to Morgan's work is the folky sense of perspective and his color sense. However, one is taken in well beyond this initial blush. His works combine an innate formal grasp of composition with complex definitions of area and space, color, and balance—as well as a terrific sense of engagement and detachment. Old Covered Bridge between Randolph and Gardiner, his earliest dated work, reveals a sophisticated hold on translating a large scale real-world geographical area into a small two-dimensional space. The broadly defined spaces of color and short perspective remind us of another artist working in Maine, Milton Avery. Or even a Diebenkorn. The same applies for Moulton Mill, and Ice Houses on the Kennebec River. The topography is delineated in broad shapes and laid out in colors that work in a formal sense, not necessarily in a real-world sense. Accuracy did not trump color or compositional balance. Representational artists even have to lie a little. The body of Morgan's work is best and most often described as "map-like". His townscapes and depictions of local landmarks are often seen from overhead and/or from a high-vantage point. They provide for us, almost literally, a road-map of these towns as they were at the turn of the twentieth century. The three works, Hallowell: View of Lower Water Street, Freshet 1923 , Bridge Dividing Kennebec River, done in a flourish in just two months (June and July 1963) are arguably his most complex, finest and accessible works. In each, Morgan precisely tries to work out the perspective (a ruler was always at hand), however it is never (academically) correct. In the essay, "Mapping as a Cultural Universal", the authors assert that "to communicate...mapmakers distort...distortions from accepted veridicality may be the result of attempts to increase the map's informational value." Though Morgan's unconventional perspective is incorrect, it is more informative—showing us spaces and details of buildings that we would not otherwise see. Retirement George Morgan retired aged ninety-four. He died in Augusta, Maine 1969, aged 99. Exhibitions The Playhouse, Boothbay, Maine 1963 Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine, "George E. Morgan: Self Taught Painter of Maine" July 16 - October 11, 1998 The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Chicago, IL, "George E. Morgan: Maine Streets" February 5 - April 10, 1999 Literature "Painter Makes Primitives of Early Boyhood Scenes," KENNEBEC JOURNAL, Augusta, Maine, February 18, 1966, Ruth Henderson UNEXPECTED ELOQUENCE, The Edith Blum Art Institute,