Forrest Orr

Photograph

Pejepscot History Center

Name/Title

Forrest Orr

Entry/Object ID

1978.23.1

Description

An undated black and white photograph of artist, Forrest Orr, working on a watercolor in his studio in Harpswell, ME. Orr spent most of his summers in Harpswell, as his family had since they first settled there in 1742. In the colder months he could be found at his home in Winchester, MA or his studio in Boston where he worked as a painter, illustrator, and commercial artist. Undated.

Lexicon

Search Terms

Painters - Maine, Painting, Harpswell, Orr family

Exhibitions

Exhibition

Labor of Love: Creating Art and Community

Notes

Forrest Orr (1895-1972) worked professionally as a painter, illustrator, and commercial artist. Orr, born in Harpswell, ME, lived his whole life in New England except for his college years spent at the Art Students League in New York. Orr spent colder months at his home in Winchester, MA, or his studio in Boston but always returned to his hometown for the summer. He is known for his lush, romantic, realist watercolors depicting marine scenes and quiet landscapes, capturing coastal Maine life. Here, he is pictured in his Harpswell studio working on a watercolor of a streetscape featuring an idyllic home scene. Orr’s paintings are represented in the permanent collections of the University of North Carolina, the University of Maine, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Farnsworth Museum, as well as in private collections across the country, including the private collection of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.