Walter Gay: Paintings & Works on Paper    May 1 - Jun 20, 2008

An American expatriate living in France, Walter Gay (1856-1937) painted fashionable interiors with a connoisseur’s eye. He captured the styles and tastes of the turn-of-the-century elite, depicting the homes of such luminaries as Henry Clay Frick, Edith Wharton, and Elsie de Wolfe, as well as the elegantly appointed Paris apartments and country chateaus Walter shared with his wife, Matilda. Eighteenth-century period rooms were the vogue, and many of the artist’s jewel-like compositions feature choice Louis XV furnishings, Rococo wall panels hung with old master paintings, and such items as Japanese porcelains or crystal candelabras thoughtfully arranged on marble mantelpieces. Walter was a noted collector of art and antiques, and his appreciation for objects is evident in his work. In his paintings, Walter wrote, he was searching for "the spirit of empty rooms." Matilda perceived that spirit as expressions beauty and called his canvases “poèmes d'intérieurs.”

Walter Gay was born to a prominent New England family in Hingham, Massachusetts. He first gained recognition for his flower paintings while a young artist in Boston. After he moved to Paris in 1876 to study at the studio of Léon Bonnat, he explored different genre subjects and received comparable success; beginning in 1879 Gay’s paintings were regularly accepted by the annual exhibitions of the Paris Salon. It wasn’t until the mid-1890s, after he married American heiress Matilda Travers in 1889 that he turned his attention to interiors, a subject he would explore for the rest of his life.

This exhibition features select works from Walter Gay’s career. There are paintings and works on paper of the Gays’ sumptuous homes--11, rue de l'Université and Le Bréau, the legendary 18th-century château situated on a 300-acre park near the Fontainebleau forest.

James Graham & Sons is located at 32 East 67th Street. Gallery hours through Friday May 23rd are Tuesday through Friday, 9:30 to 5:30, and Saturday, 10:00 to 5:30. The gallery will be closed Saturday May 24th through Monday May 26th. When the gallery reopens on Tuesday May 27th the gallery will then be open Monday through Friday, 9:30 to 5:30. For more information, please call the gallery at 212-535-5767.