In Harbor

Tod Lindenmuth's color woodcut In Harbor is a dawn view of a harbor in which rowboats circulate among sailboats at anchor beneath a streaky gray sky. A solitary rower pulls away from a moored sailboat on which one figure is already at work. The vessel's shadows cast by the light of an unseen moon play upon the gently rippling water. At the lower right, the cropped form of another rowboat moves into the scene carrying huddled fishermen, including one in yellow overalls and another in a yellow slicker. On the horizon in the right distance, a flotilla of fishing boats is a ghostly presence. The grainy, subtly striated effect of the thinly applied ink on the linoleum block conveys the mottled dimness of early morning.

Working in the artists' colony in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Lindenmuth adapted the techniques of Japanese color woodcut printmaking to the new medium of the linocut and to local subjects. He specialized in linocut prints of dark boats silhouetted against skies muted by night or atmospheric weather conditions. As demonstrated in this work and in Fog Bound (TF 1996.35), he translated the harsh regimen of the New England fisherman's life into poetic visions colored in subtle tones of blues and grays.

Ships at Sea: Sailing Through Summer,Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 6–August 26, 2001.

Le Japonisme en Amérique: oeuvres sur papier, 1880–1930 (Japonisme in America: Works on Paper, 1880–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, September 15–November 30, 2002.