Motif Number One; A Sunday Painter’s Dream, painted on a Wednesday in Rockport Mass. 9/4/2013
The fishing-shack is to New England what the log cabin was to the colonial frontier; symbols of enterprise and perseverance confronting the unruly forces of nature. Established in 1840, the village and harbor of Rockport exported granite for the construction industry, all along the eastern seaboard. A fishery had existed in the area since colonial times, as an outpost of the larger port of Gloucester on the southern shore of Cape Ann. The fame of Fitz-Henry Lane attracted many artists to the rocky peninsula, some of whom formed an art-colony in and around Rockport.
Fitz Henry Lane (1804-1865) Brace’s Rock, Brace’s Cove. Collection of the Terra Foundation.
Among these were Ninon Lacey and Bernard Chaet, who kept a seasonal home north of the village at Pigeon Cove. During the summertime, painters set up their easels next to Bearskin Neck, a rocky spit of land attracting crowds of visitors with cedar-shake gift-shops and seafood restaurants. The focus of their attention is a granite pier known as Bradley’s Wharf, upon which stands red fishing-shack known as Motif #1. First built in 1840, the building was blown apart by a blizzard in 1978. By summertime, a replica had taken its place.
Chaet passed away in 2012. Returning to Cape Ann over Labor Day weekend in 2013, Kathie and I recalled during our final visit with him a few years prior. Ninon had told us that when Bernie drove past the artists clustered around Motif #1, he would shout at them,
“More blue! It needs more blue!”
After lunch, we strolled down to the harbor. “There it is.” Kathie said. “I dare you to paint it.” Taking out my sketchbook and an enameled steel bijou-box of watercolor, I began to measure out the scene. Looking beyond the cliché, I saw in a fishing-shack atop an orderly heap of cut granite a physical metaphor for the entire region. Representing not just an iconic subject for Sunday painters, Motif #1 is a monument to the two industries that sustained the town, prior to the rise of tourism. Pains have been taken by Rockport to keep the wharf free of overhead wires, commercial signage, or anything else that might intrude upon the picturesque subject.
Bernard Chaet.Sunrise. Undated. Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester. MA
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