Bert Gallery – The Warm Cloak of Culture: Providence School 1850-1950
July 11-July 27 2024 In Person Exhibition
24 Bridge Street, Corliss Landing
401-751-2628 www.bertgallery.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Since its founding in 1985, Bert Gallery has exhibited, researched and written on the distinct art culture that resonated in Providence in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century, leading to recognition in the national American art scene.

Bert Gallery has looked regionally to rediscover what has been lost, forgotten or suppressed in the construction of American art history. “The Warm Cloak of Culture: The Providence School 1850 – 1950,” an in-person exhibition opens July 11 and runs to July 27 with gallery hours of Thursday – Saturday from 11 am – 4 pm and by appointment.

Over the decades, Providence was home to several innovative and resourceful artists and collectors. The industrial and manufacturing businesses leaned heavily on artistic trades attracting a diversified multicultural workforce. In the 1880s, the wealth generated in Providence was invested into the foundation of a rich cultural capital city and the coterie of artists became the city’s creative engine. The Providence School of artists contributed to the regional American art scene. Many were innovators and advocates in the national arena of American art. This exhibit examines artists who shaped the cultural scene. Since the 1830s artists set up studios in Providence; entrepreneurs founded galleries: Vose Gallery in 1842 and Bert Gallery, 1985; collectors acquired paintings and philanthropists established cultural institutions at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence Art Club, Handicraft Club and the Providence Athenaeum.

This exhibition explores Nineteenth Century artists such as Sydney R. Burleigh (1853-1931) a watercolorist and Arts and Crafts “kinder child,” builder of the National Historic Landmark Fleur-de-Lys Studios, Charles Walter Stetson (1858-1911) a sensational colorist painter, founder of the Providence Art Club & Art Workers Guild and Walter Francis Brown (1853-1929) a native Rhode Island artist who exhibited in four Paris Salons, illustrated for Mark Twain and settled in the Palazzo da Mula Morosini on the Grand Canal in Venice to paint the magical city. Twentieth Century artists Maxwell Mays (1918-2009), a documenter of the historical Rhode Island scene, and Stowell Sherman (1886-1973), who dabbled in social realism, round out the show.

Bert Gallery is at 24 Bridge Street. For more information, www.bertgallerynow.com or 401-751-2628.