Gari Melchers was an American artist, born in Detroit, who studied in Germany and France in the late 19th century, and settled for a time in Holland. He eventually returned to the US, lived and worked in New York for several years, and eventually retired to Virginia.

His estate in Virginia, Belmont, is now a Gari Melchers house and studio museum, housing an extensive collection of his work; though the official website lacks a gallery of images.

Melchers combined naturalism with the painterly influence of the French Impressionists. His subjects were often domestic scenes, particulalry his wife and child, as well as scenes of devotion — sometimes combined, with hinted halos in portraits.

He became well known and in demand in Europe, though less so in the US. He is much less well known these days than his contemporaries like Sargent, William Merritt Chase and others among the American Impressionists who shared some of the same esthetic influences.

After many years as a successful illustrator, Bruce Cheever changed his focus to gallery art, bringing his admiration for Renaissance art, American Tonalism, Luminism, and Western artists like Thomas Moran to his portrayals of the American West and Southwest, as well as his travels in Italy and other parts of Europe.

Though sometimes bathed in direct sunlight, Cheever’s compositions are more often presented in the soft light of overcast days, mornings or evenings, when contrasts are softer and more subtle.

I particularly enjoy his paintings of ranches and farm houses in which his muted palette and close value ranges imbue the scene with a feeling of quiet and suspended time.

Unfortunately, most of the available images of his work are relatively small, and only in a few somewhat larger ones can you see that his approach is more open and painterly than it appears in the smaller reproductions.

Cheever’s work is currently on display in a show at the Trailside Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona until March 15, 2015; as part of the American Miniatures show at Settler’s West in Tuscon, AZ; and the Masters of the American West 2015 show at the Autry in Los Angeles, CA to March 8, 2015.