The Cooley Gallery is headed to Philadelphia for a gathering of top American art dealers at USArtists, American Fine Art Show and Sale for the weekend of September 23rd – 25th, at the Samuel B. Hamilton Building, 128 North Broad Street.  The Gallery’s booth will feature “Introspect, Faces and Figures in American Art,” a large exhibition in a small space of historic and contemporary figurative art. The human form and face is undoubtedly the most challenging subject an artist can attempt.  The rigorous process begins with a relationship between the creator and the subject, implied or explicit, active or passive. While the artist wrestles with the discipline of capturing an all too familiar form, they are interpreting their subject through their own lens of experience. The end result is always one of collaboration. While this exhibition is of people pictures it is also about the relationship between the artist and their subject.
 
An informal charcoal portrait of Peyton J. Van Renssalaer of Philadelphia and dated 1921 by famed American portraitist John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) will be featured. Van Renssalaer commissioned the work on the occasion of his marriage.  Frank DuVeneck (1848-1919) along with William Merritt Chase, John Henry Twachtman and a few others were noted for their influencing the tight renderings of the Hudson River School to the more gestural painting style of Impressionism. A small portrait of a waif over his meager food bowl and long portrait of a woman in an interior by Duveneck will be two more highlights in this exhibition.  Another artist who was highly admired but died prematurely was Dennis Miller Bunker (1861-1890).  His subject is a friend and perhaps the friend poses as a favor to the young artist but either way there is a comfort level implied in this portrait. A head study in Thomas Dewing’s (1851-1938) romantic, English aesthetic style hangs along with a lithograph of a gorgeously rendered drawing by Lillian Wescott Hale (1880-1963).  William MacGregor Paxton (1869-1941), another artist from the Boston School of the 19th century is also included in this exhibition along with a portrait of a dashing young Philadelphian Morris Clothier Maxwell of the Clothier family who built “Ballytore” in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.  The portrait is dated 1924.
 
“I see this as a wonderful gathering of figurative works and the result of twenty years of being on the lookout for great examples of American art. When I look at these I think about the relationships and thoughts that were swirling during the hours the paintings or drawings were being realized. I try to take into account that I am seeing them through the  lens of my own experience and how that effects what I see,” says Jeff Cooley, owner and director of The Cooley Gallery.  When asked why he wanted to highlight the figure for this show in Philadelphia he adds, “USArtists in Philadelphia is one of the highlights of the year for collectors and lovers of American art. They know what they are looking at and we feel obligated to offer the best we have. The human form and face is undoubtedly the most challenging of subjects for any artist. There’s also a sense of history and aesthetic evolutions in American art in the booth.”
 
Three-dimensional works include a tabletop bronze by Bessie Potter Vonnoh (1872-1955) of one of her favorite subjects – a mother and children.  There’s also a tabletop plaster by William Zorach (1887-1966) and a large nude by Brian Craig-Wankiiri (b. 1968). Other contemporary artist works included are: a crisp image of a young man with tattooed hands by Nimh Butler (b.1989) as well as figurative works by Willard Lustenader (b. 1956), nudes by Judy Friday and a genre portrait by Maine artist Ralf Feyl (b. 1970).
 
Pencil drawings, watercolors as well as oils will be featured.  This exhibition will only be in Philadelphia for three days and then travels back to the gallery in Old Lyme for a brief installation through October 15th.
 
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.