(Motif #1 - Rockport harbor)

Louis Hermann Calnek

Depicted in this brightly-hued screenprint is what is locally referred to as the “Motif No. 1”, a little red fishing hut built in the 1880s sits at the end of a rocky pier in Rockport, Massachusetts. The Motif No. 1 has appeared in countless artists’ works, films, and, according to the New England Times, a Winchester cigarette ad. Wrote Kristian Davies in Artists of Cape Ann, “Built around the time of the Civil War, its prominent position at the end of the pier made it a natural backdrop for artists painting harbor pictures.

"Finally in the early 1930s, while critiquing a group of students’ pictures, several of which featured the little red shack, Lester Hornby, using a term often employed by French students to describe frequently painted sites, exclaimed, “What – Motif No. 1 again!?”

His fateful words stuck and since then the little red shack has been referred to as “Motif No. 1.” Despite the snub aimed at cliched Americana, Calnek proves in this cheerful image that the hut remains a beacon of inspiration, a vivid silhouette against blue skies and gray, and a reminder to fishermen working tirelessly upon the cold tide that warmth awaits at the end of the day.