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Exploring Connecticut’s Art Trail,
and Beyond
BY MAX GILLIES
A
GH
lthough it ranks 48th among America’s 50 states in
terms of size, the state of Connecticut offers an enormous array of visual arts opportunities all year long. The state
government has wisely created the Connecticut Art Trail, a
network of 16 sites that can be visited free during a one-year
period when you buy a $25 Art Pass (available via arttrail.org).
But because this state is essentially rectangular, we’ve decided to
tackle its abundance geographically, and to add many intriguing
sites not on the Art Trail.
SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT
If you’re driving southward from Boston along busy
Interstate 95, New London is the first large community
you’ll encounter in Connecticut. Here the Lyman Allyn Art
Museum, a small neoclassical palace constructed in the 1930s
at the edge of Connecticut College’s campus, offers nine galleries featuring highlights from its collection of Tonalist and
Impressionist paintings, European art, and decorative arts.
On display through June 9 is the exhibition America @ Work:
New Deal Murals in New London and Beyond. Inspired by the
murals painted by Thomas La Farge (1904-1942) in the post
office downtown, this project uses the museum’s collection of
his preliminary studies as a launchpad to explore murals made
by WPA artists nationwide. Speaking of downtown, be sure to
visit the Gallery at Firehouse Square, New London’s only purveyor of fine marine art. On view July 8-August 11 will be the
New London Plein Air Exhibition, featuring artworks made by
participating artists July 6-8.
New London has been a key port since 1646, but the heyday of tall ships is best evoked by driving eastward. Particularly authentic is Stonington, where the charming houses of 18th- and
19th-century captains have survived intact. Located here is Four Starr
Fine Art Conservation and Framing, which handles 14 painters as
well as a range of antiques. And of course there is Mystic Seaport: The
Museum of America and the Sea, which, in addition to its floating displays, offers a Maritime Art Gallery with a dynamic program of selling
exhibitions. In downtown Mystic is the Courtyard Art Gallery, which
handles 10 artists, including Del-Bourree Bach, Bill Farnsworth, and
Christopher Zhang.
For a memorable experience, cross the Thames River bridge from
New London to the dramatically sited Avery Point in Groton and visit the
Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art, housed in the enormous Gatsby-era
mansion built in 1904 by industrialist Morton Plant. Now operated by the
University of Connecticut, the gallery within this Tudor Revival mansion
H. Gray Park IV (b. 1972)
Tipping Rock
2012, Oil on linen, 32 x 36 in.
Four Starr Fine Art Conservation and Framing, Stonington
presents contemporary works made by local artists, as well as paintings
created by von Schlippe, the late U-Conn art professor (1915-1988).
Old Lyme is just 15 miles west of New London. In 1903, the painter
Frank DuMond praised this village for its varied topography, “which
ranges from the low land of estuaries and salt-meadows to the rugged,
romantic beauty of rolling glacial hills.”
Here, in 1899, the Tonalist painter Henry Ward Ranger sought
to establish the American version of France’s Barbizon art colony, but
the arrival of Childe Hassam and other Impressionists around 1903
FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | May/June 2012
Judy Friday (b. 1957)
Sunrise, February
2011, Oil on linen, 24 x 24 in.
Cooley Gallery, Old Lyme
Shattuck, Frank Strazzulla, Jr., and Sandra Wakeen. On
view May 18-June 10 is the exhibition 4 Takes on Realism, featuring Cora Ogden, Michael Naples, George
Van Hook, and Carolyn Walton, then Harmony in
Nature: Ira Barkoff, Peter Bergeron, Sandy Garvin, and
Dennis Sheehan (June 15-July 15). Coming August
16-September 30 are new works by Vincent Giarrano.
Fourteen miles north of New London is the town
of Norwich, where the Slater Memorial Museum was
built in the pseudo-Romanesque style favored by H.H.
Richardson. Named after a generous 19th-century
industrialist, and situated on the campus of Norwich
Free Academy, the Slater presents three centuries of art
from around the world, plus artifacts that illustrate the
town’s rich history. The real reason to visit, however,
is the Slater’s astonishing collection of 19th-century
plaster casts (one of America’s three largest), which
contains 150 facsimiles of Egyptian, Near Eastern,
Greco-Roman, and Renaissance sculpture.
soon made it the “American Giverny.” Through the Great Depression, its
epicenter was the boarding house operated by Miss Florence Griswold
(1850-1937), which has been restored to its 1910 appearance to better
present the delightful decorations left by her more than 200 grateful artist-lodgers. Down the driveway is the large gallery that houses the superb
collection of American art formed by the Florence Griswold Museum,
including masterworks by such luminaries as Lawson, Metcalf, Twachtman, and both Robert and Bessie Potter Vonnoh. On view through June
10 is the exhibition isms: Unlocking Art’s Mysteries, which examines 100
historical and contemporary American artworks to explain movements
and styles.
Within walking distance is the Lyme Art Association, founded by
the colony’s artists to display and sell their art. Locals sustain this tradition through exhibitions and competitions in the LAA’s 1921 gallery,
sometimes in tandem with the nearby Lyme Academy College of Fine
Arts, one of the few U.S. institutions that offers traditional atelier training at the undergraduate level. Down the street is the Cooley Gallery,
well known for American art from the 19th century onward. On view
here through May 19 are more than 20 new works in oils, pastels, and
textiles by local artist Judy Friday, whose aesthetic echoes the pushing,
pulling, and layering motions made at a loom. Also in Old Lyme is the
Diane Birdsall Gallery, which represents two dozen cutting-edge artists working in various media. Among the standouts are large prints
depicting water pulled by Frances Ashforth, tonalist acrylic paintings by
Virginia Greenleaf, and glowing sky paintings in acrylic by Constance
Kilgore.
Just west of here is Old Saybrook, where Gallery One shows midcareer artists working in various media and styles. On view through June
17 are pieces by Paul Harper, William G. Nelson, Christopher James
O’Flaherty, Judith Barbour Osborne, Rick Silberberg, and Kay Knight
Clarke. Continuing west along Long Island Sound you reach the town
of Madison, where Susan Powell Fine Art hosts exhibitions of 19thand 20th-century American art, and of such contemporary artists as
Kathy Anderson, Deborah L. Chabrian, Albert Handell, Timothy W.
Jahn, Edward Martinez, Leonard Mizerek, Yves Parent, Tony Pro, Aaron
FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | May/June 2012
CENTRAL CONNECTICUT
Once renowned for its industrial and financial might, Hartford is
Connecticut’s capital and largest city, but has struggled since the 1960s to
reinvent itself. Despite the prominence of its magnificently domed State
Capitol, Hartford’s real crown jewel is the Wadsworth Atheneum, which
was founded in 1842 and thus claims the distinction as America’s oldest
public art museum. Housed in a sprawling complex of buildings downtown, this was the first U.S. museum to acquire works by Balthus, Caravaggio, Church, Cornell, Dalí, Miró, and Mondrian, thanks in large part
to one of its pioneering directors, “Chick” Austin (who served 1927-1944,
and whose remarkable home can be visited by appointment). The permanent collection of more than 45,000 objects is truly comprehensive, with
spectacular strengths in Renaissance and Baroque paintings, the Hudson
River School, American Impressionism, and Modernism in all media. On
view through July 22 is Andrew Wyeth: Looking Beyond, which examines
the museum’s three paintings by this late master, and also his fascination
with windows and half-opened doors. Be sure to visit the museum’s website for details on a host of Wyeth-related lectures and tours.
While in the capital, drive to East Hartford to see Hartford Fine
Art, where renowned artists Sherrie McGraw and C.W. Mundy will stage
a “painting duel” on May 9. (Reservations are required.) Then head to
West Hartford to see Brick Walk Fine Art, which handles historical masters like Robert De Niro, Sr., and Fairfield Porter, plus living ones such as
Eric Aho and Stuart Shils.
Twenty minutes southeast of Hartford is the New Britain Museum
of American Art, founded in 1903 by local industrialists as the first
institution in the U.S. dedicated entirely to American art. The museum’s
5,000 artworks encompass the spectrum of American art-making, from
the colonial period through the Golden Age of Illustration, onward to
Precisionism and up through the very latest developments. Particularly
significant are its holdings in Hudson River paintings, the Ash Can
School, and American Scene and Regionalist work, especially Thomas
Hart Benton’s mural series The Arts of Life in America. A wall drawing by
Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), a New Britain native, is the lobby’s focal point.
Readers of Fine Art Connoisseur already know that the museum always
Frances Ashforth (b. 1957)
Water Series 14
2010, Monotype on paper, 35 x 49 in.
Diane Birdsall Gallery, Old Lyme
displays the monumentally scaled oil on canvas (76 x 210 in.) The Cycle
of Terror and Tragedy: September 11, 2001, painted by Graydon Parrish
(b. 1970) between 2002 and 2006. On view through July 8 is a show surveying the collection assembled by the artist George Deem (1932-2008),
and opening shortly thereafter is an important retrospective of paintings
by Nelson H. White (b. 1932), who grew up and still resides in Waterford,
Connecticut.
Ten miles west of Hartford is the quaint village of Farmington, where
Teddy Roosevelt once described the estate of Alfred Pope (1842-1913)
as “the ideal of the American country home.” Known as the Hill-Stead
Museum because it is indeed a homestead on a hill, this mansion contains important works by the French Impressionists that illustrate how
the taste for their art grew in America. In 1888, the Cleveland industrialist
Alfred Pope took his wife and daughter to western Europe, and it was in
Paris that he purchased a painting from Claude Monet’s Haystack series.
Over the next decade he acquired three more Monets, Manet’s The Guitar
Player, and superb pastels by Degas, as well as more academic works by
Puvis de Chavannes and Eugène Carrière. These can now be enjoyed in
the 1901 Colonial Revival structure designed by Pope’s daughter, Theodate (1867-1946), with assistance from no less a firm than McKim, Mead
& White. Hill-Stead also contains important majolica, Western and Japanese prints, Ming ceramics, and clocks, and when you’re ready to leave the
house, there are 152 acres of gardens and trails to explore.
Directly south of Hartford is Middletown, where, through May
27, Wesleyan University’s Davison Art Center is celebrating the 50th
anniversary of its Friends group by exhibiting more than 70 works on
paper acquired through their generosity. Located nearby is Gallore
Gallery, which handles contemporary art and is set to host the 2012
Members Juried Show for the organization Connecticut Women Artists (July 1-27).
If you are driving southwest from Hartford along I-84, be sure to stop
in downtown Waterbury, where magificent church spires seem to soar
from every corner. On the town green is the Mattatuck Museum Arts &
History Center, which houses three centuries of Connecticut art and arti
facts. Particularly rich is its holding of the surrealist Kay Sage, her husband
Yves Tanguy, and their friends Naum Gabo and Alexander Calder. While
there, do not miss the extraordinary display of more than 10,000 buttons,
one of the industrial products that enriched Waterbury in the 19th century.
NORTHWESTERN CONNECTICUT
Famously scenic are Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills, the informal
capital of which is Litchfield itself, home to Jeffrey Tillou Antiques
and also Peter Tillou Works of Art. Both handle historic paintings in
addition to decorative arts, but you should call ahead to ensure they
are open. On your way, stop in Bantam for Ella’s Limited Fine Arts
& Framing, where the ethereal landscape paintings of Ella Crampton
Knox and Curt Hanson are available. Nearby is the hamlet of Washington Depot, where Behnke-Doherty Gallery handles American, Asian,
and sub-Saharan African art. Down the street is the Washington Art
Association, which exhibits work by local artists in addition to offering courses. Southeast of here is Woodbury, well known to antiquers,
but also home to P.H. Miller Studio & Gallery, where the handcrafted
frames are works of art in their own right. In the far west of this hilly
region is the quaint town of Kent, where Morrison Gallery shows both
the historical and cutting-edge, a mix also pursued in New Milford by
Gregory James Gallery.
SOUTHWESTERN CONNECTICUT
Not surprisingly, the wealthy and densely populated coast running
westward from New Haven to the New York state border is packed with
art-related sites.
Connecticut’s most famous institution is Yale University, which
possesses two extraordinary art museums and highly regarded grad
FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | May/June 2012
Deborah L. Chabrian (b. 1958)
Arrangement in White
2010, Watercolor on paper, 15 x 10 in.
Susan Powell Fine Art, Madison
uate programs in art history and studio art. Located in the heart of
New Haven, the Yale University Art Gallery owns more than 185,000
artworks, including outstanding holdings of American art in every
medium, Italian Renaissance paintings, and Asian and African masterworks. Long unable to show the full scope of its treasures, the gallery
will finally expand this December into several adjacent buildings. Just
across Chapel Street is the Yale Center for British Art, opened in 1975
by the Anglophile collector-philanthropist Paul Mellon (1907-1999,
Yale class of 1929). This is the largest collection of British art outside of
the United Kingdom, and its holdings encompass every aspect of that
country from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I right up until today. On
view through May 27 is a survey of the rich collections of the Society
of Antiquaries of London, Britain’s oldest independent learned society
concerned with the study of the past. And through June 3, visitors can
also see “While these visions did appear,” a selection of Shakespearean
paintings drawn from the Center’s collection, focusing primarily on
the Bard’s comedies.
Further west is the town of Fairfield, where Fairfield University encompasses two venues for the visual arts. In the grand mansion
around which the campus was developed is the Bellarmine Museum
of Art, where an exhibition of ancient Chinese funerary art can be seen
until June 6. Next up (June 14-September 28) is a mini-retrospective of
the great portraitist Everett Raymond Kinstler (b. 1926), to be featured
in the August 2012 issue of Fine Art Connoisseur. Also on campus is the
Thomas J. Walsh Gallery, which highlights local artists, plus art made by
faculty members and students. Located downtown is the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery, one of America’s finest purveyors of marine and sporting
art, including the renowned John Stobart (b. 1929).
Moving westward, you can reach the Westport Arts Center, focused
on contemporary art and currently showing (through June 3) the
delightful sketches made by Susan Malloy for her new book A Young Person’s Guide to Paris. Northwest of here is Wilton, where the Impressionist
J. Alden Weir (1852-1919) dubbed his farm The Land of Nod. Today Weir
Farm National Historic Site preserves his house and studios, runs an
artist-in-residence program, and offers educational programs that help
visitors understand why Weir’s retreat also attracted such colleagues as
John Singer Sargent and J.H. Twachtman.
To the southwest in New Canaan, art lovers find Silvermine Arts
Center, which offers classes and numerous exhibitions of the excellent
art made there. Alas, not enough people know about the Curtis Gallery
inside the New Canaan Library, which opened on the right foot back in
1955 with its exhibition of art by Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg,
Andy Warhol, Helen Frankenthaler, and Roy Lichtenstein. On view here
May 13-June 17 are the large, monochromatic floral paintings of Hyun
Joo Jung, followed in July and August by the fiber artists Roger Dickinson and Sally Shore.
Heading southwest toward the New York border, stop off at Darien
to see the Geary Gallery, which represents such contemporary realists as
Peter Arguimbau and Marlene Wiedenbaum. Then it’s on to Greenwich,
where the Bruce Museum sits on a hill overlooking the unavoidable traffic delays on I-95. Built as a private home in 1853, it was bequeathed by
its owner in 1908 as a museum for all subjects and now owns more than
15,000 objects, with special strength in American and European art. On
view through July 8 are recent and promised gifts, including masterworks
by Heade, Bouguereau, Carpeaux, Moore, Rauschenberg, and Haring.
FINE ART CONNOISSEUR.COM | May/June 2012
High-quality exhibitions are also mounted at the Greenwich Library’s
Flinn Gallery, which will feature contemporary sculptures made of
paper May 10-June 21. Still more contemporary shows can be enjoyed
in the Bendheim Gallery, located inside the impressive Greenwich Arts
Center, which was once the town hall. On view here through May 12 are
colorful sculptures and works on paper by local artist Charlie Hewitt.
Along downtown’s chic Greenwich Avenue, don’t miss the array
of superb galleries, including Abby M. Taylor Fine Art, dedicated to
American and European paintings, works on paper, and sculpture.
On view at Cavalier Galleries, May 11-28, is the exhibition Cityscapes,
which ranges from impressionistic scenes of Paris to photorealistic ones
of Manhattan. Among the artists featured are Gershon Benjamin, Johan
Berthelsen, Hayley Lever, Peter Sibley, John Terelak, and Lori Zummo.
And the inventory of marine art and antiques at nearby Quester Gallery
includes masterworks by David Bareford, James E. Buttersworth, Montague Dawson, and John Stobart.
Located on the harbor of Cos Cob, a few minutes east of Greenwich,
the grounds of the Bush-Holley Historic Site have been restored by the
Greenwich Historical Society to the way they appeared when a dozen
impressionists thrived there between 1890 and 1920. Seeking country
air within easier striking distance of Manhattan, artists such as Hassam,
MacRae, and Robinson joined their friend, the Greenwich native J.H.
Twachtman, in capturing the charms of this seaside hamlet. The site
includes a range of buildings dating from 1730 onward, and the society
mounts interesting exhibitions focused on the area’s artistic heritage.
You are now a stone’s throw from the New York border, so the choice
is yours. Head toward the Big Apple, or turn back for another stimulating swing through Connecticut, truly a state for art! n
Max Gillies is a contributing writer to Fine Art Connoisseur.