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Sunday, November 6, 2005
The colorful world of Dahlov Ipcar
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GEORGETOWN — Dahlov Ipcar peers from behind a window as a visitor ambles up her front lawn. The artist, who turns 88 this week, opens the wooden door of her 1860s farmhouse and extends a hand. Instantly, it's apparent that Ipcar is in great spirit. Her eyes are bright, her handshake firm and her demeanor friendly. She speaks with a strong voice, full of timbre. The only outward sign of age is her use of a walker, which the painter depends on to navigate the farmhouse's creaky floorboards. After surgeries to replace a shoulder and hip and to correct carpal tunnel in a wrist, Ipcar pronounces herself fit, all things considered. "My back is shot, but otherwise I am OK," Ipcar said. "I'm just trying not to let the world bore me." Clearly, she succeeds. Ipcar opens her latest exhibition of new paintings with a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. today at Frost Gully Gallery in Freeport. She has completed dozens of new works - 20 this year alone, twice her usual output. The latest work continues her familiar colorful, collage-style paintings of birds, cats and animals of all stripes. "I think I've just gotten more capable," Ipcar said. "I've got nothing else to do. If you have nothing else to distract you, it's easy. There's not that much occupying my time, so I am thinking a lot about painting." Ipcar no longer gardens, although she does tend to a vibrant collection of indoor plants. She relies on friends, family and associates to handle daily chores. That leaves her free to paint, which she does nearly every day, usually in the morning. Many older artists alter their style because of diminishing motor abilities. Not Ipcar, who said she never feels her age when she paints. She believes her art keeps her sharp in mind, body and spirit. STROKES STILL STRONG Her brush work remains strong and detailed. She said her vision improved since the cataracts were removed from both eyes a few years ago. "I think I've gotten more colorful the last few years. After I had both my eyes done, I couldn't believe how my color perception changed. I saw colors I had never seen before," she said. Ipcar's only concession is that she now sits when she paints. Her son, Charlie Ipcar, who lives nearby, rotates larger canvases on her easel, enabling the artist to work more comfortably without having to stand or reach. Her dealer, Tom Crotty of Frost Gully Gallery, calls Ipcar's productivity unprecedented. He's seen many older artists sustain active careers late in life, but none with the precision and execution of Ipcar. "It's absolutely mind-boggling. This new work is easily on par with the best she's ever done," Crotty said. For Ipcar, the Frost Gully exhibition is a triumph. She's made it her goal to regularly exhibit new work. This will be her third solo exhibition since a 2002 retrospective at the Portland Museum of Art. Her son said it hasn't always been easy for Ipcar to work at this level. It's been a tough couple of years. Her husband of 67 years, Adolph Ipcar, died in 2003. In the last year alone, 18 of her friends have died, she said. And for a while, the painter relied on medicine to ease debilitating back pain. She has weaned herself from nearly all the pain medication, her son said. "And that's great, because there was a period around five years ago when things were fogging in. This is incredibly good," Charlie Ipcar said. "She is physically in better shape than she was two to three years ago. She is stronger and better able to do things more comfortably with her hands." Ipcar, whose early career included dozens of illustrated children's books, stands as matron of a respected Maine art family. The daughter of painter Marguerite Zorach and sculptor William Zorach, Ipcar has spent most of her life in Robinhood Village on this midcoast peninsula. Her paintings, which sell for between $6,000 and $20,000 each, are widely collected. Many leading U.S. museums own her work, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Art Museum in New York. For several decades, Ipcar has favored painting animals. She paints domestic cats, farm animals and wild animals from all continents and corners of the globe. She has never traveled to see wild animals - the most exotic place she has ever been, she said, is Hobe Sound, Fla. - but she has an active imagination fueled by pictures she sees in books. Her studio, which occupies a small addition in her home, is stacked with reference books about the animal kingdom and natural world. CAPTURING THE SPIRIT Her goal is to paint animals accurately, but she is not interested in perfect representations. Instead, she aims to capture its spirit and personality. In "Lunar Cats," a recent oil painting, she paints two felines under a quarter moon, traipsing in air through a darkened flora jungle. With tails aflutter, the two cats stare at each other as they pass. Theirs is a moonlit dance of curiosity. Another recent painting, "Chess Cat," combines two favorite subjects for Ipcar. An avid computer chess player, Ipcar represents every piece of the game in the anatomy of the cat. The king makes the cat's nose. Rooks form the paws and bishops are its ears. Full of visual puns, its brilliance is in her imaginative use of the chess pieces. Ipcar laughed as she talked about the whimsy of her work. "What you see is what you get. There are no political messages. I don't believe in political messages in art. I gave them up in the '30s. Art is a visual language. You either respond to it or you don't," she said. Early in her career, Ipcar dabbled in social realism and ultimately rejected abstract-expressionism, because "somehow it just didn't appeal to me." Early on, she realized she didn't want to be a landscape painter. "Maine is too beautiful, and I can't compete with nature," she said. She folded cubist ideas into her work and settled into a style that blends realism and imagination. Born in Vermont in 1917, Ipcar grew up in Greenwich Village in New York City. The daughter of accomplished artists, she always created things and never doubted her own life path would be in the arts. The only question was where she would pursue her work. Her parents bought the farm in Georgetown in 1923, introducing their daughter to both animals and Maine at a young age. For the early years of her life, Ipcar would come to Maine in the summer. She married Adolph Ipcar in 1936, and they moved to the farm in 1937. "We were planning to spend one winter, but we decided to stay. We never went back. It was never a real farm. We had a couple of cows, horses, pigs and chickens. My husband was a city boy, and did well. I guess you could say we were the original back-to-the-landers, only we did it early, in the '30s." In her work, Ipcar said she never concerned herself with popularity or commercial appeal - although she has had plenty of both. She understands her place in the art world, and dismisses the notion of celebrity. "I never wanted to be a celebrity. I never wanted fame. I just wanted to be accepted," she said. "You can't think about what people like. You have to think about what you like to do. My father said, 'Never paint with the intention of selling it. Paint it. Do your best job, and then worry about selling it.' " She is thankful that art continues to give her purpose. Alone in the world with a dwindling circle of friends and family, Ipcar relishes getting up each day and getting to work. "I'm happy when I'm painting," she said. Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at:
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