The Boats Series
Judith Weinshall Liberman

The BOATS series was begun in 1979, after a visit I paid to Maine. The boats I saw along the coast inspired me to paint BOAT COMPOSITION upon my return to my studio. The painting was not intended to portray any specific boats or grouping of boats I had actually seen. Rather, it was meant to express my feelings about the beauty of the Maine coast. I later rendered the same composition in pastel colors, and called the new version BOAT COMPOSITION II. Almost twenty years went by before I tackled the subject of boats again. What revived my interest in painting boats was the decision by the Depot Square Gallery - a cooperative art gallery I had recently joined in Lexington, Massachusetts - to have a group show on the subject of "Winter" in 1997. While the other members of the gallery created paintings of winter scenes for the show, my own contribution was the painting of several new boat compositions. When I brought my paintings in for hanging, the member who was in charge of hanging the show objected, because my paintings depicted summer scenes and bright colors - and were therefore allegedly not at all about winter. I countered with my explanation that in the winter, we dream of summer and of beautiful ocean scenes; hence my paintings were about winter. My argument was only partially successful. Although I was allowed to enter the paintings in the show, my boat paintings were relegated to an area downstairs rather than in the main gallery.

Judith Weinshall Liberman

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