New book, Artists of Provincetown, captures a community under threat

In Artists of Provincetown, fine art photographer Ron Amato captures a moment in time, and a community under threat

New book and summer Provincetown Art Association and Museum exhibition showcases 84 Provincetown artists

Contact: Andy Reynolds at andy@popularpublicity.com
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View and Download images from the book from this page.
On this page: press release, a selection of photographs and a list of the 84 artists included in Artists of Provincetown

Where to buy “Artists of Provincetown”
Artists of Provincetown is available online ONLY at www.ronamato.com/artists-of-provincetown-book. The book will also be available at The Provincetown Art Association and Museum from June 28 on. See photos of the exhibition here.
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Artists of Provincetown by fine art photographer Ron Amato seeks to not only celebrate, but preserve the legacy of one of the nation’s oldest art colonies, now facing an uncertain future due to rising property values, corporate invasion, and what, in the book’s introduction, Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Cunningham calls, “catastrophic expense.” 

The book is the third monograph by Amato, a Professor in the Photography and Related Media department of Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. It was produced in collaboration with The Provincetown Art Association and Museum on the occasion of the exhibition, Ron Amato: Artists of Provincetown, on view June 28 to August 18, 2024.

Made over a period of eight years, Artists of Provincetown contains 84 quietly immersive portraits that illustrate the breadth and depth of this 125-year-old community of painters, writers, photographers and sculptors. 

Included among the featured artists are: Michael Cunningham (novelist and screenwriter), Lea Delaria (comedian, actress, and jazz singer), Peter Hutchinson (artist), Paul Lisicky (novelist and memoirist), Jack Pierson (photographer and artist), Andrew Sullivan (author), John Waters (filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist), and Provincetown legends, painters Pat de Groot, Ilona Royce-Smithkin, Anne Packard, John Dowd and Robert Henry

Provincetown came into being as an art colony soon after Charles Hawthorne opened the first art school there in 1899. Fifteen years later, The Provincetown Art Association was established, and in 1916, The Boston Globe declared Provincetown to be the “Biggest Art Colony in the World.” 

Since then, its population of both full-time and seasonal artist residents has swelled. Among the notable artists who lived and worked in Provincetown are Tennessee Williams, Hellen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, and Lee Krasner.

“The first time I was there was in 1998, and it was a transformative experience. Being in Provincetown feeds your soul in a way that I’ve never really experienced before. Between the nature, the art, and the LGBTQ+ community, there’s a freedom. Your spirit kind of gets released in Provincetown, and you can follow your inspirations wherever they lead.”

“In 2015, I decided that I wanted to document the artist community in Provincetown,” says Amato who’s been summering in Provincetown for over 24 years. “There were a couple of motivations for that. One was because I thought that somebody needed to do it. My second motivation was because I wanted to know these people, get a sense of the scope and the depth of the artist community there.”

Continuing the work of photographer Norma Holt a generation earlier, particularly her book, On Equal Ground: Photographs from an Artist’s Community at the Tip of Cape Cod, Amato has created a rich portrait of the artist community in Provincetown in the early 21st century. Of the 84 portraits in the book, 27 are of artists Norma photographed up to a half century earlier, including Pat de Groot, Anne Packard, and John Dowd. 

“There’s a continuum between the two of us,” says Amato, “and this continuum really builds a narrative that lasts from Norma starting sometime in the 1960s or 70s and me going right up into 2023. So, we’re talking about at least 50 years of the documentation of a community, and I think that’s really important for the town, for the museum itself.”

“One of my heroes is Arnold Newman,” say Amato of the photographer who, prior to Holt, spent time in Provincetown in the 1950s’ making portraits of artists such as Hans Hofmann, Norman Mailer, and Franz Kline. “I learned the language of environmental portraiture through looking at his work. I think you can see the influence on my work, from looking at his.”

Now, in 2024, Amato says, “We don’t know what the future is going to be, how affordable it will be for artists to go there anymore and to stake a claim in Provincetown.”

Author Michael Cunningham, whose portrait is in the book, echoes Amato’s concerns. “I’m not sure how artists, unless they have trust funds, can move to Provincetown today … [or] for that matter, how artists who’ve been here for decades are able to remain, if they’re able to remain at all,” he says. Cunningham adds, adding, that along with the crippling effect of Provincetown’s catastrophic expense, “Commercial Street in the summers is as crowded as a subway at rush hour. The artistic impulse can wither a bit in the face of all those tourists, all those souvenirs and t-shirts.”

Will new artists continue to flock to Provincetown? Will the current artist community remain intact? No one can say. For now, we have Amato’s Artists of Provincetown, the exhibition and beautifully crafted art book-cum-time capsule, colorfully celebrating one of the world’s most storied art communities.

“I’ve captured a moment in time in Provincetown, a document of a moment in history that may change at some point. Long after I’m gone and forgotten there will be this body of work that will be an important marker at this moment in time.” •

“Artists of Provincetown” by Ron Amato is available at www.ronamato.com/artists-of-provincetown-book

Ron Amato: Artists of Provincetown is on view at The Provincetown Art Association and Museum June 28 to August 18, 2024. Details at www.paam.org

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Artists Pictured in “Artists of Provincetown” in alphabetical order by last name: