EXHIBITIONS

Partial selection of exhibitions, online "e-catalogues", and special projects by Catherine Ryan 

 Conceptualized. Curated. Directed. Produced. Since 1984.


Très Complémentaires: The Art and Lives of Ethel Mars and Maud Hunt Squire

October 2000

Mary Ryan Gallery | Susan Sheehan Gallery

Curator, Essay, Chronologies- by Catherine Ryan 

An introduction to progressive American artists, Ethel Mars (1876-1959) and Maud Hunt Squire (1873-1954) who met at the Cincinnati Art Academy and spent most of their lives together. They established themselves as a significant presence in Paris in 1906, and later in Provincetown during WWI. Gertrude Stein immortalized them in her early word portrait, "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene" (1908-11).  Spanning many mediums and fifty years, the retrospective highlighted early Pont-Aven school, avant-garde woodcuts, Provincetown prints, book illustrations, and drawings made in Occupied France during WWII. 

This resource was the first comprehensive publication on their lives and art as well as the first analysis through an art history and biographical lens of "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene", note the exact count, letter for letter, in their literary counterparts. - Catherine Ryan

"...Stein's text was relatively faithful to Mars's life especially. As there was absolutely no information about the personal background of Maud Hunt Squire, Stein's reference in "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene" of Skeene visiting her 'brother of distinction' seemed a certain clue...Stein's repetition reduced the essential facts of their lives to give an overall expression of these women, similar to the aim of the modern and expressive art of the time that Stein collected and championed."- essay excerpt

Edward Hopper All Around Gloucester 

ONLINE

catalogue and tour

(2010 - ongoing)

There are more than 115 Edward Hopper works inspired by Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Edward Hopper All Around Gloucester  ©2010 is an online digital catalogue detailing where Hopper painted in Gloucester by art advisor and historian Catherine Ryan. She continues to research and update information about any Gloucester paintings, drawings and prints by Edward Hopper. 

"Step into Edward Hopper’s life in Gloucester with the web-based digital catalogue and  Google map I first created in 2009, Edward Hopper all around Gloucester, Massachusetts,  that reveals where scores of Hopper’s works of art were inspired in Gloucester beyond a well known core, and corrected several misidentifications possibly hinting at Maine or Cape Cod. By my last tally, there are more than 115 in Gloucester!"   

Civil Progress Images of Black America

1997

Mary Ryan Gallery ,NYC  and Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle

Guest Curator and Essay by Halima Taha

Curators: Catherine Ryan, Mary Ryan. 

The DeCordova acquired the large-scale stunning bronze sculpture, Eternal Presence, in 2004, seven years after this groundbreaking show. Gaps in the art market are painful and slowly remedied.  Halima Taha's keen and powerful essay for the exhibit noted the acquisition of a Tanner landscape that same year (1997) for the White House: "Now that the White House has the work of an African American artist hanging on its walls, one question of civil progress becomes: Is America ready to have a black President of the United States." 

Eternal Presence, was acquired by the Decordova in 2004. Halima Taha published the seminal book Collecting African American Art in 1998.

Original graph chart and cover illustration for the online catalogue: 1918 FLU PANDEMIC. RECONSTRUCTING HOW THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC RAGED THEN FLATTENED IN GLOUCESTER MASSACHUSETTS WHEN 183 DIED IN 6 WEEKS.

1918 FLU PANDEMIC: RECONSTRUCTING HOW THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC RAGED THEN FLATTENED IN GLOUCESTER MASSACHUSETTS WHEN 183 DIED IN 6 WEEKS 

ONLINE. here

TIMELINE here

March 20, 2020

Good Morning Gloucester article reprint May 2020

"When the Influenza of 1918 raged in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the death toll surged to 183 during six weeks in September and October. There was a perfect storm of transmissibility. Until there wasn’t. Gloucester ran a tight-ship..."

Author note, March 2020: The sources and inspiration (listed at the end) for this article were gathered from multiple books, journals, newspapers, rare old maps, local histories, photographs, background knowledge and family history.  I confess to a certain deliberate favoritism & primary sources related to the arts. I am grateful for the great archives and open content. Voices from the past may interest descendants, and give us perspective and hope during Covid-19. With so many worthy of honor, especially those who sacrificed to keep Gloucester safe, and those who suffered and died, I thought it valuable to make Gloucester’s part in this history accessible to all. So I curated a resource and visual gallery to put Gloucester’s 1918 Pandemic history online. The Gloucester Daily Times daily chronicle which I transcribed intentionally are exhaustive & inspiring, and no part since 1918 had been previously published, or its full pages and article reproductions searchable on line. Other newspapers are fully accessible including big publications (New York Times) and small (Manchester Cricket). - Catherine Ryan, March 2020

Cover illustration for Rediscovering Architect Donald Monell and Lila Monell with portrait--courtesy of Alex Monell-- of his parents, Lila and Don, together at Sarah Fraser Robbins house

Rediscovering Architect Donald Monell and Lila Monell

Background about the American architect, Donald F. Monell, catalogue of buildings, and visual context regarding his designs for the Sawyer Free Library expansion built in 1973. 

Laurent de Brunhoff and Phyllis Rose courtesy Catherine Ryan

Laurent de Brunhoff: Selections from fifty years of Babar sketches and studies for book illustration

1998

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Curator- Catherine Ryan

Several artists we represented were extended "family".  I began to help Laurent in the late 1980s and was lucky to work with him closely through 2002.  Solo exhibitions featured his  contemporary art and surveys of Babar books already published or upcoming. This show was a catalyst to the Morgan Library acquiring both Laurent de Brunhoff's and Jean de Brunhoff first books, a deliberate and hopeful plan by he and Phyllis Rose, and his family, in the US, while planning specific holdings for repositories in France and the UK as well.

Gloucester's Fishery Exhibition outdoor education signs

Gloucester's Fishery Exhibit

GLOUCESTER 

2014

HarborWalk | Fisherman's Wharf 

Compiled by Mark McDonough with help from Vito Giacalone, Peter Prybot, and Joey Ciaramitaro in 2010. Refurbished by the City of Gloucester (Matt Coogan) in 2014 with Catherine Ryan. Design by Cambridge Seven Assoc.

Woman stops to photograph the Gloucester HarborWalk story moment trail marker on the corner of Pleasant and Main Streets in downtown Gloucester for American artist 'Winslow Homer' who was here in Gloucester for extended stays in 1873 and 1880. Homer's 'Breezing' Up' featured on the sign. A QR code on the sign could be photographed as well which leads to "read more" options.

HarborWalk Story Moments 

2012

GLOUCESTER

Architect: Cambridge Seven Assoc. | C7A

Curator- Catherine Ryan. Trail marker content- Catherine Ryan, Lise Breen, David Rhinelander | under Direction of Sarah Garcia. Mayor Carolyn Kirk.

HarborWalk Online

GLOUCESTER

Architect: C7A

Original version, Online guide complemented the hardscape trail.

 The Gloucester HarborWalk designed by Cambridge Seven Associates took home an impressive array of local, regional, and national awards in 2013:

An image that looks like a museum label. Gloucester HarborWalk story moment trail marker online #28 'Edward Hopper' features Haskell House from the National Gallery of Art collection. Below the illustration are links to further information including "Edward Hopper All Around Gloucester" online catalogue and Google Map by Catherine Ryan.
This photo shows an illustration of a walking map. Cambridge 7 Associates, an architectural firm based in  Boston, designed the accessible and award winning  Gloucester HarborWalk which opened in 2012. The trail incorporated guides like this early map design for use in the field and online.
This illustration is an example of one trail marker for the online version of the Gloucester HarborWalk Story Moment trail stop #36 "Whales". There are 7 suggested links to explore below an original whale drawing by artist Barry Moser for Catherine Ryan for the HarborWalk.
Photograph of an exhibition brochure, Male Desire: Homoerotic Art in America 1900-1995, curated by Catherine Ryan with essay by Jonathan Weinberg

Male Desire: Homoerotic Art in America 1900-1995

1995

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Curator- Catherine Ryan Essay- Jonathan Weinberg

Scottish Prints

1990

Mary Ryan Gallery

Curator, Essay- Catherine Ryan 

Photograph of catalogue cover for Edna Boies Hopkins Provincetown Color Woodblock Prints 1900 - 1923 catalogue published in 1986 for an exhibition curated by Catherine Ryan

Edna Bois Hopkins 

(1872-1937) Provincetown Color Woodblock Prints 1900-1923  1986

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Co-curator, essay, chronology, research- Catherine Ryan

May Stevens 

1999

Curator, Catherine Ryan

Robert Rauschenberg

1996

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Co-Curator, Exhibition planning and labels- Catherine Ryan.  Timed with the 25th anniversary of man's first walk on the moon.

HarborWalk Intention and Creativity | The Semi-Finalist Group Exhibit

Matz Gallery, Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Public Library 

2013

Curator- Catherine Ryan

image: James Calderwood. Fish Net.  

300' temporary mural (2013-2021)

HarborWalk 2013 Public Art Challenge

GLOUCESTER

Project Public Art Director- Catherine Ryan

image: Cruz Ferreras. Leap. Aug. 2013

 Louis Lozowick (1892-1972): Precisionist Master 

1999

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Co-Curator, exhibition planning, writing- Catherine Ryan

 Ada Gilmore- The Summer of 1915 Watercolors from Provincetown

2001

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Curator- Catherine Ryan

Cape Ann Reads 

Children's Picture Books Celebration | Author & Artist Exhibitors and Book Fair 

With special tribute exhibit of original work and books by Pat Lowery Collins, Giles Laroche, and Anna Vojtech. Plus The Bookstore on Main's pop up shop.

Cape Ann Public Libraries, Mayor Romeo Theken, City of Gloucester, Kyrouz Auditorium  

Gloucester City Hall

2018

Director- Catherine Ryan

Once Upon a Contest: Selections from Cape Ann Reads 

Once Upon a Contest  travelled to 5 venues--three Cape Ann public libraries, the Manchester Historical Museum, and Cape Ann Museum--showcasing award-winning children's picture books by Cape Ann artists and authors that were selected as the Cape Ann Reads Gulliver, Honor, Medal,, and Kids Compliment Books.  

Once Upon a Contest was made possible with support from the Bruce J Anderson Foundation | The Boston Fund.  Acclaimed children’s book author-illustrators Pat Lowery Collins, Giles Laroche and Anna Vojtech joined librarians and Bob Ritchie, Dogtown Books proprietor, on the 9 member jury panel. The Tree in Dock Square by Jean Woodbury and illustrated by Bonnie L. Sylvester is the first Cape Ann Reads Medal book.

*With an invited Public Artist for each venue: Bonnie L. Sylvester, Leslie Galacar, Alexia Parker, Claire Wyzenbeek, and Betty Wiberg. Anna Vojtech featured at SFL.

2018-2020

Cape Ann Creates for Cape Ann  Reads Public Art Call

Cape Ann Public Libraries 

December 2016

Public Art Director- Catherine Ryan

Designed an original picture book competition, the country's first book contested hosted by four public libraries. Scores of Cape Ann creatives responded for a chance to win a first edition priting, prizes and chance to exhibit. 

May Stevens: 

"I want my paintings to affect you like music does, or nature, or the sea..."- May Stevens

2001

Curator, Catherine Ryan

spearheaded the research and production for the catalogue of May Stevens paintings and watercolors.

May Stevens: Big Daddy paintings 1968-1976

1997

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Curator- Catherine Ryan

solo shows 1999, 2001

May Stevens | Ordinary Extraordinary paintings; Tic Tac Toe; Her Boats

1996

Co-curator, Catherine Ryan

NY Mag;AiA

History of public School Houses in Gloucester, Massachusetts

Then (1800s-1920) vs Now

on line exhibit (2010-2021)

Curator- Catherine Ryan

Selection of public schoolhouses built circa Victorian Age through 1920s with timeline highlights. Gloucester's first school was built in 1698. Schools were shuttered at the time of the Revolutionary War. Research & contemporary photographs (2010-2021) copyright Catherine Ryan. 

Historic buildings. Repurposed buildings. New England architecture. 

published 2021 here

"Explore a selection of Gloucester school house properties built circa 1800s-1920s. There is a greater quantity of structures still standing than not. Note: Pinch and zoom and/or click to enlarge photographs, depending upon your device. There are three galleries of images (side by side comparisons; all vintage; and all contemporary), a self-guided map for a driving tour, excerpts from James Pringle 1892 Gloucester history, and newspaper coverage of then “new” schools. Don’t miss the Boston Globe feature about the Eastern Avenue school published in 1905. There’s another wonderful piece about a very special elementary school class –which enrolled more girls than boys–offered at Sawyer school on Friend St."- C. Ryan

Children's Picture Books with Cape Ann Ties: Author. Illustrator. Setting. Subject.

2015

Catherine Ryan

 Before Dogtown was Dogtown...Maybe Hello Blueberries Bye Bye Lyme Disease

2017

Good Morning Gloucester

 Supplemented and boosted a community annoucement with a curated selection of visual arts, maps, and writing devoted to Dogtown, often overlooked

Lill Tschudi

1990, 1998

Curator -Catherine Ryan

Multiple Tschudi and Grosvenor school linocut exhibitions 

Sybil Andrews

1992, 1996

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Co-Curator | Curator-  Catherine Ryan

Andrews' representation and first exposure in the United States was 1987 with our gallery.

Michael Mazur

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Curator- Catherine Ryan

Gretchen Dow Simpson

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Curator- Catherine Ryan

Tobi Kahn 

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Curator- Catherine Ryan

Eric Fischl

1998

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Co-Curator- Catherine Ryan

20th C Prints in celebration of Our 20th Anniversary

2001

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Curator- Catherine Ryan

Craig McPherson

1993

Mary Ryan Gallery 

Co-Curator- Catherine Ryan