Birge Harrison’s large pastel “Sunrise” of 1905 is a cloud study at a particular location on a particular morning. Harrison (1854-1929) was America’s foremost specialist in depicting clouds.

GLOUCESTER, MASS. – The exhibition “Cape Ann Collects” runs through October in the Cape Ann Historical Museum’s newest gallery. It features outstanding paintings from private Cape Ann collections.

“Cape Ann Collects” features 26 paintings by such artists as Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt, Martin Johnson Heade, James Buttersworth, Edward Hopper, Marsden Hartley, John Sloan and Norman Rockwell. All of the paintings are on loan from Cape Ann collections, and many of them have never before been exhibited in public.

“Paintings by Ralph Coburn” will open August 3 and continue through September. Gloucester artist Ralph Coburn’s subtle abstractions are small, gem-like paintings suggestive of landscapes or seascapes. The paints are structured through Coburn’s deft use of light and reflection.

After studying architecture at MIT, Coburn turned his attention to art and made four extended trips to France. During that period he spent time with abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly and studied at the Academie Julien in Paris. Coburn was also an award-winning graphic designer during his 30-year career in MIT’s Office of Publications.

“Alfred Levitt, Gloucester modernist” will be on view from August 10 through November.

In the summer of 1995, Alfred Levitt paid a sentimental visit to Gloucester. He was just a month shy of his 101st birthday, and it was his first time back since the mid-Twentieth Century when he painted here with artists such as Milton Avery, Stuart Davis and Adolph Gottlieb. In this company and with the influence of the Cape Ann environment, Levitt’s style of painting changed. He felt a new freedom and spontaneity, and one critic compared his work to that of John Marin.

While some of his fellow Gloucester modernists went on to become major figures in American art, Levitt remained largely in the shadows. This was acknowledged by noted art historian and critic John I.H. Baur in the catalog that accompanied an exhibition – Alfred Levitt The Gloucester Years, 1945-1950 – at Terry Dintenfass Gallery in New York: “Of these painters Alfred Levitt has perhaps been the most unjustly neglected. His semiabstract watercolors of Gloucester are compositions of exceptional strength, subtle in color and unmistakably American in feeling…Perhaps the time has come when these fresh, energetic watercolors…can be more justly evaluated.”

The Cape Ann Historical Museum is at 27 Pleasant Street. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm. For information call 978-283-0455.