Woodmere Art Gallery, Philadelphia, Paintings by John F. Folinsbee and Peter Cook with Sculpture by Charles Chase, February 12–March 4, 1956, no. 30.

1959 Century

Century Association, New York, John Folinsbee, February 1959.

1959 Farnsworth

William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum, John Folinsbee, July 17–September 14, 1959, no. 9.

1964 Bates College ME

Bates College, Treat Gallery, Lewiston, Maine, Paintings by John Folinsbee, Portraits by Peter Cook, 1964.

1968 Art Association Harrisburg

Art Association Harrisburg, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, John Folinsbee and Charles Rudy, February 4–24, 1968.

1973 Century

The Century Association, New York, A Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings by John Folinsbee, 1973, no. 21, lent by Mrs. John Folinsbee.

1977 Newman

Newman Galleries, Philadelphia, John F. Folinsbee, 1977, no. 11.

1982 NJSM

New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey, The Paintings of John Folinsbee, October 30, 1982–January 9, 1983, no. 41.

1986 St Botolph Boston

St. Botolph Club, Boston, John F. Folinsbee, 1986, no. 25.

Published References

Devree 1952

Devree, Howard. "National Academy Lists 24 Art Prizes." New York Times, March 26, 1952.

Vose 1972

Appraisal of Pictures, Estate of John F. Folinsbee, June 20, 1972. Boston: Vose Galleries, 1972, #401.

Cook 1994

Cook, Peter G. John Folinsbee. New York: Kubaba Books, 1994, p. 10, b/w ill.

Jensen 2013

Jensen, Kirsten M. Folinsbee Considered. Hudson Hills Press, 2013, p. 217, color plate 56; p. 275, cat entry.

Notes

During the 1950s and 1960s, Maine imagery became the primary focus of Folinsbee's work, particularly scenes of turbulent water and the rocky shoreline along the coast of Maine near Wiscasset, where the Folinsbee purchased a house in 1949. The scene in Off Seguin (Ellingwood Rock) is a grouping of rocks off Seguin Island, a small body of land with Coast Guard Station and a lighthouse perched on it that stands at the mouth of the Kennebec River, five miles off shore. Seguin was a popular summer boat trip, and it featured in many of Folinsbee's paintings from the period (see, for example, Coast Guard Station at Night, JFF.471). When Folinsbee won the Palmer Marine Prize at the National Academy's 127th Annual Exhibition, he remarked, "Now that I've won a marine prize I might as well become a marine painter."

Some have speculated that the presence of turbulent water in Folinsbee's paintings from the 1930s, and particularly in his Maine scenes, is a reflection of a constant threat of danger always lurking beneath its surface. Folinsbee's life was marked by water-borne tragedy early on, but to say that this continued to be reflected in his canvases is the same as saying that Folinsbee's late emphasis on mood was because he was depressed (he wasn't). It is more correct to say that Folinsbee saw in the water what Homer and Bierstadt and Bellows (and others) have seen. That is, the challenge to transfer onto the stillness of canvas the essence of movement, of something constantly in a state of transformation?not only physically, but also in its color and in the way the light is reflected off its ever-changing surface. In Off Seguin, Folinsbee's swift and fluid brushstrokes in greens, blues, and the whites of the spray effectively translate the swells of the waves as they hit the rocks and shore and then recede.

Record last updated November 19, 2019. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.

Citation: Jensen, Kirsten M. ""Off Seguin (Ellingwood Rock), 1952 (JFF.824)." In John F. Folinsbee Catalogue Raisonné. www.johnfolinsbee.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=824 (accessed on December 9, 2024).