Gerrit Beneker

(1882-1934)

Viewing Rockport harbor from the headlands area was a favorite location for outdoor art classes. I’ve seen numerous photos of artists like Aldro Hibbard with students standing before their easels gazing back toward the inner harbor. Both Cape Ann and Cape Cod had lively, active artists’ colonies, and Gerrit Beneker was a prominent member of the group in Provincetown. Perhaps known more for his ennobling depictions of laborers—both industrial factory images and the fishing, lobstering, and clamming workers of his own community—Beneker was also a skilled landscape artist. Often the artists of Cape Ann and Cape Cod visited each other’s community, and this piece painted in 1932 is an example of this exchange of painters. A review of Beneker’s P-Town landscapes described his use of color and light as “scintillating”—clearly a quality evident in this painting. The dealer/frame-maker Stephen Motyka had this painting, and I acquired it from him in 1998, one of many interesting negotiations with Mr. Motyka.