In the University of Maine Museum of Art’s history, one man’s name is synonymous with the collection and the institution itself: Vincent Hartgen.

When he arrived at the Orono campus in 1946, he founded not only the department of art, but an exhibition program that would expose thousands of Mainers to the wonders of painting, print and sculpture. During his 36-year tenure, he acquired 3,900 works for the museum. At a time when most of the state’s residents had never visited a museum, Hartgen exhibited significant works in public places on campus and sent others to Maine classrooms through the “Museums by Mail” program.

“I was trying to create a revolution here,” Hartgen once said. “I wanted to teach and encourage people to enjoy art, particularly modern art.”

Though he died in 2002, his passion lives on in UMMA’s new show, “A Legacy of Collecting: The Vincent A. Hartgen Years,” which is on view through Dec. 1 at the downtown Bangor galleries.

“The collection is a testament to his devotion to objects. The museum’s history is those objects,” said Wally Mason, the museum’s former director, who organized the show.

“We continue today to share his vision in new ways and will always be indebted to his prescient vision.”

Hartgen was nothing if not visionary. He ditched the customary professorial look in favor of T-shirts and long hair. He stood on his desk and banged on chairs. He taught one class – on Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel – lying on his desk to underscore the difficulty he faced.

“He understood that one of the central ways to teach an artist was to look at original art,” Mason said. “He capitalized on the collection in the classroom, and also was the beginning link to the appreciation of art even if one never practiced.”

The classroom wasn’t the only place Hartgen shook things up. He also pushed the envelope when it came to museum exhibits.

“I brought nudes to the campus. Big, fat nudes,” Hartgen said in a 2000 interview. “[UM president Arthur] Hauck stuck by me all the way through. Not only with the nudes, but things people didn’t like about art – modern art. I wanted to drive it home. The next month I would show something sweet and pretty and sugary that they liked.”

The museum collection, which includes hulking oil paintings and Wyeth watercolors as well as war-bond posters and gritty lithographs, ranges from sweet to salty. Hartgen had the foresight to stretch the museum’s shoestring budget by collecting works on paper – which are far less expensive than paintings and sculpture – by artists of note. The current exhibit includes “Eight Bells” by Winslow Homer, a rare etching by Edward Hopper and a cluster of small prints by Francisco Goya, Edouard Manet and Pierre Auguste Renoir.

“I would always quiz him about a particular work in the collection or how he had approached an artist to gift a work to the collection,” Mason recalled. “He would laugh and say things like, ‘I would do anything it took, I would beg, borrow or steal the works, they had to be part of the collection.'”

In time, Hartgen cultivated relationships with generous donors, including Adeline and Caroline Wing and William and Elsie Viles, “who would consistently provide resources to expand the collection,” Mason said. In addition to their gifts of paintings and prints, they also gave funding for Hartgen to acquire work from print dealers who would travel to the area, selling limited-edition work to the locals.

“They would come to Orono, set up tables and the public could buy prints at very affordable prices,” Mason said. “Vincent capitalized on this by cajoling dealers to gift works or provide very attractive deals for the museum to add works to the collection.”

Among Hartgen’s favorite works were the series of 70 Piranesi prints from multiple donors, the Hopper etching and the Homer print, along with significant oil paintings including George Inness’ “The Elm” and Ralph Blakelock’s “The Camp at Sunset.” All of these works are included in this show.

In addition, the show includes a small sampling of Hartgen’s own paintings, in which color explodes like fireworks on the canvas. He loved Maine’s landscape, and he interpreted it in a thoroughly modern way. Equally arresting are his exquisitely detailed pen-and-ink renderings of birch bark or snow-covered leaves.

“Nature toys with man in a sense. It’s bewitching. So you have to work, if you are a landscapist, you have to decide at the very onset to work from memory,” Hartgen said in 2000. “The artist is not a mirror. He does not reflect nature because nature is far deeper than what you see.”

A definitive book on Hartgen’s art, with an introductory essay by art writer Carl Little, is scheduled for publication in spring 2008. It will include 80 plates of his work, including “Variations of a Birch Bark Theme,” which is on view in the UMMA exhibit.

“Vincent found his moment in the landscape of Maine,” Mason said.

And as this exhibit shows, the University of Maine Museum of Art found its moment when Hartgen arrived.

Bangor Daily News reporter Alicia Anstead contributed to this story.

“A Legacy of Collecting: The Vincent Hartgen Years”

Where: University of Maine Museum of Art, 40 Harlow St., Bangor

When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, through Dec. 1

Admission: Free for members and UM students, $3 for visitors

Contact: 561-3350

Information: www.umma.umaine.edu