Subject bias

By KEN GREENLEAF | February 24, 2010

The Portland Museum has added some pieces from its own collection for this show, among which I would note the Braque "Pipe et Compotier" (1917) and a few works by contemporary Maine artists, notably Joseph Nicoletti's "Night Still Life" (1990) and Mary Hart's little "Elegy" (2002).

While you're in the mood for objects, check out the sidebar show of a random selection of stuff from the museum's collection that rarely sees the light of day, including a sawfish bill and sou'wester hat that belonged to Winslow Homer, some small Egyptian figures, a 19th-century skeleton clock under a glass dome, a Zuni vase, and more; bric-a-brac to be sure, but special bric-a-brac.

Ken Greenleaf can be reached at ken.greenleaf@gmail.com.

OBJECTS OF WONDER: FOUR CENTURIES OF STILL LIFE FROM THE NORTON MUSEUM OF ART | at the Portland Museum of Art, Portland | through June 6 | 207.775.6148

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