Heading into the fall season, Edgartown’s elegant Christina Gallery continues to add to its collection of modern masters — European impressionists and post-impressionists. Particularly significant is the newly acquired Pierre-Auguste Renoir print, “La Danse à la Campagne.” Also on display are works by Jean-Francois Millet and Henri Boutet, as well as the gallery’s extensive collection of three generations of the Pissarro family. All eight of the Maurice Utrillos acquired last year have been sold. These artists share space with such American artists as the eminent marine painter William R. Davis; former Hollywood production designer Duane Alt; Lillia Frantin, who was featured in July; and Marjorie Mason, whose work was featured in an August show.
Part of the interest for the gallery’s new Renoir, which joins “Femme nue assise,” a soft-ground etching acquired last year, is that it is only the great Impressionist’s second attempt at printmaking. Gallery owner Christina Cook, who travels annually to Europe for new acquisitions and enjoys researching them, says, “He came late to printmaking. He didn’t want to try them, but his friends urged him to.” Renoir fans will recognize the artist’s characteristic portraiture of the lively man and woman dancing. Both wear hats, the woman’s wide front-brimmed, and the woman wears a gown with one layer tied up in multiple ribbons.
Also on display is the master Camille Pissarro’s only color print, “La Charrue” (The Plow). Angled from right to left, this depiction of a farmer in a yellow hat wielding the plow behind his matched gray horses, festooned with what appear to be bright red bells, illustrates the master’s gestural freedom combined with an appreciation of color. “Le Chemin de Halage,” in mixed media, by Camille Pissarro’s son Georges Henri, exhibits a similar appreciation for color in its expanse of grassy green bank below a road that angles toward the center of the work. Perhaps most like his grandfather stylistically, H. Claude Pissarro has a pastel, “L’Allée de Kiosque-nevers,” on view. It demonstrates an abundance of colorful summer flowers in the foreground, with yellow-highlighted trees leading toward a group — the boys and men in yellow straw boaters — standing or sitting in front of the kiosk. In another pastel, “Le Lac des Erables” (Maple Lake), also new this year, the curved spread of water in the center fairly glows with color; fowl float in the foreground and a wealth of maple foliage fills the background.
Some visitors to the gallery say it’s like visiting a museum. “We try to keep it as creative and interesting as possible,” says Ms. Cook. “If visitors are coming in and appreciate what we’re doing, that means a lot to us, whether or not they buy something. It [the modern masters collection] does lend itself to what the rest of the gallery is about.”
Among the other artists in the gallery is Mr. Davis, who will celebrate his 20th anniversary with the gallery next year, and has five new oil paintings on display. He is a self-taught painter, who in addition to his large nautical paintings, exhibits Italian plein-air paintings like the charming “Poppy Field at Top of Cortona Village” and smaller portraits of sailing vessels that are as beautifully finished as his larger ones. Mr. Alt, now 80 years old, displays a European orientation in his cityscapes, floral still lifes, and landscapes like “Lavender Field.” Represented by the gallery since 1997, Mr. Alt has 11 new paintings on display. Cape Cod–based painter Lillia Frantin displays a spontaneity and vividness of color with paintings reminiscent of Henri Matisse in works like “Blue Hydrangeas & Green Pears.”
Marjorie Mason is the gallery’s one resident Islander, and, as Ms. Cook says, “She really does capture what we all see.” Her “Menemsha Beach Shore” exhibits dramatic gray clouds hanging over the beach, while “Allen Farm Sunset Clouds” handsomely bisects the foreground with light and shadow, and “Aquinnah Beach” celebrates the muscularity of the Island’s iconic clay cliffs. Sandi Blanda has an array of exquisitely fashioned sailor’s valentines, the boxed shell constructions made originally by 19th-century sailors on whaling ships. Each one, from “Calypso” to “Mambo” exhibits a kaleidoscope of color and shape. The two-floor Christina Gallery is open year-round.