BERNARD LANGLAIS

In 2010, the Colby College Museum of Art received the estate of the Maine-born artist Bernard “Blackie” Langlais (1921–1977) as a bequest from his widow, Helen, who died that year. Bernard Langlais is the first fruit of that acquisition: the most comprehensive exhibition of his work on record accompanied by a 240-page hardback catalogue that literally writes the book of his life and art.

The collection represents a treasure trove, including sculpture, paintings and works on paper from all periods of Langlais’s career. Curator Hannah Blunt chose broadly but carefully. The show carries us from a promo piece for the state of Maine painted when the artist was 19; through early landscapes, including Skowhegan where he attended the renowned summer program; to the Munch-esque oils he produced while on a Fulbright in Norway.

And then comes the work in wood: the abstract geometric wall reliefs that gained Langlais a spot in the New York City art world limelight in the 1960s and the charming and inventive animals that made up the remarkable menagerie of his later years. The exhibition also confirms his skills as a draftsman: ink drawings and oils of animals—and his nudes—made in the 1970s are completely engaging.

Bernard Langlais, Eagle, ca. 1964, raw and painted wood, 96 x 48 x 3″. Colby College Museum of Art, gift of Mrs. Bernard Langlais. Photo: Pixel Acuity.

Even Langlais fans will find revelations here: a ca. 1956 oil, Summer Cottage, that brings to mind Alex Katz’s later work; an early 1960s wood relief portrait of Jackie Kennedy holding a white glove; a seal, ca. 1975, viewed head-on with wire for whiskers; and some lovely rare watercolors, including a series devoted to sea gulls, from the 1960s.

The Colby Museum turned to the Kohler Foundation to help place other works from the Langlais estate in collections across Maine. A number of institutions, including the Ogunquit Museum of American Art and the University of New England Art Gallery, are highlighting these acquisitions this summer. Perhaps the crowning achievement of this partnership is the establishment, through the Georges River Land Trust, of a sculpture park at the Langlais property in Cushing, Maine—a fitting memorial to a memorable artist and his muse.