THE GUILD OF BOSTON ARTISTS’ LEGACY CONTINUES
When you visit the Guild of Boston Artists, celebrating 100 years at its Newbury Street location this November, you’re quickly reminded of how much the “Boston School” style — and the teachings of its founders — has defined what it means to be a New Englander.
These are paintings and sculpture that perfectly portray our maritime heritage; visually preach the value of the handmade; promote the beauty of our rivers, lakes and streams; and honor every last blade of grass, spit of ocean rain, ray of early morning sunlight and sparkling crystal of snow, confirming our inner feeling and appreciation for New England’s always unpredictable four seasons in all of their splendor and challenges.
While it still holds the echoes of its founders (including Edmund Tarbell, William Paxton and Frank Benson) who, feeling (not unlike many modern day artists) shut out of larger art institutions, raised funds to build a place of their own where they could show their work in the natural light it was painted in, current director William Everett stresses that today’s gallery features “living, breathing artists” and, in most instances, recently created traditional paintings and sculpture by members who just happen to have the pedigree of being academic descendants of its original founders.
Brian Goslow