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The Masterworks Collection represents many different “isms”-and with the advent of Modernism, “isms” sprung up all over the place such as Precisionism, Expressionism, Surrealism and Synthetism. The most uniquely American was Regionalism, the work of a small group of North American artists who concentrated on rural Midwestern subject matter and rejected most forms of European influence. It became one of the dominant art movements in America, the other being Social Realism. The Regionalists shunned city life and rapidly developing technological advances and painted more positive subjects in the hope their work would lead the nation out of the Depression. The so-called “Regional Triumvirate” consisted of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry as well as Reginald Marsh. Thomas Hart Benton was a mentor of James and we conjecture that James came to Bermuda in 1938 in transit to Martha’s Vineyard where he honeymooned at Benton’s home. It was on this trip that Front St, Hamilton was painted.

This work is a delightful depiction of the waterfront in Hamilton and many of the buildings are recognizable today such as the Calypso Building, the Irish Linen Shop and Gosling’s. It evokes a bygone era when even the busiest commercial thoroughfare seemed to move at a much more leisurely pace.

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