Hello Sailor!

The visage of the able-bodied mariner is prevalent throughout art history canon, from ancient reliefs of naval warfare to modern propaganda posters. Our contemporary image of the uniformed sailor becomes more ubiquitous from the 18^th century onwards with dashing portraits of sea captains, handsome wartime heroes, and cavorting seamen on shore leave. Hello Sailor! celebrates these many iterations of mariner imagery, across various media including prints, paintings, photography, and sculpture. Works in the exhibition span from the early 19^th century to the present, capturing the evolving sailor imagery of the past two hundred years.

Highlights in the exhibition will include a 1930 color woodcut by German artist Erich Heckel depicting a quartet of sailors theatrically dancing at port, an 1805 painting featuring a handsomely attired British Naval Lieutenant, Bernard Brussel-Smith's stark black and white prints of rakish seamen in seedy bars, Dudley Vaill Talcott's modernist sculptural interpretations of rugged Norwegian fisherman, and 20^th century beefcake photographs with models cheekily festooned in nautical attire. 

Hello Sailor! is on view in our upstairs gallery February 14 through April 6, 2025.