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Leopold Seyffert

 

Artemis Gallery in Northeast Harbor will be hosting a unique collection of drawings as part of the Gallery’s activities to commemorate Acadia National Park’s Centennial. There is double reason to celebrate this exhibit at Artemis: the drawings were made exactly the same year that the park was inaugurated and they have never been showcased on MDI.

The artist, Leopold Seyffert (1887-1956) was an American portrait artist, whose work was showcased by several high-profile museums during his lifetime.

The drawings are charcoal portraits of several >>> well known European and American >>> musicians who were not able to return home to Germany or Switzerland during World War I. Instead, the musicians travelled to Mount Desert Island to be with their colleagues and patrons, where they would perform together in the evenings. Their camaraderie and location became an inspiration for their music.

“It was the natural beauty, and the resemblance to the European countryside and coast, mountains and lakes” says Robert Seyffert, grandson of Leopold Seyffert, “that originally drew these musicians to Seal Harbor.” Soon after completion, these pieces were shown in numerous museums in a travelling show organized by the Art Institute of Chicago. Later, the Corcoran Museum of Art curated a show of the works. Six of these 1916 portraits are now at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D. C. and one in is in the Farnsworth Museum, in Rockland, ME.

A selection of ten portraits will be on display at Artemis as part of our Past and Present show. The grand opening will be on July 28th, at 5pm.

For more information, contact Deirdre Swords or Cody van Heerden at 207 276 3001, visit www.artemisgalleryme.com or e-mail info@artemisgalleryme.com