University of Southern Maine Art Galleries

John Collier, Ashland, Maine As it Was

Photographs of the New England States from the Farm Security Administration Files, 1943, black and white photograph, 7 1/2 x 7 1/2, University of Southern Maine Art Department and Galleries Collection

Todd Webb, Avenue du General Le Clerc, Paris

1949, black-and-white photograph, 7 x 6 inches, University of Southern Maine Art Department and Galleries Collection

William Henry Jackson, Clubhouse, Kennebunkport, Maine

c. 1900, sepia photoprint, Detroit Publishing Company, 7 x 9 1/2 inches. University of Southern Maine Art Department and Galleries Collection.

William Henry Jackson, Young's Hotel from the Beach

c. 1900, sepia photoprint, Detroit Publishing Company, 7 x 9 1/2 inches. University of Southern Maine Art Department and Galleries Collection.

Todd Webb: Historian with a Camera
September 1–December 11
AREA Gallery, Woodbury Campus Center, 35 Bedford Ave., Portland
Todd Webb (1905-2000) has been noted for capturing the eloquence of the commonplace. This exhibition of 24 black and white photographs from the USM Art Department and Galleries collection provides glimpses of New York, Paris, and New Mexico from the 1940s-1980s, where Webb lived before taking residence in Maine.

Picturing Maine: The Way Life Was?
September 17–December 11
USM Art Gallery, 37 College Ave., Gorham
This exhibition will examine the role photography played in both constructing and challenging the popular tourist image of Maine and the image of life in Maine in the early twentieth century using three collections at USM: The Detroit Publishing photographs from the 1900s-1920s, The Farm Security Administrations photographs from 1935-1941, and the African-American Photographic Album of Maine, c. 1949-50. The exhibition will also include portrayals of Maine's Native American tribes during the early 20th century. Curated by Donna Cassidy and Elizabeth Bischof.

Related events:
Opening Reception, Gorham location, September 17, 5-7 p.m.
Public Photography Symposium, October 15