Thomas Crotty and His Circle

Thomas Crotty, Vinalhaven, oil on canvas, 60 x 60″.

Thomas Crotty, who died this past August at age 80, enjoyed a special double prominence in the state he moved to in 1965: formidable realist painter and devoted art dealer. This exhibition, mounted in cooperation with the late artist’s family, highlights both reputations. A half dozen of Crotty’s Maine landscapes share the furniture showroom’s walls with the work of a number of painters he showed at his Frost Gully Gallery just down the road.

The Boston-born, MassArt-trained Crotty practiced an awe-inspiring realism. Indian Point, March, an oil from 1992 (and one of the stars of his retrospective at the Portland Museum of Art in 2003–2004), exemplifies his virtuoso style. This image of rearing waves on the rocky coast of Georgetown Island captures the glory—and the chill—of a bright, late-winter day with meticulous precision.

Crotty leaned to the representational in the art he displayed at his gallery over the years (he opened Frost Gully in 1966). The “circle” in this exhibition includes a number of realists, among them, Janice Anthony, Joel Babb, Tom Glover, John Laurent, Frank Metz, Ted Wengren, and Sharon Yates.

Several of these painters share their dealer’s love of winter. Anthony’s River Ice, Passagassawakeag, 2013, is a handsome rendering of an ice-edged waterway while Wengren’s Firs and Frozen Hollow, 2003, turns an iced-in pond into an engaging abstraction. With its snowy boughs, After Second Storm, 1987, by John Laurent (1921–2005) testifies to this Ogunquit painter’s mastery of color and light.

The show also serves as something of a memorial to Laurence Sisson (1928–2015). Sisson left Maine for New Mexico in 1979, yet returned almost yearly to paint the coast and islands of his adopted state (he, too, was Boston-born). Running Sea, Southport, ca. 2001, is a gem, a signature Sisson featuring tightly rendered foreground rocks that look almost post-volcanic set against looser sea and sky beyond.

Moser is also showing several paintings and prints by Neil Welliver (1929–2005). Images of moose, salmon, and Canada geese remind us that in addition to being a formidable landscape painter, Welliver was a master animalier. They also round out a memorable offering of some of Maine’s finest.