The Cooley Gallery is pleased to announce "George M. Bruestle ~ Native Ground," an exhibition and sale on view from July 16th through August 13, 2011.
 
Sometimes intimate in scale and mood and at other times sweeping in their breadth, the always vibrant paintings of George M. Bruestle have long been associated with the pastoral landscape scenery of Lyme, Connecticut. Born to German immigrants in New York City in 1871, Bruestle studied art first in New York and then in Paris. His initial sojourn to Connecticut brought him to Essex in 1886, and he was in Hadlyme by 1900, thus establishing him as an early member of the Old Lyme Art Colony. In 1905 he bought a summer home in the Hamburg section of Lyme. Although he continued to maintain a residence in Manhattan, and was an active member of numerous New York City art associations—the Society of American Artists, the National Arts Club, Allied Artists of America, the Salmagundi Club, and the Lotos Club—his signature work was inspired by the rural topography of the Connecticut River Valley.  
 
Bruestle’s work suggests myriad influences, from the art of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), to the rich palette of French Impressionism and the gestural and graphically dramatic painting of early 20th century American realism. What unifies these various strains is Bruestle’s consistent fascination with farms, roads, hillsides, rocky croppings and weathered architecture, and the sensuous and richly expressive paint application he employed to sculpt the light-struck forms of his favorite bucolic settings. Over time the artist’s sensitive naturalism, reminiscent of the French Barbizon school, evolved into a broader and more dynamic compositional manner. The later paintings feature a freshness of color suggestive of work done en plein air, while demonstrating a selection of motifs that may well have been perfected in the studio. In this show each of these strains can be fully appreciated.
 
Bruestle exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Corcoran Gallery, Lyme Art Association, National Academy of Design, Paris Salon of 1895, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His works are represented in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Florence Griswold Museum, and the San Diego Museum of Art. He died in 1939 in New Haven, Connecticut.
 
This exhibition will be at the gallery through August 13th, along with “One by One,” an exhibition and sale of monoprints and variable editions by Lisa Barsumian.

Founded in 1981 and located in the heart of historic Old Lyme, the Cooley Gallery specializes in fine American paintings from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, including the Hudson River School, American Impressionism, and select contemporary artists.
 
Regular gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Please call (860) 434-8807 or visit www.cooleygallery.com  for additional information. The Cooley Gallery is located at 25 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT 06371.