MENDING THE NETS

Sorgman, Mayo. MENDING THE NETS. Watercolor, circa 1940s-1950s. 19 1/4 x 24 1/2 inches. Signed. Richly detailed harbor scene showing three fisherman repairing a net on a dock in the foreground, their boat named "Mayo Sorgman" tied to the dock, other boats and buildings in the background. Mayo Sorgman is an American artist born in 1912 who is still active. In 2006 his watercolors were exhibited at the Rockport Art Association and at the State of the Art gallery in Gloucester, MA. According to the biographical material accompanying the latter exhibition, "In the 1950's he spent his summers in Rockport and Gloucester, recording fishermen among their nets, boats coming and going in the harbors and waves sweeping over the granite shores." See: stateoftheartgalleryandsculpturegarden. This painting is very similar to those being exhibited at the Gloucester gallery, and is the basis of our attribution of the date. Sorgman also had an exhibition in 2003 at the Cape Museum of Fine Arts on Cape Cod In very good condition except for glue residue on the verso and around all four edges, recto, from being laid down and sandwiched in a mat, a practice of the past which helps in assigning a date.…