Collection

The Permanent Collection

Our permanent collection includes more than 5,350 works, capturing over a century of artistic vitality in Provincetown and on the Outer Cape.

This database offers a window into that rich legacy and our ongoing efforts to showcase contemporary artists working here. More than 2,700 pieces in our collection lack digital images. Our efforts to digitize the rest of our collection are ongoing; to contribute to this critical project to digitize the PAAM collection, please contact James Robertson, Chief Development Officer, by email at jrobertson@paam.org or visit: paam.org/donate/

COLLECTION IN THE COMMUNITY

PAAM regularly loans work from its permanent collection to community organizations and businesses, expanding public access to and appreciation of these important works of art. Works from the collection can currently be seen at Seamen’s Bank (Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet locations), Seashore Point in Provincetown, La Tanzi, Spaulding & Landreth LLP offices in Provincetown and Orleans, and David Marshall Datz, PC office in Provincetown and Orleans. To discuss arranging an artwork loan for your business or organization, please contact PAAM Registrar Madeleine Larson (mlarson@paam.org).

Untitled (from "Closed Ward" or "Locked Ward" series)

Art

Monochromatic sketch of two intertwined human figures

Description

With sepia ink on paper, Michael Mazur sketches the depressing reality of humans isolated from the “civilized” world. Washes of reddish brown pigment shadow the intertwined figures of two ward patients, while sharp, erratic sketch lines form the shape of their sprawled bodies. This sketch captures Michael Mazur’s “Closed Ward” and “Locked Ward” series in their rawest states. Mazur’s visit to the Veterans’ Administration Hospital in Northampton, MA left him aghast. Exposed to the underbelly of a neglected community, Mazur felt inspired to create both of his acclaimed series, Closed and Locked Ward. Critics received the work as brooding, depressing, and deeply humanistic. These patients were not just closed or locked in the ward, but locked out of society. Isolated. Individuals exhibiting behaviors deemed abnormal by social standards were physically removed from society and placed in wards with inhuman treatment. With the possibility of psychiatric exile hanging over one's head, social masking and repression presents themselves as admission into society. Fear in expressing oneself and one’s troubles weighs heavily on individuals in hostile environments. In combination with the analysis of Mazur’s Ward Series depicting humans existing outside of the "civilized" world, it is claimed these localized persons are left with loneliness and desperation. Subsequently, the logical assumption would then be made that individuals in the “civilized” world should exhibit no such feelings of loneliness or desperation. But, we know this isn’t true. When the support from civilization fails, a mask operates as a device to conceal one's perceived vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is not civilization that breeds security, but community.

Artist Information

Michael Mazur

Entry/Object ID

2003.D10

Artwork Details

Date made: 1963

Medium: Sepia ink on paper

Dimensions (h x w): 17-1/4 in x 27-3/4 in

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Type: Signature, Date

Location: LR

Acquisition

Accession: 2003

Credit Line: Gift of Lynn L. Landy, 2010