History of Cape Cod Art Association & Museum

Cape Cod Art Association, Founded in 1948

THE YEAR 1948 was one of tumult and contrast. It was the year of the Berlin airlift and the start of the Cold War, of the Marshall plan to rebuild Europe and the assassination of Gandhi. It was the year that Norman Mailer published The Naked and the Dead. In post-war France, Matisse painted “Plum Blossoms” and worked on his chapel in Vence. In Maine, Andrew Wyeth painted “Christina’s World,” and in New York, Jackson Pollack finished his breakthrough painting “No. 5.” Meanwhile, on Cape Cod, under the auspices of artist/physician Fritz Talbot, a group of artists rented gallery space on Main Street in Hyannis to house the newly formed Cape Cod Art Association (CCAA).
Back then, Cape Cod was a quieter place, with fewer people and no year-round economy to speak of. Route 6, the Cape’s main thoroughfare, had yet to be built, and Main Street in Hyannis was two-way. Gas cost 26 cents per gallon, the minimum wage was 40 cents per hour, a house cost $13,500, and the Dow Jones Industrial Index stood at just 177.
In 1948, yearly membership in the newly formed Cape Cod Art Association cost $3, and 30 members attended its first annual meeting. Today, membership costs $45, and CCAA has over one thousand members, 800 of whom are juried artists.
Brooks Kelly was a student artist when the original gallery was located in space rented from Abercrombie and Fitch at 373 Main Street in Hyannis. He related the movements of CCAA, explaining that it was later relocated to the Mass. Maritime building, which was demolished as part of the expansion of the Post Office on Main Street, and then moved to a building on Ocean Street, the site of the former Hyannis Woman’s Club, directly behind the loading dock for the Cape Cod Times. Soon after, CCAA received a gift of property next to the Bacon Farm Inn on Route 6A in Barnstable, which became its permanent home. The property included a large barn which was converted into gallery and classroom space, but sadly, it was destroyed by fire in 1973 and was replaced by the current distinctive building with its three galleries and two studios.
    Even in the best of times, art is an expression of faith, but it takes more than good intentions for an organization to thrive for 60 years. The mission of CCAA’s founders was to “promote an appreciation of the workers in the arts and the community.”
“Our mission has not changed over the years,” says CCAA’s current president, Roberta Miller. “We introduce artists to art lovers. The early accounts of our activities are the same as they are now. There is still a need for artists to come together. Emerging artists who are not represented by galleries need a place to show and sell their work, and well-known artists need a place to exhibit too.”
To complement its dual role as gallery and art school, CCAA has two levels of membership: associate members and juried artist members. With this two-tiered membership schedule, CCAA is able to welcome new artists who seek to show their work publicly for the first time in order to build confidence and skills, and also attract known professional artists who show their work regularly in other galleries.
CCAA has also succeeded in its mission by bringing art into the community. Each year, it offers more than 100 classes and workshops that are open to everyone, whatever their skill or experience or age, be they “3 or 93,” says Selma Alden, CCAA’s curator.
CCAA also sponsors juried art exhibitions each month, with awards totaling $15,000 each year. It has held juried all-Cape Cod, all-New England, and all-National shows.
“In the last few years, CCAA has doubled its membership, says Miller. “We offer more classes and workshops, and are open year round. And our gallery just had its best year ever.” New to CCAA is its Fine-Art Photography division and camera club with over 100 members.
     The history of CCAA is really the story of the artists who have shown in its galleries. Over the years, many well-known artists, representing a full range of artistic styles, have taught classes and shown and sold their work there. Noted Provincetown painter and teacher Henry Hensche (1899–1992) showed at CCAA. A student of legendary Provincetown teacher Charles Hawthorne, he painted in the plein air Impressionist tradition of Claude Monet, focusing on the universal language of color and light. R. H. Ives Gammell (1893–1981) also showed at CCAA. Gammell was influenced by French artists such as Gerome and David, and created dramatic, allegorical scenes in the tradition of academic art. The Abstract Expressionist painter Peter Busa (1914–1985), a New York School artist living in Provincetown at that time, also taught and exhibited at CCAA.
     To celebrate its 60th anniversary, CCAA will sponsor a Founders’ Day Show from July 17 to August 11, focusing on the work of contemporary and past members. There will also be an historic exhibit.
On Friday, July 18, CCAA will announce the winner of a new prize awarded to Best-in-Show in honor of Vernon Coleman, given in his memory by his former students. Coleman taught at Barnstable High School for 20 years, and is best known for his murals at Barnstable Town Hall and at the former Barnstable High School.
President Roberta Miller observes that CCAA “has always been fortunate to have a group of people with energy to foster its programs and keep vitality in the organization. It has always sustained itself.” Given its success thus far, the Cape Cod Art Association will surely continue to thrive.

by Jim Talin, published in Cape Arts Review, 2008