond the revolving door.

About 25,000 people walk through that door each year. Many come knowing about the museum’s historic collection and its broad diversity. Others come to see what an original Gilbert Stuart portrait really looks like, while others come in search of Winslow Homer.

The last search is often in vain. While Bowdoin College is recognized for a Homer collection, the museum staff emphasizes its Homer collection is of family memorabilia and photos, and not regularly on display. Only one token Homer original is on display. An exhibit of Homer works may be scheduled soon, if it can be coordinated with other museums. It also serves as a reminder that collections on display and exhibits change from month to month.

If you, like me, need to be reminded of the significance of Gilbert Stuart in American art history, you can begin by taking a $1 bill out of your pocket. That’s a Stuart portrait! Now you remember!

While an original portrait of George Washington is not at Bowdoin, how about Thomas Jefferson and James Madison? The portraits are remarkably similar in style and typical of the time period. Madison appears poker-faced stern and imposing, while Jefferson displays a little personality with a Mona Lisa-smile, as if he were sharing a joke with the artist.

Both Stuart portraits were commissioned by Bowdoin benefactor James Bowdoin III, when he was appointed ambassador to Spain by Jefferson. Madison was secretary of state at the time. The two historic portraits are just a hint of the legacy Bowdoin left to the college named for his father, James Bowdoin II, governor of Massachusetts in the 1700s.

James Bowdoin III was a scholar and statesman with no children of his own. The college became his heir. Bowdoin historians believe he recognized the value of art not only for its quality, but as a record of a culture. They also believe that as his collection grew, he acquired new pieces with the college in mind.

In Bowdoin Gallery, to the right of the museum entrance, the displays demonstrate an evolution in portraiture — from Stuart and his compatriots John Smibert and John Singleton Copley to contemporary works. The collection also includes four generations of Bowdoin family portraits, including a Stuart portrait of James Bowdoin III. Mainers will recognize the names of N.C. Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth among the other artists represented in the room.

Among the favorites in the display, according to museum staff, is Martin Johnson Heade’s “Newburyport Marshes: Passing Storm,” from about 1865, and William Trost Richards’ “In the Woods,” done in 1860.

The Boyd Gallery, to the left of the entrance, offers a broad collection of European art from the 14th through the 20th centuries. Many pieces are part of Bowdoin’s bequest, including a group of Baroque paintings. In 1961, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation added 12 Italian paintings to the collection. Such gifts demonstrate the ongoing tradition of giving from the college’s alumni and friends. The art building was among those gifts, constructed in 1894 as a gift of the Misses Harriet and Sophia Walker in honor of their uncle, Theophilus Wheeler Walker. It was also the first time the then-100-year-old college had its art collection together in one building for display and preservation.

The Sophia Walker Gallery on the main floor offers archaeological finds from the Mediterranean centuries before the birth of Christ. The display includes an especially-prized collection of Greek pottery donated by an acknowledged eccentric member of the S.D. Warren family of paper mill fame.

Children offer the quickest assessment of many of the museum’s holdings. From the nearly 2,000 school groups that visit the museum annually, the best comments are also the simplest. They are usually struck by the “cool” masks from Polynesian cultures of the Pacific, or the “wild” Japanese crayfish cast intricately in porcelain shown in the Halford Gallery on the lower level. And on a hot day, they also don’t miss the fact that just being in the museum is cool!

While the main entrance to the museum is handicapped accessible by an exterior ramp, a staff member is needed to use the elevator to the lower floor once inside.

Exhibits are changed monthly in the John A. and Helen P. Becker Gallery on the lower level. The changes often coincide with ongoing studies at the college and are curated by the academic staff and students.

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art is one of two museums on the Brunswick campus with free admission. The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center is located on the first floor of Hubbard Hall, connected by a walkway to the Museum of Art. The Arctic Museum focuses on the Arctic experiences of Bowdoin graduates Robert E. Peary, class of 1877, and Donald B. MacMillan, class of 1898, and other Arctic explorations.

Both museums are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, except national holidays. For information on special exhibits call the Museum of Art at 725-3275, or the Arctic Museum at 725-3416.