Ellen O’Donnell Rankin in 1984
Former Director of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum
By: Charles Giuliano - Dec 12, 2024
Ellen O’Donnell Rankin is an American curator, author and former museum director. She was the executive director of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum from 1983-1986. She left to become the Executive Director of the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. O’Donnell Rankin holds a MA in Museum Studies and Arts Administration from NYU where she taught Arts Administration. She moved to Toronto for five years, 1998-2003, and taught at the Museum Studies Program at the University of Toronto and worked for the Canadian Arts Foundation. After moving back to the States she established her own company, Eorankin Fine Arts Advisory, where she is actively curating exhibitions and writing about art.
She was enormously helpful in launching my Provincetown research. We collaborated on a major exhibition Kind of Blue: Benny Andrews, Emilio Cruz, Earle Pilgrim and Bob Thompson. It featured the work of four African American artists. With no money for a catalogue the curatorial essay was published by Chris Busa as a feature in his Provincetown Arts Magazine.
Ellen O’Donnell
May, 1984
Charles Giuliano How did you come to be associated with the Provincetown Art Association and Museum?
Ellen O’Donnell. I have been a long time summer resident of Provincetown. After graduating from college as an economics and art history major I took a year off and traveled. In 1978 I was hired by PAAM to organize education programs. I then became assistant director under Annabelle Hebert. In 1982 Hebert left to become director of Guild Hall a small museum in the Hamptons. It’s an organization very similar to ours. Guild Hall’s exhibition space is more limited than PAAM. They have two galleries and the John Drew Theatre. This past January I went to NYU to work on a master’s degree, a program which combines arts/museum administration and 20th century art history.
CG What’s the mandate for PAAM?
EO It was founded in 1914 as a kind of club. At first it was in the Town Hall and in 1919 it got this building. They bought the property for $3,000. It was a home that they converted into an exhibition space. It was conceived as an organization for artists run by artists. It was intended to help artists to show their work. It continued like that with open and juried shows. They were a year round organization for a long time. During WWII they became a summer thing. After the war Provincetown became a resort. Artists were a part of the attraction. William Merritt Chase (1849 -1916) and Ambrose Webster (1869-1935) were artists who had come here in the 1890s. They came early and Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872-1930) came later. They were integral to forming the art association as there was no place for artists to show their work.
CG Later there was the Chrysler Museum which had a notable collection.
EO It’s now in Norfolk Virginia. Chrysler collected works by Provincetown artists. He collected Pop art and had some fun shows. I remember seeing Warhol’s soup cans there.
CG When did your family first come here?
EO My mother came after the war in 1948 as a guest of the Murchison family, she and Marjorie Murchison were dear friends. My first time to Provincetown was when I was 8 or 9 and we returned every summer since.
CG So you had an overview long before you were officially connected. What was it like then as compared to now?
EO An early recollection was of a lot of street artists. In the late 1950s you would see a lot of people painting landscapes. An early memory was the Chrysler Museum which had fabulous shows. There was sculpture in front of the museum so you were introduced to new things. I have vague memories of Sun Gallery. There were all kinds of happenings and parties. Sun Gallery was important with artists like Jay Milder, Claes Oldenburg, Red Grooms, and Bob Thompson. It wasn’t just a gallery, with all kinds of things going on including poetry readings. People were still talking about Forum ’49. There were fabulous galleries. Ivan Karp and his wife had a gallery in what is now Metro Café. It was a small space in back underneath the café.
CG Tirca Karlis Gallery?
EO Her son Aaron runs it now. There was Nat Halper’s HCE. I don’t know what it means but it has something to do with Joyce. Nat had everyone in his gallery. When he closed Sam Kootz picked up his artists. There was also Virginia Zabriski’s gallery. There was a lot going on.
The turning point was the 1970s. As a resort there was a real estate boom. The nature of the town began to shift. More commercial galleries opened and the economy had a lot to do with that. When real estate went up nobody could afford the rent for galleries. Summer rent for a shop is now $15,000 to $20,000.
Artists and galleries could rent for $500 for the summer. That changed. A waterfront home now goes for $160,000 and $100,000 for one with no view. Norman Mailer’s home sold for $250,000.
There is a resurgence now with a lot of young artists. Part of that is the Fine Arts Work Center which brings them in. Some of them leave during the summer and return for lower winter rents. Some of them work in restaurants during the summer and have the winter to do their own work. Winters are wonderful here.
CG What is winter population like?
EO There are 4,000 registered voters. A wild guess is 8,000 to 9,000 winter residents. There are 80,000 permanent summer residents; people who come for a couple of weeks or the whole summer. Then you have day-trippers and weekenders. Depending on weather, at any given time, there may be 120,000 to 150,000 people in town. They come in excursion boats. Whale watching is a major attraction. There are four or five boats. That’s a new thing which has brought a lot of people to town.
CG So Provincetown is an accordion that shrinks in winter and expands in summer. What do locals think of that?
EO Of course there are people who object to that. But the economy depends on it. The fishing community is not what it was. They are in the process of rebuilding the town wharf. The town is trying to build a marina like the one in Nantucket. We have a great harbor but people can’t dock their boats. There may be a marina in the next ten years.
A lot of these people will live on their boats so there won’t be a housing issue. The season now starts in April and runs through Christmas.
CG Who are some of the prominent artists today?
EO Motherwell is here from June through September. Myron Stout is here year round. He had a wonderful show at the Whitney three years ago. Jack Tworkov passed recently. Raphael Soyer comes for six weeks. He always wears a suit and tie. He and his wife promenade the streets.
CG Did his brothers also come?
EO I remember Moses. I never knew Isaac but I’m sure they all come as did Chaim Gross. He will jury one of our shows this summer. (His daughter Mimi was the first wife of Red Grooms. She worked on his installations.) As far as writers there’s Norman Mailer and the poet Stanley Kunitz. In Wellfleet there’s Grace Paley. Of the younger artists there’s Paul Bowen. He’s having a show at Graham Contemporary. Paul was born in Wales.
CG Who is emerging from the Fine Arts Work Center?
EG Paul Bowen. Dan Rice is big in California. The writing program is very strong and they seem to have more success than the artists. Quite a few of the visual arts fellows have won Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships.
CG Provincetown has been known for its schools.
EO In the early publications of the Art Association there were ads for 20 to 30 schools. Today we have a school here. In June Xavier Gonzalez teaches painting. We have Bill Behnken who teaches at New York State College. Now in his 80s, Henry Hensche still teaches and has demonstrations. He has an incredible following. Leo Manso and Victor Candell had a school here in what is now the Long Point Gallery. There are people who teach privately but as far as schools there aren’t any. We are trying to revitalize with our school.
CG Is it because students can’t afford to come here?
EO That’s part of the problem. Years ago, when people came here to study housing was affordable. Our enrollment would be very high but students can’t find a place to stay. A studio apartment for the season is $2,500. Everything is expensive including groceries. When I was in New York this year I was struck at how much more affordable food was.
CG What are the plans for the coming season?
EO We are open year round other than a couple of weeks in May when we refresh galleries. Our winter season starts October 1 and we just keep open the main gallery. That’s the Richmond Gallery. During the winter we have open shows and invitationals. Last winter I curated a show of six photographers.
We are the artistic hub for a radius of sixty miles. We have theatre in the Murchison Gallery. The Provincetown Theatre has its home there with a winter average of four or five plays.
In the Hawthorne Gallery we have students from Parsons School of Design. They are MFA students in a workshop setting. It’s part of their curriculum and four or five come and work independently. We arrange to have artists who live here come and crit their work. Mostly they are landscape painters. We have openings and talks. In the back we have painting and sculpture classes. Groups use our facility for their meetings.
The summer season starts at Memorial Day and ends on October 1. In four galleries we have an average of 16 shows each lasting a month. Every year we have a young artist’s show which had 187 applicants this time. Of those 30% are from the Cape. We’ve had a young artist’s show for the past six years. We want young artists to feel that they can participate in our shows.
CG How many visitors do you have and what is the admission price?
EO We don’t charge anything. I did away with fees last fall. During the summer I experimented by not charging for a week and our admissions tripled. Now we have voluntary contributions. During the summer attendance is 20,000 not counting lectures and special events. Including those our attendance is about 50,000 to 60,000. Our winter shows get excellent media coverage. We get about 75 visitors a day for winter shows. The gallery gets a lot of exposure because of the theatre program. They usually sell out their performances. People come from as far away as Hyannis as it’s the only theatre on the Cape.
CG Discuss the 16 summer shows.
EO We try to achieve balance. In each time slot we do a members show. In the first slot we have a juried show. We have 800 members of which 70% are artists. Membership is $40 which is a bone of contention because it used to be $25. I didn’t raise it, the board did. Our operating budget is about $120,000. We don’t have a mortgage, rent, or pay taxes. Everything is paid for which is fabulous.
Through fundraising and careful management, over the past few years, we have paid off the bills and are in the black. I’m good at projecting a budget and sticking to it. This is, perhaps, something that prior administrations lacked. I have managed to increase programming without additional expense.
We have jurors coming this weekend and we don’t pay them. Instead we provide four days in Provincetown. We offer a nice place to stay. There is an edge we can bargain with. If someone comes in summer and they stay at a house on the beach they love it. We don’t offer an honorarium.
Ellen O'Donnell Rankin former director of Provincetown Art Association and Museum. Giuliano photos.
CG What impact have you had as director?
EO Under our prior director the mortgage was paid off. We had an auction. Our next task was to pay off our bills. We were carrying about $25,000 in bills. One of my objectives was to get rid of the deficit and to initiate year-round programming. Each fall we have a fund raising event in New York and in spring one in Boston. It keeps people in touch as well as raising a substantial amount of money. For our first New York event we bought a hundred tickets to Gandhi. That came with an Indian dinner following the screening. We sold out at $50 each. This year we went to La Cage aux Folles followed by a party. People love to get together with their Provincetown friends. Each year we have an event at Ciro’s in Boston. These events create revenue.
CG Can you break down the budget of $120,000?
EO Heat and utilities 20%, salaries 50%, exhibitions and programming another 20%.
CG About $21,000 for exhibitions?
EO It’s not a lot of money. During the summer four of the 14 shows we put on are from the collection. Two are member shows. So those six shows don’t cost us anything. The endowment, just $7,000, is very small. Last year we got an endowment of $25,000. From the interest 50% provides scholarships to our school. The other 50% goes to operating expenses.
CG Let’s talk about the permanent collection.
EO It revolves around Charles Hawthorne. We have about 25-30 of his works. We have William Merritt Chase. He was an American Impressionist who Hawthorne studied under as well as Childe Hassam who came around 1900. We have works by both of those artists. Hawthorne also studied with Ambrose Webster. Recent auction prices for Hawthorne have been $50,000 to $75,000. We have three works by Edwin Dickenson, two paintings and a drawing. The Wadsworth Athenaeum recently purchased one for $250,000. We have one (Hans) Hofmann. There was a schism in Provincetown at that time. The Art Association was conservative and classically orientated. There was opposition to abstract expressionism. When, at that time, Hofmann offered work to us it was not accepted. He was then a trustee of the museum. He was a frequent juror for our shows. In fact, I picked up the Hofmann in New York just ten days ago. We have a Gottlieb but no de Kooning, Pollock or Kline.
CG So you will never have a truly representative Provincetown collection.
EO I think we will. There are major collectors in this area.
CG Have you broached them and what is the response?
EO Very positive.
CG These are works that every museum is looking for. Why would they give them to the Art Association?
EO If they get the same tax reduction what difference does it make? Why not fill gaps in our collection. Provincetown has been important to their lives? It is more valuable to give work to small museums than big ones. That’s how I feel. Our collection is worth about $1 million. We have excellent facilities which were designed and approved by John Hofstetter who is chief conservator for Williams College. We have had other conservators advise us on our facilities. When Vose came to appraise the collection he was amazed at what we had. Our cataloguing system is one approved by American Association of Museums.
CG Have you thought of putting together a traveling show?
EO We did that in 1977 with Ron Kutcha’s Provincetown Painters 1890s to 1970s show. (Everson Museum of Art, April 1 to June 26, 1977.) The Hawthorne water colors show has been to five museums so far and is coming here. It includes several works from our collection. In the Provincetown Prints exhibition five or six works were from our collection. We want to make our collection more visible and accessible to other museums. As far as initiating a traveling show that’s very expensive. It’s better if another museum does that and we assist them. The Guild of Boston Artists covered everything in 1978 and we haven’t done anything since the Everson show.
CG When was your last major Hawthorne show?
EO We have to do one every ten years which is part of our bylaws. This summer we’re having the Hawthorne water colors. It was organized through us by the National Museum of American Art. We’ve gotten grant money as well as corporate support. We’ve gotten money from the Mass Council though we didn’t apply this year. I’m sure we will find support for our show on Forum ’49. Reggie Cabral and Fritz Bultman are ones you want to talk to about that. There might be an outside curator. Cynthia Goodman, who curated our Hofmann show, wants to do it. A show of Provincetown’s art schools is another show we are planning.
CG What else are you planning?
EO We have a photography show with (Annie) Liebowitz, (Joel Peter) Witkin, and (Cindy) Sherman. Last summer we showed Renata Pensold who is Motherwell’s wife. And we had (Joel) Meyerowitz’s Redheads show. That was our second show of his. Cape Cod Light came to us from the MFA and was a great success.
Last summer a lot of people came to see our shows of (Jack) Tworkov and (Robert) Motherwell. There was strong attendance for the Judith Rothschild Collection. There was also a show of her work at Wellesley. We try to have collector’s shows but this summer nothing is scheduled.
This summer we’re having a Chaim Gross show. He has been coming here for 40 years and has been in group shows but never a one-man show. That’s a major oversight. The show will have paintings, sculpture and drawings. On March 17 he turned 80 and is in good health and still teaches.
CG The Zorachs have also been here for a long time.
EO We recently got a nice work for the collection.
CG What part did you have in last summer’s Provincetown Printmakers show?
EO Nat Halper and Mervin Jules worked on it for a long time with Janet Flint. They helped track down works and gathered archival material. It brought in so many people that I wish we could have it back.
We have four different shows because there are such rich resources here. There are so many artists to deal with. We try to have a balance of group shows and invitationals.
CG Bob Thompson would be an interesting person to show.
EO Sure, or Red Grooms. There are so many interesting artists that we might show.
CG Thompson, Grooms, Jay Milder, Lester Johnson, Tony Vevers and Jan Muller, who all showed at Sun Gallery, returned to the figure at the height of abstract expressionism.
EO Lester has been in our group shows. He lives in Greenwich and teaches at Yale. Some of those guys come now and then. When we have a particular show there is an amazing reunion of people. Certain shows generate that.
CG What will be the main attraction this summer?
EO Last summer we had Tworkov, Motherwell and Provincetown Prints. Those were major shows as was the Judith Rothschild Collection. Chaim’s show is significant. That and Hawthorne Water Colors are the big shows this summer. The photography show includes individuals who might otherwise not be seen here. It’s important to bring work to Provincetown to again establish that it is a major art center.
CG So it’s a rebuilding process.
EO Exactly. Bringing someone like (critic) Grace Gleuck to judge a show. People will enter a show based on the juror. Even if the work is accepted or not it’s the chance to be seen by a major critic. It’s also a way for the Art Association to be known by artists. That’s why those shows are important.
CG Who chooses the shows?
EO We have an exhibitions committee. Part of our mission is to collect Provincetown’s artists. That includes artists who have lived here for a number of years but may not mean much to most people. We are not here just for the big names but to have overall representation.
CG What are your goals for the collection?
EO To fill in the gaps for the abstract expressionists. There are a lot of collectors, both summer and year round, who have that work. We can cultivate and court them. We have an edge because many of them are already a part of the organization.
Last summer we did not have a single exhibition based on our collection. Those decisions are made by the exhibitions committee. Things came up which caused us to reschedule. During the winter I curate a couple of shows from the collection which allows us to be creative. I want to start collecting young Provincetown artists.
CG How do you do that without funds?
EO We have some. People donate works to be auctioned. I think people would be pleased to give work to the collection. Even though funds are limited you can collect these artists. I believe in purchasing and supporting these artists. Nat Halper was interested in that idea and Reggie Cabral has been helpful. It’s less a matter of numbers than filling gaps. Numbers are less important than the quality of acquisitions.
CG Can you tell me about the Heritage Museum?
EO They have exhibitions of hooked rugs, sandwich glass, things like that. They have some nice works in the collection.
CG Sal Del Deo is involved?
EO Sal’s wife, Josephine. They are owned by the town with a historical emphasis.
CG When was the Fine Arts Work Center founded?
EO Last year was their tenth anniversary. It came about as a means to bring young artists and writers to Provincetown. Hudson Walker was behind it. He’s from Minnesota and a major collector. (In 2024 his daughter, Berta Walker, celebrated 35 years of her gallery.) Berta is now chairman of the board. They moved into the former Day’s Lumber Yard in 1975. Artists had studios there including Hofmann, Peter Grippe, Myron Stout, Fritz Bultman and Robert De Niro, Sr.
When we showed Motherwell last year a lot of the work went to a show in Albany. The insurance costs were staggering, thousands of dollars. We don’t have the money to travel shows unless someone pays for it.
CG Isn’t that where grants come in?
EO Sure, but we can’t organize well enough in advance to apply for them. Also much of our staff leaves during the winter so we don’t have people to work on them. For the Forum ’49 show, for example, we are pushing to meet the NEA deadline. We missed the deadline so we are rescheduling. The woman who is doing the show just had a baby and wasn’t able to work on the grant. We have to plan as far out as possible. In the past we didn’t fix our schedule until April and then summer was right on top of us. We used to open on June 15 and instead of 14 shows we had just seven or eight. We have doubled our exhibition schedule.
CG How many works are their in the collection?
EO We have 800 works; paintings, sculpture, works on paper and photography.
CG Do you have archival material like photos and documents of the early years?
EO Tons. Boxes of them but we don’t count them as part of the permanent collection. When people say why don’t you have this or that I say, ok, help us to organize our archives and photographs. We have photographs of exhibition installations as well as numerous photos of Hawthorne’s classes on the beach.
CG Has anyone curated a show of that material?
EO No, but the potential is unlimited.
CG What limits the unlimited?
EO Energy, manpower, finances. There wasn’t anyone working year round until a few years ago. We’re making strides. The material is there but it takes time. The fact that we are now in the black is hopeful. We constantly have students and art historians requesting to come see our archives. These are people doing thesis research and organizing exhibitions. Galleries request information on specific artists. We try to keep up with that. There are ongoing attempts to document this rich history. There was a lot of activity around 1912-1914. In addition to the fine arts there was the literary and theatre development. That was the era of The Wharf Theatre, Provincetown Playhouse, Beachcombers, and when the Art Association was formed. There was so much going on.
CG And yet so little has been documented. There’s Ross Moffett’s “Art in Narrow Streets,” a slim volume, and Ron Kutchs’s Iverson catalogue. There are artist monographs and exhibition catalogues but little in terms of comprehensive research and publication.
EO Bradley Robinson (1914-1984) was working on compiling this information. He started on the project a year and a half ago and wrote a thousand pages. I talked with him about how there might be a major book about Provincetown. Not just Provincetown but the whole lower Cape. Not just the artists but all of the arts including literature and theatre.
What Bradley had started doing, but didn’t complete, was compiling biographical information. People who came through Provincetown, their education and style of work. He wanted it to be a resource book, an index of artists with some story telling. He was thinking of it as a long term project and we were planning to apply for grants. He was an experienced writer who published several books. He wrote on Admiral Robert Peary who explored the North Pole. (Bradley Robinson, Arctic, Vol. 36, No. 1 (March 1983), pp. 106-107 Arctic Institute of North America.)
He was a retired writer living in Provincetown and totally engrossed in this project. Now we need someone to pick up the pieces. That was a terrific project. He just passed away a month ago.
I am surprised there are not more people doing this kind of thing. It’s something I would love to do but I am overwhelmed by my job here. That’s one of the reasons I went back to school to become more involved with art history. There is so much here with great potential. I just wish there were someone here to share that history.