Bernard Langlais

Known for his monumental wall reliefs and sculptures of animals from the 1970s, American artist Bernard Langlais (1921–1977) created a diverse oeuvre of paintings, sculptures and environments that shifted regularly and freely between abstraction and figuration--a shift that reflects Langlais’ constant effort to reconcile his rural roots (in Maine) and keen sense of place with postwar artistic movements and ideologies. Now, in celebration of a substantial bequest by the artist’s widow, Helen Friend Langlais, the Colby College Museum of Art has organized a long-overdue retrospective of Langlais’ career, which this publication accompanies. Alongside abundant illustrations, three essays trace the arc of Langlais’ career, from his early experiments in painting and his transition to wood sculpture in the 1960s to his return to figuration and his exhaustive exploration of animal motifs.