MDI Author Explores Work of Famed Maine Artist

Maine artist Dahlov Ipcar once said she didn’t want celebrity or fame; she wanted only “to be recognized.”

Wish granted – sort of. Her work is in the permanent collections of prestigious institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as in many private collections. She’s a famed illustrator and author of children’s books. And at 92 she continues to create and show new work.

She’s definitely recognized.

But she got celebrity and fame, too.

Down East books has just published the first retrospective of Ms. Ipcar’s art, “The Art of Dahlov Ipcar,” and it was written by Somesville-based arts writer Carl Little. It’s a handsome 128-page hardcover overflowing with the colorful images that have made her and her art so well recognized.

“Her work is incredibly special,” said Mr. Little. “It’s remarkable in its spirit.”

There wasn’t a moment’s hesitation when Down East Books asked him to write the book a year and a half ago.

“I agreed with a whole heart. I’m a longtime fan of Dahlov’s work. I was incredibly honored to be asked.”

Ms. Ipcar has been “in just about every one of my books that I could get her into,” said Mr. Little.

Her work is included in his “The Art of Maine in Winter,” “Paintings of Maine,” and “Art of the Maine Islands.” Mr. Little, a nationally recognized art expert, also is author of “The Art of Monhegan Island,” “Winslow Homer and the Sea,” “The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent,” “Edward Hopper’s New England,” and “Paintings of New England,” the last of which includes the work of Ms. Ipcar’s mother, Marguerite Zorach.

Ms. Ipcar’s father was the famed sculptor William Zorach, and they all spent time every summer in Maine on Georgetown Island while living the rest of the year in Greenwich Village. In 1936, at 18, Ms. Ipcar married Adoph Ipcar and she still lives and paints in the 1860s farmhouse they shared in Georgetown for nearly 70 years.

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