“Lynne Mapp Drexler – The Dynamic Early Years 1959–1963” opened Aug. 7 at the Wiscasset Bay Gallery, featuring a never before exhibited group of works from a private collection on Monhegan Island. The exhibition is on display through Sept. 4.

Among the significant works on display is “Untitled, Abstract in Blues and Oranges,” a medium-scale gouache executed by Drexler in 1959. This work reveals a synergy of early artistic influences but distinctly employs Drexler’s voice. After moving to New York City in 1955 at the age of 27, the artist enrolled in the Hofmann School of the Arts where she studied under the renowned abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann. It was Hofmann’s theories of push and pull, expanding and contracting forces largely created by planes of color, that Drexler utilized in this work but took the push/pull further.

“Untitled, Abstract in Blues and Oranges” (1959) by Lynne Mapp Drexler, gouache on paper. (Courtesy of Wiscasset Bay Gallery)

Following her studies at Hofmann’s school, Drexler went on to study with Robert Motherwell at Hunter College’s graduate school. Motherwell emphasized strong composition and draughtsmanship to his students. Upon close examination of “Untitled, Abstract in Blues and Oranges,” the viewer discovers Motherwell’s lingering influence on Drexler in the powerful, elliptical forms emerging from the pointillist mark making reminiscent of Motherwell’s “Elegy” to a Spanish Republic series. However, Drexler’s unique ability to assimilate the influences of these two giants in American Abstract Expressionism is in evidence while she maintains her own clear, distinct message and exquisite sense of color harmony.

“Untitled VIII” (1963) by Lynne Mapp Drexler, oil stick on heavy paper. (Courtesy of Wiscasset Bay Gallery)

After Drexler married fellow artist John Hultberg in 1962, the couple honeymooned that summer on Monhegan Island where Hultberg owned a home. The couple began spending summers on Monhegan and winters in New York as well as traveling abroad. It was this close-to- the-earth experience of living on a remote coastal island that led Drexler to bring a more organic content to her abstractions. In “Untitled VIII,” an oil stick on heavy paper from 1963, the viewer sees a dynamic composition expanding in multiple directions through the use of rectilinear forms and repetitive lines and dots. Here the development of organic forms begins to emerge from these early works — the distinct lines representing tall grasses and the tiny blocks of color expressing wild flowers in bloom. Drexler use of color also becomes even more vibrant and emotive in this series of oil sticks from 1963.

For more information on the exhibition, call 882-7682 or visit the gallery’s website at wiscassetbaygallery.com. The Wiscasset Bay Gallery is located at 75 Main St. (Route 1) in Wiscasset Village.