Zillman Art Museum opens exhibitions of abstract painting and Japanese prints

The Zillman Art Museum at the University of Maine in Bangor opened three exhibitions Sept. 18 featuring paintings and drawings by Jon Schueler, recent work by Tim McFarlane and Japanese woodblock prints from the newly established King Family Collection.

JON SCHUELER: PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS

“Jon Schueler: Paintings and Drawings,” on view through Dec. 29, focuses on work Schueler created throughout the 1960s, including oil paintings, drawings and watercolors. Zillman Art Museum executive director and curator George Kinghorn organized the exhibition in collaboration with the Jon Schueler Foundation in New York City.

Schueler, who lived from 1916 to 1992, was an American Abstract Expressionist painter who spent many years working in New York City. Early in his career, he exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery and Stable Gallery, which also presented work by Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg and other modern artists.

The 1960s marked a period of intellectual growth and artistic experimentation for Schueler, fueled in part by teaching and visiting artist engagements at the Maryland Institute, University of Pennsylvania, University of Illinois and Yale University School of Art.

Schueler also spent extended periods painting in Scotland, where the landscape became a primary source of inspiration. He was particularly drawn to the area around Mallaig, a fishing village on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands. Its shifting skies, light and atmospheric effects became recurring subjects in his work.

The exhibition includes large oil paintings rendered with spirited, bold brushstrokes. Although rooted in abstraction, works such as “Black Sky Opening to the Sea” evoke expanses of land and sky transformed by changing environmental conditions. More serene paintings feature delicately modeled fields of color and subdued brushwork that suggest moments of stillness and gently modulating light.

Drawing was also an important part of Schueler’s practice. The exhibition’s large- and small-scale drawings reveal marks that are alternately improvisational and deliberate, frenetic and restrained. His work is held in collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

TIM MCFARLANE: ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER WAY

“Tim McFarlane: Another Day, Another Way,” on view through Dec. 12, features more than 25 large- and small-scale paintings by the Philadelphia-based artist. The exhibition brings together bodies of work created from 2023 to the present.

Several works explore the distinctions between painting and drawing. Layered webs of monochromatic lines rendered in acrylic and spray paint evoke drawing, while the layered forms in McFarlane’s boldly colored paintings from 2023 and 2024 resemble stylized wire-frame renderings of organic forms.

A new series created in 2025 and 2026, presented for the first time at the Zillman, explores the intersection of painting and sculpture. McFarlane applies thick layers of acrylic paint to irregularly shaped fabric and unstretched canvas, sometimes incorporating acrylic markers and glitter. Scraped passages and built-up paint create textures resembling geologic topography.

The series experiments with a range of shapes and sizes. “Right Here, An Inch Away From Heaven,” a horizontally oriented work, spans more than 8 feet.

KING FAMILY COLLECTION OF JAPANESE PRINTS

The “King Family Collection of Japanese Prints,” on view through Dec. 29, presents 21 Japanese color woodblock prints dating from the mid-1700s to the 1950s. Roger King and Laurie Hicks recently donated the works, collected by King’s grandparents, Frank Haviland King and Olga Rosaline “Opie” King, to the museum.

Mokuhanga, the traditional Japanese woodblock technique, uses water-based inks to create vivid colors, glazes and transparency. The collection’s oldest print, created by Suzuki Harunobu around 1764 to 1772, dates to the Edo period. This form of woodblock print, known as ukiyo-e, depicted the lifestyles, pleasures and interests of urban populations.

The collection includes four prints by Utagawa Hiroshige, who brought lyricism to landscapes through transient weather and activity. Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh both admired his artistry and owned his woodblock prints.

Seven works by Tsuchiya Kōitsu, an artist associated with the shin-hanga movement, form the collection’s largest grouping. Kōitsu focused on landscapes and city scenes characterized by saturated color, light and weather effects. “Yotsuya Araki Yokocho,” translated as “The Alley in Araki, Yotsuya,” pairs warm, radiant tones with fine linework defining a teahouse. “Morning Rain at Lake Hakone” uses softer illumination to evoke the atmospheric light of a rainstorm.

The Zillman Art Museum is at 40 Harlow St., Bangor. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free in 2026 through the support of Birchbrook. Call 207-581-3300 or visit zam.umaine.edu for more information.