‘F. Luis Mora And The Expression Of Beauty” At The Mattatuck Museum

WATERBURY — “F. Luis Mora and the Expression of Beauty” has opened at the Mattatuck Museum Arts & History Center.

This first comprehensive museum exhibition of F. Luis Mora’s art brings together more than 45 pieces of his work, some from private collections that have never been exhibited before and others from prestigious institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Butler Institute of American Art, The Newark Museum, and Yale University Art Gallery. The exhibition encompasses the span of Mora’s career – classicism, impressionism, and realism — and appeals to a wide breadth of traditional art lovers.  It includes paintings, murals, drawings and preparatory studies, beginning with remarkably skilled watercolors painted by the artist at age 13.

It will remain on view until February 7.

F. Luis Mora was a Master painter with exceptional talent who made his home in Gaylordsville. His ability to depict the inner beauty, qualities and personality of his subjects, whether in portraits, landscapes or scenes of everyday life, made him a celebrated artist in the first half of the 20th Century.

Mora was one of the youngest students to train at the Museum School of Fine Art in Boston, and he also studied at the Art Students League. He was a member of 15 prestigious art societies, the first Hispanic member of the National Academy of Design, and a founding member of Kent Art Association, still in existence today.

His work won many prizes, including the Hallgarten Prize at the National Academy of Design in 1901 and the Gold Medal at the Panama Pacific Exhibition in 1915, and today is held by 35 museums throughout North America.

Though Mora enjoyed respect and fame during his lifetime, his popularity faded with the Depression Era. This exhibition presents the legacy of a master that had been lost for many generations, and features works as varied as portraits of Mora’s family, “Ashcan” scenes painted in New York City, marinescapes painted in his studio alongside the Raritan Bay in New Jersey, and garden scenes from his country home in Gaylordsville.  The exhibit was organized by Mattatuck Museum curator Cynthia Roznoy, PhD, and Lynne Pauls Baron, author of F. Luis Mora: America’s First Hispanic Master (1874 – 1940).

The Mattatuck Museum Arts and History Center, at 144 West Main Street in Waterbury, is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm; and Sunday, noon to 5.

For more information about this exhibition, the museum’s collections, and other programs, call 203-753-0381 extension 10 or visit MattatuckMuseum.org.