A writer uses words to tell a story. The Cooley Gallery uses paintings to create one. The Cooley Gallery announces An American Collects, A Lifetime's Collection in an Afternoon.  If you came by the gallery on one of these (recent) snowy days you might have come across Jeff Cooley humming merrily as he arranged a varied group of paintings in the upstairs gallery. "I couldn't stop looking at these paintings in my office so I began hanging them.  Afterwards I looked around the room and thought this would be quite a collection. The variety and quality implies a lifetime of collecting and all the stories that go with it. There's a story here!"

This is an exquisite and varied exhibition with an inexplicably personal quality to it.

As far as a collecting sequence might go this is where anyone could fill in the blanks.  Was the collector captivated by the Portrait of Lydia Hatch (dated 1894) at the hand of famous Boston School painter Edmund Tarbell (1862-1938)? This would have been quite an initial impulse given the painting's $125,000 price tag. Maybe it was a nostalgic impulse that caused the collecting bug to bite when they saw the Jules Turcas (1854-1917) of New York Harbor with its moody depiction of the city in the late 19th century. Anyone interested in American art would be intrigued by the back story of the little John Frederick Peto (1854-1907) apocryphally signed Harnett in the lower right corner. Shouldn't all historic American collections have an Inness or a Wiggins' snow scene like Winter Along Central Park displayed in this exhibition?  The gallery will leave you to decide and maybe create your own collector's profile but they hope this little exhibition of great American paintings empowers the curious collector to go ahead and gather.  

These paintings will be on view in the gallery through mid-April or see them anytime at www.cooleygallery.com.


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.