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October 07, 2006
Amanda Shore, President, Cambridge Art Gallery, 10-6-06
Cambridge Art Gallery President Amanda E. Shore was born and raised in the idyllic English countryside of Kent. Coming from a family of antique collectors, Shore’s passion for 19th century paintings began early in her life and she has continued to collect privately for the past 11 years. Ms. Shore lives and breathes England. From the time she first walked to school through the countryside and played on the castle grounds of Kent, she immersed herself in the landscapes of what she affectionately calls “her England.” One artist in particular, Benjamin Williams Leader R.A. (1831-1923), one of the most prolific and widely acclaimed of the Victorian Landscape Painters, according to Shore, was an artist that captured the true essence of England. Ms. Shore says, “When I look into his paintings, he takes me home…his works are like windows into England. I enjoy beautiful and meaningful things that have history within its makeup which is why I embrace my life in the art world and the journey it takes me on every day as I enter the gallery doors.”
For the first time in the United States, Cambridge Art Gallery will debut an impressive collection of B. W. Leader’s works. Ms. Shore says, “This exhibition is the largest known collection of Leader’s work in the world, a collection of paintings that define the artist and the subjects he chose.” Most significant about this important landscape artist is that although he was influenced by his lifelong admiration the revered John Constable, Leader’s work established a distinct and independent style. Among Leader’s trademarks was his remarkable ability to capture the amber luminosity of the afternoon sun and the wet lush heaviness of a rain-drenched countryside. Leader’s painting titled “February Fill Dyke” at the Birmingham Museum is said to be one of the “wettest paintings in all of England.”
Located in the quaint village of Brentwood, CA, Cambridge Art Gallery has the finest collection of museum quality 19th century/early 20th paintings and sculptures by noted and historically important artists. The gallery is unique in presenting works by both emerging artists and their stylistic predecessors. The Gallery recently opened CAG, Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, representing artists of the present day from around the world in order to bring awareness to fine artists who have a dream of becoming a part of art history, like those of past centuries. The gallery also holds an exceptional program of lectures and related events throughout the year inviting the most distinguished historians and curators from around the world.
Posted by David Lemberg at October 7, 2006 06:09 PM Return to ARTSCAPE home page