The Art of Mackinac

The official souvenir guide to The Richard & Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museum.

Mackinac has inspired its inhabitants and visitors for centuries. To Native Americans, the world began here. A place of conversion, commerce and conflict for the earliest European inhabitants, the climate and vistas were also a delight to the senses and may have provoked visions of Eden's Garden. Most early Europeans were not here pondering nature, nor did attitudes of the day encourage the artistic appreciation of the wild environment. The earliest images of the island were produced as part of documentary surveys. Others, in the pre-photographic era, were similarly attempts by residents or visitors to record a particular view or event. Pure artistic creations of Mackinac would come later as the island evolved into a place of summer leisure. This happened in tandem with a new appreciation of the natural world in both Europe and the United States. 

By Steven C. Brisson

24 pages, illustrated, 2013