Dahlov Ipcar: Creative Growth

Dahlov Ipcar: Creative Growth is a celebration of the creative life and artistic legacy of one of Maine’s most beloved talents. Born to renowned artists Marguerite and William Zorach in 1917, Dahlov Ipcar (1917–2017) had no formal training in the arts but spent her childhood close to the major movements in American art. 

This exhibition retraces Ipcar’s early development with a selection of original works drawn from the artist’s first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, organized in 1939 when she was just 21 years of age. The exhibit presents 93 individual pieces in various media and illuminates her path from childhood to maturity in a journey of considerable artistic range. 

Early crayon drawings of the world around her are seen to lead to the sophisticated and kaleidoscopic style for which she became known. Vibrant and imaginative ceramic figurines present her fascination and lifelong engagement as an animalier. The installation offers a fresh look at patterns and themes that arise from the work of a young and creative mind, with forays into Regionalism and Social Realism, and what the artist would call her practice of non-intellectual Cubism. Dahlov Ipcar: Creative Growth charts the creative and intellectual growth of an artist as she witnessed the great social and political upheavals of the early 20th Century. The exhibition is curated by Andres A. Verzosa and organized by the Ogunquit Museum of American Art.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website