Africa’s Freed, Seen in Todd Webb’s 1958 Photographs

Outside the Frame: Todd Webb in Africa is the very good new exhibition at Maine’s Portland Museum of Art, which I visited last month. We go to Mount Desert Island every August for our vacation, but I hadn’t been to Portland since 2019, when I wrote a story about the talented young artist Henri Paul Broyard. Even from Vermont, the drive to Acadia is a long one. The premium’s on getting there.

I like Portland a lot, for its funky, engaging art scene, wonderful restaurants, scruffy ambiance, and sea air. I can’t say the place is reborn, but Commercial Street — the drag by the working, no-nonsense wharves — now hosts a Simon Pearce shop, upscale design boutiques, and craft breweries.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

Outside the Frame: Todd Webb in Africa is the very good new exhibition at Maine’s Portland Museum of Art, which I visited last month. We go to Mount Desert Island every August for our vacation, but I hadn’t been to Portland since 2019, when I wrote a story about the talented young artist Henri Paul Broyard. Even from Vermont, the drive to Acadia is a long one. The premium’s on getting there.

I like Portland a lot, for its funky, engaging art scene, wonderful restaurants, scruffy ambiance, and sea air. I can’t say the place is reborn, but Commercial Street — the drag by the working, no-nonsense wharves — now hosts a Simon Pearce shop, upscale design boutiques, and craft breweries.