Picture Perfect: Images Of Northwest Connecticut

WATERBURY — “Picture Perfect: Images of Northwest Connecticut” is a major loan exhibition of approximately 35 paintings of northwest Connecticut, created by leading American artists between 1790 and 1940, now on view at the Mattatuck Museum. Included are paintings borrowed from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Cleveland Art Museum, and private collectors and museums from many states.

Artists represented in the exhibit include Ralph Earl, Jasper Cropsey, Homer Dodge Martin, David Johnston, William Trost Richards, Emil Carlsen, Ernest Lawson, and others. Subjects include scenes from Washington, Litchfield, Sharon, Salisbury, Kent, and New Milford.

“Picture Perfect” will remain on view until September 18. It will then travel to the Newington Cropsey Foundation in New York, where it will be on exhibit October 5 through November 14.

The artists who were drawn to the picturesque views of the towns of Northwest Connecticut, which they captured on their canvases, are the subject of the ambitious new exhibit. Though the exhibit will include portraits, genre scenes, and still lifes, the essence of the story of the artists in northwest Connecticut is about the landscape. Drawn away from the sooty industrialization of the cities to the serenity of life in the bucolic northwest Connecticut towns of Canaan, Sharon, Washington and the like, many artists took up residence in these towns, inspired not only by the beauty inherent in the sweeping vistas but also the peace-filled natural world they were surrounded by.

During the summer, related exhibits will be presented in historical societies in northwest Connecticut examining artist colonies throughout the region at the turn of the century, connecting the artists’ work with specific places in the region, and providing historical background about the region. The companion exhibits will be presented at Litchfield Historical Society, Cornwall Library, Bethlehem Historical Society, Gunn Memorial Museum in Washington, Kent Historical Society, Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury, and New Milford Historical Society.

These institutions will also sponsor a lecture series about the artists featured in the exhibits, gallery talks, a self-guided tour of the artists’ sites, and a series of art activities for families and for the many current art associations in the region.

For further information about the Picture Perfect project and its programs, call The Mattatuck Museum at 203-753-0381, or visit www.LitchfieldHillsArtTrail.org (the official Picture Perfect website) or www.MattatuckMuseum.org.