A William Irvine Art Essay
with My Irvine Adventure...
On my way home, I stopped in Blue Hill Books, a great bookstore, and was astounded to find two art books about William Irvine. Of course, one was by Carl Little, who I'd only seen weeks ago at his talk and my art opening in York, Maine. I didn't know Carl had written a book about William Irvine. And there it was in his book, not one but two of these paintings of a lobsterboat racing across the canvas, Heading Out and also The Return. I was excited. I purchased both books.
William Irvine, A Painter's Journey
Carl Little, forward by Richard Russo
Marshall Wilkes, Inc., Ellsworth, ME, 2014, 108 pages. $39.95
On amazon HERE. $28.92
William Irvine: At Home
William Irvine
Marshall Wilkes, Inc., Ellsworth, ME, 2018, 108 pages, $28.95
On amazon HERE. $21.81
Could this adventure get better? Yes.
On my journey south I stopped in pouring rain at Camden with my big red umbrella. As I'm walking up Bayview Street, gallery row, my eyes pop as I look in the window of Harbor Square Gallery. There's a William Irvine painting, whoa, more than one. I go in, strike up a pleasant conversation with Jonathan, who also has an Iceland connection, and he shows me to the upstairs gallery where they are about to hang an Irvine painting. I'm astounded, what serendipity. For the first time I beheld a lobsterboat and line wake by William Irvine...
Painting to be Hung for Sale
William Irvine (1931- ), Scottish/American
Harbor Square Gallery
37 Bayview Street, Camden ME 04843
www.harborsquaregallery.com
Irvine was born in Troon, a small coastal village on the Atlantic coast of Scotland. He was captivated by art as a young boy and majored in art at Marr College, a progressive secondary school in Troon. When the family of whiskey magnate Johnnie Walker heard about two budding artists at Marr (Irvine and his best friend William Crozier), they invited the boys for a private viewing of Walker's art collection. This was Irvine's first opportunity to see paintings that were not reproductions but originals by the masters. Irvine went on to graduate with a degree in drawing and painting from the Glasgow School of Art in 1953.
The Drifting Cloud
William Irvine (1931- ), Scottish /American
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30" (w x h)
$8,000 USD
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art
6 Court Street, Ellsworth, Maine 04605
www.courthousegallery.com
In 1960, he met and married Stephanie Schram, an American student studying in London. In 1968, the young couple moved to Downeast Maine. Irvine was immediately drawn to the fishing villages of Corea and Jonesport, whose tidy houses reminded him of the white farms dotting the green hills of Scotland. Here, harbor, boats, islands and the sea and sky, inspired bold work fueled by two driving forces: abstraction and representation.
By William Irvine (1931- ), Scottish/American
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art
6 Court Street, Ellsworth, Maine 04605
www.courthousegallery.com
Maine proved to be a turning point. Irvine combined abstraction with figurative work, producing bold new seascapes, landscapes, narrative scenes, and still lifes. He used his poetic sensibility and the richness of his textural compositions to bring these antithetical elements into balance. Irvine believes "Every artist is born with a small set of poems, and it is the exploration of that personal mythology that defines him as an artist." His paintings of the men and women living and working in these coastal villages, as well as his experimental seascapes became lifelong themes.
The Lobster Boat Race, Stonington
William Irvine (1931- ), Scottish/American
Oil on museum board, 36" x 26" (w x h), 2012
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art
6 Court Street, Ellsworth, Maine 04605
www.courthousegallery.com
A few years later, Irvine and Stephanie bought a house in Blue Hill, Maine, and the old attached barn became Irvine's studio for the next forty-two years. In 1985, Stephanie died after a long illness. Irvine married Margery Wilson in 1995. They built a house and studio on the shore overlooking the sea in Brooklin, Maine. Living in such close proximity to the ocean provides Irvine with daily sources of inspiration.
The Lobster Boat Passes Through the Clouds
William Irvine (1931- ), Scottish/American
Oil on canvas, 40" x 30" (w x h)
$8,000 USD
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art
6 Court Street, Ellsworth, Maine 04605
www.courthousegallery.com
Daybreak Departure
William Irvine (1931- ), Scottish/American
Oil on canvas, 72" x 36"
$14,000 USD
Greenhut Galleries
146 Middle St, Portland, ME
www.greenhutgalleries.com
Maine has its own character, soul if you wish. I felt it the first morning I woke up in Maine, in an A-frame on Tom Leighton Point in Washington County, lobster boats droning offshore, gulls crying, the smell of herring bait. A smudge of islands on the horizon. I had arrived from Scotland, and our two souls bonded. It was love at first sight... So, does it matter where we live? I think it does, for each artist finds his comfort zone, a place he feels connected to. Van Gogh in Provence, Marin in Addison, de Kooning on Long Island. It is a place that allows us to communicate with our surroundings. We use the props at hand, be they hills or harbors; in my case, clouds, islands, and boats... Read the whole article by William Irvine on Maine Arts Journal HERE.
Waiting at the Door
William Irvine (1931- ), Scottish/American
Oil on Panel, 16" x 12" (w x h)
Sold
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art
6 Court Street, Ellsworth, ME 04605
www.courthousegallery.com
Early Riser
William Irvine (1931- ), Scottish/American
Oil on board, 16" x 12" (w x h), 2018
Girl at the Door
by William Irvine
She has left the shadows behind
caught in the corners of her bed
and the cloak of her dreams
shed like yesterday's clothes.
With a magician's hand
she opens up the sea
and the sun
and a single gull
like herself
about to soar.
See this in:
William Irvine: At Home
William Irvine
at Marshall Wilkes, Inc., Ellsworth, ME, 2018, 108 pages, $28.95
Also on amazon HERE. $21.81
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