As a child, Georgia Cabot Fletcher would sit in her grandfather’s studio as he painted. Though he died when she was just ten, it seemed she found the process quite inspiring; after all, there’s a lot to inspire when your grandfather is the famous painter George deForest Brush, one of the patriarchs of the Dublin artists’ community of the turn of the 20th century.
It wasn’t long before she began a career as an esteemed painter in her own right, studying at Keene State College, and later, with Numael Pulido of Hancock and Jeanne Duval of Jaffrey.
“She just had an incredible gift,” Duval said. “She was born with a very strong painting sense … She was focused on the essence. When there were objects in a still life right next to each other, she could just automatically give them gravity. She was doing that while keeping it very simple — that’s what gave her her strength.”
Fletcher passed away in May, leaving behind a lifetime of work. Still lifes, landscapes, figures and even some assemblages and three-dimensional faux mummies, which she took to creating in her latter years — all will be on display at “Georgia Fletcher: An Intimate Retrospective,” opening Friday at Dublin School’s Putnam Gallery. The opening reception is from 5 to 8 p.m., with many friends and family from around the country expected to be in attendance.
And how fitting for someone so vibrant to have her artwork shine on after she’s passed on?
“She was just always so full of life and enthusiastic — very interested in things,” Duval said. “She was just someone who never grew old.”