Artist and collector
Henry Strater purchased land in Ogunquit formerly owned by
Charles Herbert Woodbury who is widely credited with founding the art colony in the village. Initially founded by Strater as The Museum of Art of Ogunquit, the institution was incorporated on September 18, 1951, with a mission for “the broad educational interests of the public.” Architect Charles Worley of Boston designed the museum to realize the full potential of the site on the coast. Strater commissioned architect
Charles S. Worley Jr. to design the building it is housed in. The museum opened its doors to the public on July 25, 1953. The first exhibition included 121 works by modern artists
Marsden Hartley,
John Marin,
Stuart Davis,
Yasuo Kuniyoshi,
Peggy Bacon,
Walt Kuhn, Frances Lamont,
Hamilton Easter Field, and
William von Schlegel, and was supported with the loan of important works from the
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
The Whitney Museum of American Art and the
Downtown Gallery. In the ensuing decades, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art has organized important exhibitions of modern and contemporary art by
Edward Hopper,
Andrew Wyeth,
Jamie Wyeth,
Dahlov Ipcar.,
Anthony Cudahy,
Lee Krasner, and
Philip Koch. File:OMAA Initial Exhibition Catalog .jpg File:OMAA Initial exhibition 2.jpg File:OMAA Initial Exhibition 3.jpg File:OMAA Initial Exhibition 4.jpg File:OMAA Initial Exhibition 5.jpg ==Collection==