Nancy Wissemann-Widrig’s 2026 exhibtion OPEN STORY, brought together works from the 1970s to the present day with a focus on landscape. Dana Clark Neilsen’s review has an excellent description of the show: Wissemann-Widrig Article_Sept 2026_A 97-Year-Old Artist’s Vision is Still Growing Arts midcoastvillager.com
An earlier exhibition in 2020 also drew on work from the 1960s and 70s. The works in “ A PLACE ON THE WATER ” focus on an important muse – a simple cottage on the banks of the St. George’s River in Cushing, Maine. A PLACE ON THE WATER -Portland Press Herald August 2020
Wissemann-Widrig’s engagment with realism integrates elements of modernist and more traditional painting. Her land and seascapes revel in the play of light on her subjects – to which she often has a strong emotional connection. Critic Gerritt Henry described her as paying “homage to the elusive yet tangible beauties of nature run amok”.
Well known in Maine for her water paintings, included in the permanent collections of both the Portland Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Museum of Art, Wissemann-Widrig was represented in New York by the Tibor de Nagy Gallery from 1974-1984 and by the Tatischeff Gallery from 1984-1998. She has shown her work in Maine at the Caldbeck Gallery since 1985 and at Maine Coasts Artists, now the Center for Maine Contemporary Art since since 1974, as well as numerous other galleries and institutions. Her awards include Who’s Who of American Women, the Childe Hassam Fund Purchase Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and Outstanding Realist from the Albright Knox Art Gallery/AKG in Buffalo New York.
Nancy Wissemann-Widrig – “THE SEA GARDEN” catalogue essay by Suzette McAvoy
