Don Gorvett
Donald Neil Gorvett (born August 1, 1949) is an American reduction woodcut printmaker. Gorvett lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts and his works primarily depict the New England Coast from Massachusetts to Southern Maine.[1] His focus is on maritime vistas and the activities of harbor towns.[2]
Gorvett's woodcuts are in many permanent collections of both public and private institutions, including as the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts; Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Massachusetts; Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire; Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockport, Maine; the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University, England; Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Museum of Fine Art, Boston; Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, Maine; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts; and Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts.[3][4] Gorvett is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts from Salem State University in Salem, MA.[5][6]
Early Life
Gorvett was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1949.[1] As a youth, Gorvett lived in Cambridge and Somerville, before moving to Burlington, Massachusetts.[1][3] While living in Burlington, Gorvett formed a close relationship with his high school art teacher, Elinor Marvin. She privately tutored Gorvett in drawing, graphic arts, and theatrical design.[3]
While still in high school, Gorvett benefitted from the patronage of retired psychologist, Annabelle Lewis, who, along with Elinor Marvin, introduced Gorvett to Ogunquit, Maine.[3] Lewis provided Gorvett with a one-room cabin off Berwick Road, which he occupied intermittently from 1968 to 1984.[3]
Gorvett earned a Junior Ford Fellowship at the School at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and graduated in 1972.[3] While at the School, Gorvett studied and sketched Boston's working waterfront.[3]
Career
Early Career (1972 –1990)
After graduating from art school, Gorvett was introduced by his older brother to Mary Buswell, widow of actor and soldier Leslie Buswell, and heiress of Stillington Hall.[3] Gorvett lived as artist in residence in Stillington Hall.[1] Attached to the large, Jacobean-style estate was a private theatre, where Gorvett lived in the dressing rooms.[3][7] It was in this theatre, above the stage, that Gorvett set up his first etching press and began to experiment with woodcut printmaking, inspired by Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).[3]
1990–Present
Gorvett returned to Ogunquit, Maine in 1990.[3] Gorvett operated a series of studios in Ogunquit, as well as Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[1] His Portsmouth studio was established on the still-active working waterfront, overlooking the Piscataqua River and its busy commercial shipping lane.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Armstrong, Jillian (2025-6-26). "Master of Woodcuts". www.nhhomemagazine.com. Retrieved 2026-9-22. Check date values in:
|access-date=, |date=(help) - ↑ Bonneville, Brenda (2023-05-30). "Ogunquit Heritage Museum Opens with Exhibit by Artist Don Gorvett". MAINE ART SCENE MAGAZINE | Your Online Maine Art News!. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 Brewster Jr., William; Candee, Richard M. (2021). Twilight of American Impressionism. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Portsmouth Marine Society Press. pp. 74–83. ISBN 9780915819492. Search this book on
- ↑ "Gorvett's artwork on display in Portsmouth". Portsmouth Herald. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
- ↑ "Don Gorvett | Artist, Printmaker". Ogunquit Barometer. 2025-05-06. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
- ↑ Truax, Tammi. "Don Gorvett: 'I first came here to draw'". Portsmouth Herald. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
- ↑ Society, Portsmouth Historical (2020-03-05). ""Don Gorvett: Working Waterfronts"". Portsmouth Historical Society. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
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