Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio is pleased to announce it will be hosting Studio Incamminati’s annual artists’ exhibition from June 6 through July 11, 2010 at the gallery in Doylestown. The exhibition will feature an array of subjects ranging from figurative studies to landscapes to still life compositions. An opening reception for the exhibition, with many of the featured artists in attendance including studio Founder and Artistic Director Nelson Shanks, will be held Saturday, June 5, 2010, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. A catalogue of the show will be available on the Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio website prior to the event.

Studio Incamminati, in Center City Philadelphia, is an advanced art academy-known as an atelier- distinguished by its rigorous curriculum and teaching methods which fuse the classical traditions of the Renaissance-era masters, the luminous color of the Impressionists and a fresh contemporary sensibility. The nonprofit institution, founded in 2002, specializes in the aesthetic and philosophical principles of humanist realism and the techniques espoused by Nelson Shanks, one of the world’s best known living artists. Shanks is famous for his portraits of international luminaries ranging from Pope John Paul II to Princess Diana. His school, Studio Incamminati, emphasizes the mastery of drawing and painting both the human form and still life compositions, as well as working with light and shadow, form, shape and color.

Gratz Gallery looks forward to providing a venue to exhibit the work of Studio Incamminati’s talented students and esteemed, award-winning faculty. “Exhibitions such as this get our work in the public eye,” said Jay Pennie, Executive Director of Studio Incamminati, “and help us fulfill our mission of producing not only highly accomplished artists, but artists with sustainable careers.”

Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio is at 68 S. Main Street, Doylestown, just a few short blocks away from the James A. Michener Museum of Art and The Mercer Museum. The gallery features 19th and 20th-century American Art, as well as museum-quality fine art conservation services and custom framing.  The gallery is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sundays, noon – 6 p.m., as well as by appointment. Call 215-348-2500. 



Press Release





Quick background of Studio Incamminati (pdf)

Gratz Gallery is pleased to announce a first time exhibition of work by Bucks County artist, Glenn Harrington. Recognized and collected in both the United States and abroad, Harrington (b. 1959) has had an array of solo exhibitions at galleries across the globe, as well as having had his work exhibited at a selection of prestigious museums. The exhibition, which runs from April 25th through May 30th, 2010, will feature a selection of Glenn’s local landscapes and luminous portraiture. An opening reception with the artist will be held at the gallery on April 24th, 2010, from 6pm-9pm.

After graduating from Pratt Institute in 1981 Harrington began a full time career as a painter and illustrator. His illustrations appear on over 600 book covers; however, he is perhaps best known for his beautiful figurative and landscape compositions. Harrington’s soft brushstrokes and unparalleled manipulation of light combine to create powerful and dramatic compositions. Although his paintings are carefully considered, there is an undeniable sense of naturalness that only the most masterful painter can create. His portraits and figurative genre scenes are highly desirable; they have received many accolades. Harrington is a longtime resident of Pipersville, Pennsylvania, so do not be surprised if you recognize the landscape in his work, as many of his paintings depict the area’s most treasured vistas and landmarks.

“Glenn has a fascination with Sycamore trees, just as did Daniel Garber,” says gallery owner Paul Gratz. “Glenn’s palette is remarkably tender and painterly, whether he is portraying nature or figures. Each canvas is really very beautiful.”

Glenn has received many awards for his artwork including the Portrait Society of America Award of Excellence (2009), The Draper Grand Prize at the annual Juried Exhibit of the Portrait Society of America (2007), and the Award of Excellence at the annual Juried Exhibit of Oil Painters of America (2007) among many others. Most recently his painting, Catnap, won the top prize at The International Guild of Realism (2010) in Palm Desert, California. His work has been featured in many prestigious publications including: American Arts Quarterly, American Art Collector, International Artists Magazine, the covers of American Artist & US Art, New Art International, The New York Times, and Philadelphia Inquirer.

Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio is located at 68 S. Main Street, Doylestown, just a few short blocks away from the James A. Michener Museum of Art and The Mercer Museum. The gallery features 19th and 20th century American Art, as well as museum quality fine art conservation services and custom framing.  The gallery is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Sundays, 12:00 noon – 6:00 p.m., as well as by appointment. Call 215-348-2500 or visit the Gratz Gallery and Conservation Studio website at www.gratzgallery.com.  A full catalogue of the exhibition will be available on the website prior to the start of the exhibition. Please feel free to contact the gallery directly with any questions regarding the exhibition.

Glenn Harrigton Press Release

Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio is pleased to announce an exhibition featuring works by the area’s most prestigious and talented contemporary artists, side-by-side with Pennsylvania Impressionists, The Philadelphia Ten and painters from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The exhibition, Now & Then, seeks to delineate the push-and-pull of influence and autonomy between the gifted painters of today and the masters of American Art who came before them. The show will include paintings by more than a dozen contemporary painters: Robert Beck, Patricia Burns, John Ennis, Jennifer Hansen, Glenn Harrington, James J. Himsworth, John Kane, Richard Lennox, Jan Lipes, Babette Martino, Elise Phillips, Bob Richey, Materese Roche, Robert Seufert and George Thompson among others. Their predecessors, such as Edward Redfield, Walter Baum, Rae Sloan Bredin, Fern Coppedge, Cora Brooks, Leon Kelly, Hermann Herzog and Antonio Martino will be represented as well. The exhibition will run from March 14 through April 18, 2010. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on March 13, from 6pm to 9pm. A snow date is scheduled for the following day, March 14, from 3 to 6 pm. A catalog of the show will be available on the Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio website prior to the event. 

The rich cultural heritage of the Bucks County region has long been a source of inspiration for some of the nation’s most esteemed artists. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, founded in 1805, was the nation’s first school and museum of fine arts. The school quickly became known as the epitome of fine art instruction, and an array of major American artists taught, studied or exhibited at the Academy. Many of the key players of both the New Hope School and the Philadelphia Ten were students or instructors at the Pennsylvania Academy. In the late nineteenth century, nearly 100 years after the Pennsylvania Academy was founded, art colonies began forming up and down the nation’s east coast. One of the most renowned of these colonies was the one that formed in 1898 on the banks of the Delaware River in New Hope. This colony, soon to be coined the New Hope School, was ideally located between New York City and Philadelphia and featured stunning landscapes and four strongly delineated seasons, all of which appealed to the artists who settled there. William Lathrop, Edward Redfield and Daniel Garber are a few of the early luminaries that made New Hope their home. They were soon followed by painters Fern Coppedge, John Folinsbee, and Harry Leith-Ross among others, who also lived and worked in the river town. Nearby, in Philadelphia, a group of talented and driven female artists were organizing in the hopes of having their artwork seriously displayed and considered at a time when art by women was merely considered ‘hobby’ and ‘craft’. This group, The Philadelphia Ten, was composed of approximately thirty women artists over its twenty-eight years in existence. Encouraged by instructors such as Henry Snell, the group was incredibly successful and has left us with the work of such talented painters as Cora Brooks, Nancy Maybin Ferguson, Constance Cochrane and Mary Elizabeth Price and many more.

Today, over 100 years after the founding of the New Hope School, artists continue to make the Bucks County region their home. Painters such as Glenn Harrington, John Kane and Robert Seufert are just a few of the many talented landscape painters in the region. Their river views, rolling meadows and quiet snow scenes bring to mind works by Charles Rosen, Daniel Garber and Walter Baum. Materese Roche uses the instruction she gained at the Pennsylvania of Academy of the Fine Arts to paint beautiful and highly academic still lifes. Robert Beck, a longtime resident of the area, paints wonderful impressionistic genre scenes, bringing to mind the bright and colorful work of Paulette Van Roekens or even the scenes of day-to-day by Robert Spencer. Another inspiring aspect of Bucks County is the support given to local artists by the area’s residents. The many sophisticated patrons and admirers of our area’s strong artistic heritage continue to make Bucks County an area dedicated to the arts.

Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio is located at 68 S. Main Street, Doylestown, just a few short blocks away from the James A. Michener Museum of Art and The Mercer Museum. The gallery features 19th and 20th century American Art, as well as museum quality fine art conservation services and custom framing.  The gallery is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Sundays, 12:00 noon – 6:00 p.m., as well as by appointment. Call 215-348-2500 or visit the Gratz Gallery and Conservation Studio website at www.gratzgallery.com.

Now and Then Exhibition Press Release
Flyer (PDF)
Now & Then Show, Opening Reception on
View current inventory

Appraisal Day is returning again to the Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio, recently relocated to Doylestown from New Hope, Pennsylvania. People travel from near and far to this annual event, with paintings and frames in-tow, to get guidance from two of the region’s foremost fine art experts. If you’ve always wondered what that painting is worth that your grandparents gave you, or what it would take to repair the rip in the painting that fell off the wall last year, Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio will be offering a day of appraisals and conservation estimates on Saturday, April 10th, from 1 pm to 5pm. This year, to make the event even more exciting, we are encouraging a donation of $20, which will directly benefit the Mercer Museum of Doylestown. Bring your great-aunt’s portrait for a fair-market appraisal; find out what’s underneath that soot-darkened painting in your attic; bring your Bucks County art for a cleaning and repair estimate. Bring in your paintings and old frames for insight and guidance from the gallery’s owner and lead conservator, Paul Gratz with Cindy Charleston, ISA CAPP, one of the nation’s foremost appraisers. Due to the popularity of this annual event, patrons are requested to limit their inquiries to two pieces per family. The appraisers will get to all the paintings they possibly can in the day.

Your donation at the Gratz Gallery Appraisal Day Event will help support much needed conservation work on artifacts and artwork in the Mercer Museum’s collections. Operated by the Bucks County Historical Society, the Mercer Museum contains one of the most extensive collections of materials associated with everyday life, art and work in early America. It is especially renowned for its collection of tools and other artifacts associated with pre-industrial trades, agricultural labor, and domestic work, much of which was assembled by founder Henry Chapman Mercer in the early 20th century. Inspired by Mercer’s founding vision, and his dramatic architecture, the Historical Society and Museum seek to cultivate a broad appreciation and awareness of our past, helping audiences find stories and meanings to sustain them in the present and aid them in approaching the future. To learn more about the Mercer Museum, including its upcoming Auction Fundraiser on the evening of Friday, April 16, 2010, go to www.mercermuseum.org

Cindy Charleston Rosenberg, ISA CAPP, is the founder and President of The Art Appraisal Firm, an independent appraisal company dedicated exclusively to the appraisal of fine art. Ms. Rosenberg has distinguished the firm within the industry by removing potential bias from the appraisal process. Art Appraisal Firm appraisers do not sell, broker, or represent fine art for sale in any capacity. For this reason, prominent auction houses, prestigious galleries, national museums, financial advisors, attorneys and private collectors from around the country rely confidently upon her expertise as an unbiased independent appraiser and art consultant. A fully Accredited Member of the International Society of Appraisers (ISA), Cindy utilizes her more than twenty years experience in the marketplace to evaluate collections of American and European paintings and sculpture. In 2007, Ms. Rosenberg was awarded the ISA CAPP distinction by completing the experience, continuing education, report writing, and qualifying examination requirements for ISA Certification to Appraise Fine Art (CAPP). CAPP status is the highest level of recognition ISA can bestow. As of this writing, there are fewer than 25 individuals holding the ISA CAPP designation in Fine Art in the United States and Canada. Certification to appraise personal property issued through this program is the result of a several year process of study that includes instruction, research, testing and peer review. ISA Certified membership also requires continuing education and a re-qualification examination every five years.

Specializing in the conservation of oil paintings and gilt frames for twenty-five years, Paul Gratz’s formal training began at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and was developed through various apprenticeships with some of the nation’s most respected art conservators. Today, Paul leads a team of skilled artisans in combining modern techniques with Old World craftsmanship to offer the finest in treatment for oil paintings, murals and gilt objects. Since 1982 Gratz has provided his services to museums, historical societies, universities, churches and many private collections. “Truly skilled conservation of your art”, says Gratz, “preserves as much as is possible of the original art itself, and therefore preserves its utmost value. Conservation treatment restores original radiance, color and detail to your treasured oil paintings, adding years of life and maximum value to even the most damaged artwork. Our dedication to the quality of care for your investment is surpassed only, perhaps, by our passion for the beauty of the craft itself.”

Located at 68 S. Main Street in Doylestown, the Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio specializes in 19th and 20th century American paintings, with a focus on painters from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In addition to art investment Gratz Gallery also offers custom framing, and run a conservation studio specializing in the treatment and stabilization of oil paintings. The gallery is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Sundays, 12:00 noon – 6:00 p.m., as well as by appointment. Call 215-348-2500 or visit the Gratz Gallery and Conservation Studio website at www.gratzgallery.com.

Appraisal Day Press Release
Mercer Museum website
Article by Amy Buckman from Channel 6 ABC Action News

Ann Silverman Community Health Clinic History of the clinic (PDF) Press release (PDF)  Featured Pennsylvania Painters

In a Grand Re-Opening and Anniversary Exhibition Doylestown’s Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio presents Pennsylvania Painters

Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio has officially opened its doors in the heart of Doylestown’s historic district. To celebrate its new location and the gallery’s anniversary as it enters its tenth year, Gratz Gallery will be presenting a grand re-opening celebration from Saturday, October 24 through December, 2009. A preview reception will be held Saturday, October 24, from 6 to 9 pm. This year’s exhibition, Pennsylvania Painters, highlights many Pennsylvania Impressionist artists, including Walter Baum, Rae Sloan Bredin, William Lathrop, Harry Leith-Ross, Arthur Meltzer, Antonio Martino, George Sotter and others. Philadelphia Ten painters Constance Cochrane, Nancy Ferguson, Isabel Cartwright, and Cora Brooks are also included. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts painters are featured as well, including works by Hermann Herzog, Leon Kelly and Leonard Nelson. A catalog of the show will be available on the Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio website prior to the event.

As is the tradition of Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio, a portion of the proceeds from every painting purchased from the exhibition will directly benefit The Ann Silverman Community Health Clinic through a single contribution by the gallery to the organization. This organization, formerly known as The Free Clinic of Doylestown, serves low-income uninsured or underinsured adults and children in the greater Central Bucks County community. Whether by providing medical and dental care or by helping people find resources such as low-cost housing, legal assistance, food and help for battered women, the Ann Silverman Community Health Clinic has made a meaningful difference to more than 8,000 adults and children in the Central Bucks community. To find out more about the clinic please visit aschealthclinic.org.

Paul Gratz, owner and head-conservator of Gratz Gallery, trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, among other places. It was at the Academy that he gained his interest in painters from the Academy and, ever since, has been collecting work by Academy artists. Gratz’s expertise has been focused on Pennsylvania painters’ significant and important contribution to the American Impressionist movement. This year’s anniversary exhibition features works by many of the members of The New Hope Circle, the group of painters from the geographic area of the Delaware Valley surrounding New Hope. Art historian Sam Hunter first wrote of this group in his 1984 book and exhibition catalog American Impressionism: The New Hope Circle for The Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Today, the New Hope Circle is recognized nationally, if not
internationally, as among the most eminent of the contributing groups to the American Impressionist art movement.

The Philadelphia Ten, founded in 1917, provided a forum for professional camaraderie and aggressive self-promotion among women artists in a male-dominated art establishment. Many had studied at the Philadelphia School of Design (now Moore College of Art and Design). Fewer were students at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Formally organized before women had the constitutional right to vote in the United States, The Philadelphia Ten enjoyed a hugely successful annual exhibition schedule in its nearly thirty-year lifespan. Given their important and impressive place in the history of American Impressionism, Gratz has developed a keen interest in this group of women artists for both the aesthetic quality and investment value of their work. A variety of canvases of various Philadelphia Ten members are included in the anniversary exhibition.

Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio is located at 68 S. Main Street, Doylestown, just a few short blocks away from the James A. Michener Museum of Art and The Mercer Museum. The gallery features 19th and 20th century American Art, as well as museum quality fine art conservation services and custom framing. The gallery is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Sundays, 12:00 noon – 6:00 p.m., as well as by appointment. Call 215-348-2500 or visit the Gratz Gallery and Conservation Studio website at www.gratzgallery.com.

Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio of New Hope, Pennsylvania partnered with Francis M. Naumann Fine Art of New York City in presenting an exhibition of works by the American Surrealist painter Leon Kelly (1901-1982). The exhibition was held in both gallery locations from Thursday, April 16 through Friday, June 5, 2009. A reception was held at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art on Thursday, April 23rd, 6 to 8 pm. The dual-location exhibition of over 250 works of art spanned the life and career of the man who, because of an “innately reclusive disposition…died in relative obscurity, but he was recognized in the 1940s for a style of painting that virtually defined Surrealism for an unknowing, yet curious and admiring American public.” So he is introduced on the book jacket of the first major monograph on Leon Kelly, published to coincide with the launch of this exhibition. The book includes an essay written by widely published art historian and critic, Martica Sawin. Her book, Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School (1995), was acclaimed as the best written and most thorough account of this period in the history of American art. Leon Kelly – American Surrealist offers a detailed chronology of Kelly’s life, rendered by independent scholar, curator and art dealer Francis Naumann, noted for his expertise in art from the Dada and Surrealist periods. Paul Gratz, owner and head conservator of the Gratz Gallery and Conservation Studio, is an authority on painters from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, having dealt in their work for nearly thirty years.

Leon Kelly was born in 1901 in Philadelphia. His childhood was marred by his parents’ unhappy marriage, which ended with the financial collapse of his father’s business. So too ended his weekend trips with his father to his farm in Yardley, Pennsylvania. He showed a talent for drawing from an early age, which earned him a scholarship at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he studied with the modernist Arthur Carles. Kelly was a dedicated student and was awarded the Cresson Traveling Fellowship, which allowed him to study abroad in Europe. Upon his arrival back in the United States, he was disappointed to find that Carles had been dismissed from the Academy, likely a result of his controversial teaching methods. He continued to work privately with Carles but longed to return to Europe.

Carles was instrumental in allowing Kelly to continue his painting as he introduced him to a number of prospective patrons, including the collector Albert Barnes, who took a brief interest in the young artist’s work. In a chance encounter, Kelly reconnected with his father who agreed to fund his son for two years abroad. He was successful in Paris, having exhibited at an array of galleries. When he returned to the U.S., he exhibited at many galleries in New York and Philadelphia. In 1940 he began a relationship with Helen Lloyd, the ex-wife of Earl Horter, who introduced Kelly to Julien Levy. Kelly and Levy’s relationship lasted for many years. Levy was a strong advocate of Kelly’s work and campaigned tirelessly on his behalf, however the artist’s work never received the acclaim that Levy so desperately believed it should. Kelly taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1961-1973.

In 1982 Kelly, living in isolation on an island off the coast of New Jersey, died at 81 years old. Examples of the artist’s work can be found at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

On Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 2 pm, Gratz Gallery hosted its renowned fine art auction, featuring a collection of American and European paintings and works on paper. A portion of proceeds from this special event were earmarked to benefit the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia. Approximately one hundred lots were offered for sale; the collection highlights works by many Pennsylvania Impressionists, artists from PAFA and The Philadelphia Ten.  Modernists, 19th century, New England and European painters were represented as well. Works by Edward Redfield, Harry Leith-Ross, George Sotter, William Lathrop, Antonio Martino, Walter Baum, Mary Elizabeth Price, and many others were put on the block for the highest bidder.

Paul and Harriet Gratz have chosen PAFA as the recipient of a portion of the proceeds generated by this auction event. Founded in 1805, the Academy is America's first school of fine arts.  A recipient of the 2005 National Medal of Arts presented by the President of the United States, PAFA is a recognized leader in fine arts education.  Nearly every major American artist has taught, studied, or exhibited at the Academy. The institution's world-class collection of American art continues to grow and provides what only a few other art institutions in the world offer: the rare combination of an outstanding museum and an extraordinary faculty known for its commitment to students and for the stature and quality of its artistic work.

USArtists is the nation’s premier American art event.

Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio of New Hope is hosted a fine art auction featuring a collection of American and European paintings and works on paper on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 2 pm. A portion of the proceeds from this special event were earmarked to benefit the Salvation Army Kroc Center Project.  Over one hundred lots were offered for sale; the collection highlighted works by Pennsylvania Impressionists and artists from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.  Modernists, 19th century, New England and European painters were represented as well. Works by Harry Leith-Ross, John Folinsbee, William Sotter, William Lathrop, Daniel Garber, Antonio Martino, Walter Baum, Mary Elizabeth Price, William Taylor, Robert Spencer, and many others were put on the block for the highest bidder.

Paul and Harriet Gratz chose the Salvation Army Kroc Center Project as the recipient of a portion of the proceeds generated by the auction event. The Kroc Center Project was set under way in January 2004, when Mrs. Joan Kroc, whose husband founded McDonald’s, left a $1.5 billion bequest from her estate to the Salvation Army USA – one of the nation’s most trusted and efficient organizations – to serve as a lead gift to build and operate 25 community centers in underserved neighborhoods throughout the nation. The Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia was awarded the seed-funds from the estate to create the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Upper North Philadelphia. The 105,000-square foot community center on 12.4 acres will serve the surrounding neighborhoods, where poverty and juvenile crime prevails. The Kroc Center will house an array of programs designed to address the economic, educational, health, recreational and spiritual needs of the community it will serve. In keeping with the Salvation Army philosophy, the programs will be provided in an inclusive manner regardless of ability to pay.

Featured lots from the auction included the large oil Quick Lunch -- an important work by Rosamond Smith Bouve, one of the few successful women artists of the Boston School. The painting was exhibited at Carnegie Institute, the Corcoran Gallery Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Also offered were over a dozen playful drawings by a young William Lathrop, a colorful still life by Philadelphia Ten artist M. Elizabeth Price, and a view of the Schuylkill by Daniel Garber. European highlights included a Christmas Shopping Scene by France’s Edouard Leon Cortes and a Village Street Scene by Frederico del Campo, of Peru.

Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio presented the work of Bucks County painter Richard Lennox in a one-man show from January 6 through February 10, 2008. Nearly sixty canvasses hung throughout the gallery, representing the artist’s work dating from 1994. The retrospective featured the regional landscape work for which Lennox is best known – his work is inspired by the river towns along the Delaware. Also included in the exhibition were two Lennox portraits, although they were the only pieces not offered for sale.

Richard Lennox, of Erwinna, PA, has been painting in the New Hope – Lambertville area for decades. Born in 1939 in Oceanside, New York, he is a 1966 graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied with Franklin Watkins and Hobson Pitman. His father was an accomplished furniture maker, and for many years Richard ran the family business, The Lennox Shop, just north of Lambertville, NJ. In the late 1990’s Richard sold the business so he could devote himself full-time to painting. He keeps his studio where he resides in his family’s 18th-century farmhouse with his wife Stana, a retired school teacher.

Lennox has exhibited his work extensively and he has participated in many juried exhibitions throughout the local region. He has been granted extensive awards for his accomplishments, beginning in 1984 at the Phillips’ Mill Annual Exhibition. He has been accepted for exhibition at numerous museums, including the Delaware Art Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, the Woodmere Art Museum, the Hunterdon Museum, and the Allentown Art Museum. Galleries that have displayed his work include the National Academy of Design, Cheltenham Art Center, the Marion Locks Gallery, the Peale House, Phillips' Mill, Artworks, the Coryell Gallery, Rosenfeld Gallery, Ruth Morpeth, and the Somerville Manning Gallery.

Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio will be presented the largest single private collection of paintings ever offered for sale and exhibition by American painter Peter Cook from Sunday, October 15 through Sunday, November 26, 2006. A preview reception was held on Saturday, October 14 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The collection included more than one hundred paintings spanning five decades of Cook’s artistic lifetime in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Kingston, New Jersey, on Montsweag Bay in Maine and various excursion destinations throughout the world.

Born in New York in 1915, Peter Geoffrey Cook moved as a boy to Kingston, New Jersey where his family’s large stone house commanded several hundred acres of woodland, pasture and farmland. As with the other three boys in his family, he attended boarding school at St. Mark’s in Southborough, Massachusetts. From there he went to Princeton University, where he distinguished himself as a hockey player and as a student. He planned to become an architect.

In his junior year at Princeton, in the winter of 1936, Cook attended the Senior Prom, changing the course of his life forever and opening the door to a life as an artist. At the dance Peter Cook met Joan Folinsbee, not yet seventeen and the daughter of the eminent New Hope Impressionist John Folinsbee. Peter courted Joan over the coming months and visited her often at her family’s home in New Hope, spending long hours with John in his studio. It was there that Cook began to paint, under the encouragement and tutelage of Folinsbee. Cook recalled the moment of conversion in his writings:

“I had always liked drawing and had done a considerable amount in architecture school, but oils were a different story. The results of my first effort were nauseating (I have proof); but Jack was so encouraging that within a week I had bought a set of oils of my own, and he had a new driver and companion on his sketching trips. He taught me the works: how to mix colors, how to pick out a subject from the vast panorama of a valley, what to look for, what to leave out. I soon found myself drifting away from architecture into painting.”

After graduating in 1937 with a degree in architecture Cook went on to study at the National Academy of Design in New York under Gifford Beal and Leon Kroll, among others, and at the Art Students League with Arthur Lee. In 1938, he married Joan Folinsbee. Cook was awarded a Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship in 1939; and when World War II cut short his European tour, he returned to study in New York. After a winter teaching in Clearwater, Florida, he went back to New Jersey, to his father’s property in Kingston, where he lived and worked for the remainder of his life. Joan lives there to this day, in the old converted stone horse barn where they raised their four children.

From 1940, through World War II and into the mid-1950s Cook worked the farm on the New Jersey property, growing wheat, oats, corn, and alfalfa and raising a few hundred chickens and turkeys. In 1944 Cook accepted the full-time help of a man named George Washington Trotman, a deaf man who just showed up one day seeking employment on the farm. Depicted in Cook’s canvases on occasion, Trotman worked the farm for twenty years, until Cook stopped the farming operation and painted, thereafter, just about every remaining day of his life. During Cook’s farming years he played his clarinet, joined in on productions for the Princeton Community Players, skated, coached hockey at the university, and of course, he painted. Cook painted the New Jersey farmlands, capturing a now largely developed countryside. A landscape painter to be sure, his main income was derived as a portraitist through the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s, as the farm was essentially a break-even venture and, although he regularly exhibited in Princeton, and occasionally in Bucks County, sales of his landscapes were relatively few. During his lifetime, Cook was known primarily for his portrait work. He painted hundreds of portraits, many of them through Portraits, Incorporated, in New York; he painted children, friends, college presidents and a Secretary of State.

Beginning in 1950 Cook and his family, Joan’s sister’s family as well as the Folinsbees summered in Maine, near Bath and Wiscasset. There, he and John Folinsbee shared a studio. Sometimes with Folinsbee and often alone, Cook spent many hours on the water, taking sailing trips to Penobscot Bay and points further Down East, and the shoreline near Montsweag Bay. In 1953 Cook took his family to Italy for a year of in-residence study in the Tuscan hills outside of Florence, and at age 55 returned (while his son John was living and working in Milan), and then visited again another decade later. Cook visited Alaska to visit his daughter Paula in 1976, the Dominican Republic in 1979 and Greece in 1984. He took a couple of trips to Ireland in the 1980s with Paula and her husband, David Sculley. While son Stephen was a doctor in the United States Navy, he spent a couple of weeks recording daily routines on board the enormous aircraft carrier U. S. S. Eisenhower.

Peter Cook – A Journey in Light chronicles the life of the painter, documenting the many venues of Peter Cook’s life. The exhibition spans the five decades of the painter’s life. In the foreword of the exhibition catalog, Cook’s son writes of his father’s life journey:

“Near the end of his career, in the last ten or twelve years of his life, his paintings display a markedly different quality from his earlier work. Things often look less finished, there’s less paint on the board in some areas, trees and rocks are sketchier and often much more backlit. In fact, he’s clearly more and more concerned with light. In his last painting, turned out in a couple of hours in June of 1992, there’s a blast of light on water that is as dazzling, as blinding as anything he ever did. For my money, it’s an emblem of the “world full of hope” that defines Peter Cook the artist and Peter Cook the man”.

Cook joined John Folinsbee as an artist member of The Century Association in 1943, and was elected to the National Academy in 1966. In addition to the Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship, Cook won many awards for his figure, landscape and portrait paintings, including First Prize, Montclair Art Museum; Bronze Medal, National Arts Club; Ogunquit Art Center Marine Prize; and the Century Association Medal of Honor. He taught art classes in New York, New Hope and Princeton. He had one-man shows in Boston, Richmond, Palm Beach, Chattanooga, Minneapolis and Princeton. A retrospective of his work was exhibited at The Century Association in New York in December, 1992, months after his death. Cook’s paintings are among the collections of Princeton, Bradley, Rutgers and Temple Universities, the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Navy.

Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio hosted a fine art auction featuring a collection of American paintings on Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 2 pm. A portion of proceeds from this special event were earmarked to benefit the Phillips’ Mill Community Association.  Over one hundred lots were offered for sale; the collection highlights works by Pennsylvania Impressionists and artists from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.  Modernists, 19th century and New England painters were represented as well. Works by Harry Leith-Ross, Fern Coppedge, Edward Redfield, John Folinsbee, William Sotter, William Lathrop, Antonio Martino, Walter Baum, Mary Elizabeth Price, Hugh Breckenridge, Charles Woodbury, Charles Nisbet, and many others were put on the block for the highest bidder.

Paul and Harriet Gratz regard The Phillips’ Mill Community Association as a vital organization to the region, and had therefore chosen it as the recipient of a portion of the proceeds generated by this auction event. The historic property is the well-spring of the cultural phenomena that is the essence of the New Hope region. Built in 1756 by Aaron Phillips as a water-powered grist mill, three generations of the family lived on the property prior to the purchase of the mill and adjoining farm in 1894 by George Morley Marshall. In 1899 Marshall sold a portion of the property to childhood friend and artist, William Lathrop. Lathrop's home and the mill studio emerged as the intellectual center of a growing community of artists, whose rigorous discussions of aesthetics, philosophy, and politics became well-known. Besides Lathrop, artists such as Daniel Garber, Edward Redfield, John Folinsbee, Walter Schofield, among many others formed the New Hope School.  In 1929 a committee headed by William Lathrop purchased the mill, and the Phillips' Mill Community Association was born, with Lathrop as the founding president. Today, the Association is responsible for the preservation of the Phillips' Mill Historic District whose 28 acres are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Association maintains an annual calendar of cultural events through the support of members and volunteers.

In celebration of 25 years of buying and selling Bucks County art and the gallery’s five-year anniversary in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio presented the largest single private collection of paintings by American Impressionist Henry Ryan MacGinnis ever offered for sale and exhibition from Sunday, November 20 through Saturday, December 31, 2005. A preview reception was held on Saturday, November 19 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The collection included more than seventy paintings spanning over MacGinnis’ artistic lifetime.

Born in Indiana in 1875, Henry MacGinnis began his art studies under the eminent Hoosier artists T.C. Steele, J.O. Adams and William Forsyth. At the age of twenty-one he showed his work with these notable artists, and others. In 1900, MacGinnis left Indiana to study in Europe. For five years, he painted and studied in Paris and Munich, where he won Honorable Mention from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1906, MacGinnis moved to Trenton, New Jersey where he replaced Rae Sloan Bredin in the Art Department at the Industrial Art School. In 1908 William Merritt Chase, chairman of the Exhibition Committee of the 19th Annual Exhibition of the Art Club in Philadelphia, selected the MacGinnis painting New Hampshire Hills for the important exhibit. The show included paintings from other artists such as Mary Cassatt, Ernest Lawson, Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase. In 1939, the same painting was selected for exhibition in the New Jersey State Building at the World’s Fair in New York City.

From his New Jersey home base MacGinnis focused on painting portraits and landscapes near the Delaware River and New Hope, Pennsylvania region. He was a close friend of Harry Leith-Ross and they often painted together, both along the Delaware and in New Hampshire. Additionally, MacGinnis was friendly with both Daniel Garber and William Merritt Chase, both artists originally from Indiana like himself. Family letters indicate that he also worked with Rae Sloan Bredin, Charles Rosen, and he often exhibited his work with John Folinsbee. MacGinnis, Folinsbee, Bredin, and many other New Hope Colony artists sent their canvases to the Trenton Art Club’s Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Artists in 1925. Additionally, MacGinnis often exhibited his work with fellow faculty members of the Industrial Arts School. His work both showed a relationship with his collogues and with artists from the New Hope Art Colony.

MacGinnis spent two summers painting seascapes in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and several summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Like many other artists of his generation, painting in Provincetown was a right of passage. He always painted outside and captured familiar scenes on the beach and in the village of Provincetown. The local Trenton newspapers frequently reported on his work in Provincetown and his canvases were widely exhibited in Trenton when he returned to New Jersey in the fall. For most of the forty years that MacGinnis lived in Trenton, during the fall, winter, and spring he satisfied his desire to paint landscapes along the Delaware River; however, during the summer months, he treasured his time in New Hampshire. MacGinnis traveled to Orford, New Hampshire, a small town on the Connecticut River near the base of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Originally, he lived in Dr. Monroe’s cottage in Orford, but later he purchased a few acres of land from Dr. Monroe and built his own cottage on his new property.

The exhibition includes a number of MacGinnis’s most awarded and famous works. MacGinnis painted numerous portraits of his second wife, Jane. One of the most impressive, The Silver Kimono, was selected by Governor Hoffman to represent New Jersey in the First National Exhibition of Art in Rockefeller Center in New York. It continued to have an extensive exhibition history, including the Hoosier Salon in Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Well-received Delaware River paintings such as Lumberville Sycamores Wild Grape, painted in 1915 and Sycamore, Delaware Valley show the influence of Daniel Garber. The Old Swimming Hole, Lumberville is a great example of his Buck’s County plein air style. Many of his Delaware Valley works are also reminiscent of his predecessor from the Industrial Arts School, Rae Sloan Bredin. Old Mill, New Hope Canal and Along the Delaware represent work similar to Charles Rosen.

MacGinnis was a member of the Allied Artists of America and the Hoosier Salon. In his twenties, the Allied Artists reported that four of MacGinnis’ paintings had been chosen for the Allied Annual Exhibit at the Fine Arts Building on 57th Street in New York City. One of the paintings was rated so highly by the jury that it was hung in the Vanderbilt Gallery of Honor; three others were featured in the Main Gallery on the central wall. The jury commented, “It is quite unusual for an artist to have so many paintings accepted for a single exhibition by the jury of the Allied Artists of America.” In 1931, he was elected to the Salmagundi Club of New York City. The New York Times spoke very highly of his entry in the annual members’ exhibit of the Salmagundi Club in the early 1930’s. Mac was also a member of The Beachcombers Club in Provincetown, the Audubon Artists Society of Indiana Artists and the Delaware Valley Art Colony.

MacGinnis retired with his wife Jane in Fairlee, Vermont, a small town across the Connecticut River from Orford. There, he found the birch trees, mountains, lake, and beautiful perennials as inspiration for numerous paintings. He was also afforded the opportunity to paint the vibrant fall scenes and cold snow and ice covered buildings and lakes in Northern New England during the long winter months. He continued to exhibit during his retirement. Probably his most notable exhibit was a retrospective show of almost sixty years of work at the Carpenter Gallery, Dartmouth College in 1950. During a lecture he gave for the opening of the show he was asked to explain his definition of art and he said, “Anything well done is art. The place of art is so evident wherever we turn, not only in nature but in all that is fine and skillful in this world.” The show was a success. Both Maxfield Parish and Paul Sample, fellow regional artists, were in attendance. Mac ended the show by answering a question on how art will be reflected upon in years to come. His response was simple, “Be open minded to God’s kingdom and get charm and beauty out of life.” Henry Ryan MacGinnis died in 1962 at the age of 86 in Fairlee.