Summer 2006
Films at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
Dennis, MA 02638
“Sam’s Show at Scargo,” an interview with Sam Feinstein, 1986
Thursday, July 20, 2006, 7 – 8:30 pm:
A Reception will follow the screening at
The Harvest Gallery
Main Street
Dennis , MA
After summering throughout the 1950s in Provincetown, artist Sam Feinstein withdrew to a quiet barn-studio in the town of Dennis to continue his painting and teaching. His deeply held belief in the creation of art as a logical extension of nature and a path to growth of the human spirit inspired all his work. Feinstein had shown his paintings, drawings and prints extensively during the 1930s, 40s and 50s and was an active member of the art communities of New York, Philadelphia and Provincetown as art critic, juror, lecturer and teacher. His withdrawal in the early 1960s to concentrate on his own painting and private teaching led to a 25 year hiatus in exhibiting. As a result, Feinstein’s 1986 exhibition at the Scargo Stoneware Pottery Gallery, after years of urging by his friend and gallery-owner Harry Holl, was a much anticipated event.
A documentary of this exhibition, including an extensive interview with the artist, was created under the guidance and patronage of Cape resident Paul Fitzgerald whose wife Bunny was a student of Feinstein’s. The film begins with a fly-over of Scargo Lake followed by scenes from the opening reception which convey the beauty and ambiance of gallery, art and nature entwined. Later, as Feinstein is interviewed by Holl and Fitzgerald in front of his paintings, the richness of his insights into the language of art is made evident. As Fitzgerald states, “Sam’s use of words was as great as his use of paint.” Especially illuminating is Feinstein’s explanation of the expressive qualities of abstraction, using words that were refined over decades following his academic training, his study and friendship with Hans Hofmann and his life as master teacher.
Prior to the screening of this film, Harry Holl and producer Paul Fitzgerald will join Patricia Stark Feinstein to discuss its creation during Sam Feinstein’s exhibition of paintings at the Scargo Stoneware Pottery twenty years ago.