The primary (and best) reason to digitize museum collections is to share them with the public on the web. PMM’s photo archives staff has been hard at work for the past year getting to know Kosti Ruohomaa’s photographs through this process. Since he worked under the umbrella of a photo agency for most of his life (Black Star Publishing in Manhattan), the collection is most meaningfully grouped by his professional assignments: those he was given and those he conceived himself and pitched to them. It’s interesting to observe that many of the “self-assignments” were studies of particular aesthetic and cultural themes which the photographer circled back to repeatedly throughout his career.
Beginning in January of 2021, we’ll use this page to showcase a few new assignments each month. Please check back here to further explore the captivating work of this iconic Maine talent. Click on any of the thumbnails below to open that group of images in our online database.
Andrew Wyeth’s Deserted House
Ruohomaa met American realist painter Andrew Wyeth in 1947 through their mutual acquaintance, the sculptor George Curtis. The two had a long friendship which sometimes led to unusual adventures and some notable creative collaborations.
Pulp Drive
In the early days of interior commercial logging, passage by river was the sole means of moving timber from stump to sawmill. By the time Ruohomaa photographed this pulp log drive on the upper Kennebec River in Maine in the 1950s, logs were only driven on remote stretches of water.
Fryeburg Fair
In October of 1951, Kosti Ruohomaa took photographs at the West Oxford Agricultural Society, better known as the Fryeburg Fair. Two photos—an ox-pulling team and an elder eating ice cream—appeared in Life Magazine’s October 22 issue.
Frederick Payne
Kosti Ruohomaa photographed Governor Fred Payne and his wife, Ella Hodgdon, along with their Chinook dog, in the spring of 1952, sitting on the lawn of Blaine House, the Maine governor’s residence.
Shevis
Midcoast Maine-based printmakers William and Estelle Shevis were mainstays of the post-war Maine art scene, helping to found the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the Maine Center for Contemporary Art.
Alewife Run
These photographs of the Alewife operation at the Homeport Fish Company in Damariscotta Mills were taken for a feature in Maine Coast Fisherman in May of 1957. Ruohomaa teamed up with his friend and occasional writing partner, Lew Dietz, for “The Alewives Are Running.”
Lobster Festival
The first Maine Lobster Festival was held in August 1947, to revive summer activities in the Camden-Rockland area after WWII. The Festival is held annually on the first weekend in August (it was canceled in 2020).
Richard Nixon in Maine
In September of 1952, then-Senator Richard Nixon campaigned in Maine as the vice presidential running mate to Dwight Eisenhower. He landed in Waterville where he met with Maine politicians.
Andrew Wyeth Collects a Hearse
Ruohomaa met American realist painter Andrew Wyeth in 1947 through their mutual acquaintance, the sculptor George Curtis. The two had a long friendship which sometimes led to unusual adventures and some notable creative collaborations.
Farm County Agent
In the late 1950s, Gilbert Jaeger was the county farm agent for Knox and Lincoln counties in Maine (farm agents were later known as “extension agents”, for the USDA Cooperative Extension Service which has coordinated their work since its creation in 1914).