Please be sure to visit our related websites, Richard Stalter Fine Art and Bernard Lennon Fine Art, by clicking on the links, below...

Richard Stalter Fine Art

Richard Stalter was born in Dayton, Ohio, on April 27, 1934.  He developed an interest in art at a very early age, gaining recognition for his work in both grade school and high school.  In college he pursued courses in advertising, mistakenly believing this would be complimentary to his wish to become a fine artist.  In fact, his work in advertising after college merely served to delay the onset of his profession as a fine artist.
                
In 1958, during a six month stay in New York City, he met and befriended a master impressionist artist, Bernard Lennon.  In 1964, he moved to Gaylordsville, Connecticut to study with Mr. Lennon and begin his career as a professional artist.  That year also marked the beginning of his participation in the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit (New York City) and the Mystic Outdoor Art Festival (Mystic, Connecticut).  Throughout the years, he won many prizes in both shows including First Prize in Oils four times in the Mystic exhibition. During those years he participated in other group shows in the Northeast, winning prizes several times in Newport, Rhode Island, and once in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Mr. Stalter paints his subjects on location, finding inspiration from scenes throughout the Litchfield Hills surrounding his Gaylordsville home.  He paints all four seasons and adds figure and still life painting done from life to his body of work.  In the 1960s through the 1980s he traveled early to Provincetown and Wellfleet on Cape Cod to capture the seaside light and subjects.

Since that time he has sought out the boat and water subjects of Mystic and Stonington, Connecticut, painting in those locations at least once a year. Locally, many will remember Mr. Stalter for his initiating an unsuccessful attempt to bring an art museum to New Milford, Connecticut.

Bernard Lennon Fine Art

The late Bernard Lennon was born in Milton, Massachusetts, in 1914.  He attended the Massachusetts School of Art on scholarship studying with Elmer Green, but was largely self-taught, particularly with regard to his highly developed skills as an impressionist.

His early life required that he support his family with various jobs including seven years as a barge captain on the Hudson River.  In 1959 he became a full time artist.  He painted professionally from then until his death in 1992, exhibiting mainly in outdoor shows such as the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit, where he won many awards including “Best Impressionist Landscape” in his last show in 1992.  He also exhibited yearly at the Mystic Outdoor Art Festival.

His studio in Gaylordsville, Connecticut, became a magnet for many artists particularly those from New York City who looked on him as a mentor and respected fellow professional artist and loved the opportunity to join him painting the local landscape.  His two main students, Susan Grisell and Richard Stalter, continue the artistic community he established to this day.

He was a master of color and light.  Choosing a broad scope of subject matter (portraits, figures, still lifes, seascapes, animals, etc.) he was especially drawn to landscape painting, and his work has a strong emotional appeal.  He believed a fine picture to be a delicate balance between the outer world and the artist’s inner world, as expressed in shapes and color.

His work is in collections throughout the world, including those of the British Vice Consul, Tom Brokaw, Treat Williams, Whoopi Goldberg and Frank Oz (Producer of Sesame Street).