New England Gallery

The New England Gallery, in combination with the Contemporary Voices of Vermont series, provides an opportunity to view the work of current Vermont artists within the historical context of their predecessors. On the Marble Court balcony gallery this fall, we present several 19th- and 20th-century works from the collection of J. Brooks Buxton ’56, promised gifts to the Fleming, as well as a recent painting by Neil Berger.

Brooks built an unparalleled collection of Vermont agricultural landscapes, which he generously bequeathed to the Fleming, providing an invaluable record of the state’s environmental evolution as well as its legacy of fostering exceptional artists. Before his passing in July 2018, he worked with the Museum’s director and curator to select works from his collection to show in the New England Gallery. The resulting trio of paintings, by Sylvester Phelps Hodgdon (1830-1906), Jay Hall Connaway (1893-1970), and Francis Colburn (1909-1984), show a variety of artistic approaches to the Vermont landscape, and are a testament to Brooks’s impeccable eye, as well as his unstinting generosity. For a tribute to J. Brooks Buxton, see page 11.

Neil Berger moved to Vermont two years ago after living many years in New York City, and he quickly discovered a subject that has preoccupied him ever since: Battery Park on the Burlington waterfront. Each painting he creates there is completed in less than a day. Berger captures with loose improvisational strokes the particular season, light, and individuals passing through the park, many of them residents of Burlington’s Old North End.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.