Joseph Fiore
Joseph Fiore with his painting “Virgo Tiger” in 1987. The Maine Art Gallery and Maine Farmland Trust are collaborating on a retrospective of the artist’s six decades of work. Photo by Peggy McKenna, courtesy the Penobscot Marine Museum.

Joseph Fiore (1925-2008) was a widely respected artist and active member of the Maine Art Gallery during the 1960s and ‘70s. In celebration of the 100th year of his birth, the gallery is partnering with Maine Farmland Trust (MFT) on an exclusive and overdue major retrospective, “Fiore at 100: Maine Observed.” The show runs June 19 to Aug. 24, with an opening reception on June 21 and will be enhanced by several related events.

A catalogue with an appreciation by art writer Suzette McAvoy will accompany the show.

The exhibition is curated by distinguished Maine watercolorist David Dewey, who sees “Fiore At 100, Maine Observed,” as a celebration of an artist whose two creative modes — representation and abstraction — have always run parallel with one another. These approaches merged together and nourished one another as his career developed, enriching our appreciation of the Maine landscape and its history.

Joseph Fiore was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where his father was a founding member of the Cleveland Symphony. He studied at Black Mountain College under Josef Albers, Ilya Bolotowsky and Willem de Kooning. He was a member of the 10th Street art scene in New York City in the late ’50s and ’60s, showing alongside the likes of Alex Katz, Lois Dodd, and Bernard Langlais. These and other artists showed in the celebrated summer exhibitions mounted in the first decade of the Maine Art Gallery.

Fiore was an avid supporter of Maine Farmland Trust. The works on loan to the Maine Art Gallery were donated to the Trust by the artist’s estate in honor of his longstanding commitment to the organization and its history of programs combining art and environment. Sales of the work will benefit both the Maine Farmland Trust and the Maine Art Gallery.

A nonprofit organization since 1958, the Maine Art Gallery, located at 15 Warren St., Wiscasset, is dedicated to the advancement and preservation of the visual, fine and applied arts through exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations and educational programs for children and adults. More information can be found at www.maineartgallerywiscasset.org and on Facebook at Maine Art Gallery Wiscasset. Email info@maineartgallerywiscasset.org or phone 207-687-8143.