Russians Paint Sag Harbor

This past fall, Sag Harbor’s Grenning Gallery, known for showing the works of classically
trained artists, hosted a trio of Russian plein-air painters to capture the essence of Sag Harbor on canvas. The event was led by Ben Fenske, one of the most prominent painters in gallerist Laura Grenning’s stable. Fenske, admired widely for his light yet vigorous brushwork, is an American who divides his time between Sag Harbor and Florence, and who studied at the Russian Academy of Art, among other prestigious institutes. Wanting to share Sag Harbor’s wonderful landscapes, he invited
three of Russia’s most notable artists – all of whom had never visited the United States –
to set up their easels around town.

The way that Fenske works is to drive around Sag Harbor’s environs until he finds his subject, a method he tried with his Russian guests. But it was a disaster: each had a different aesthetic and didn’t appreciate having to paint something that didn’t appeal. So, Fenske hatched another plan. After dropping the group off in town for coffee, he left them and went off on his own — forcing the artists to set up their easels on Main Street.

It was this stroke of kismet that produced a body of works that we all can recognize. All that architecture also makes “their prowess visible,” according to Grenning. “You can’t fudge a building.”

All produced so many paintings — 10 to 15 each — that Grenning had to rent a larger space in which to show them. While many sold during the November show, there are several left that the gallerist plans to mix into future group shows.

The Artists Perhaps it was all that caffeine that inspired Oleg Zhuravlev to set his sights on the new eatery in town, Grindstone Coffee and Donuts. The awardwinning painter happened to set up his easel during the village’s Halloween parade, a spectacle that mesmerized the Russians, who had never seen anything quite like it. “A lot of people who watched him painting came
to the show to see it,” says Grenning.

Victor Butko, who was born into a long line of artists and has been mentored in painting since
the age of eight, is the youngest artist exhibiting at Thomas Kearns McCarthey Gallery, one
of the foremost United States dealers of Russian Impressionist art. His subjects included a local yacht club and what Grenning declares “one of the show’s coolest images,” the triangle where Madison and Main Street join. Both demonstrate his “topnotch Russian draftsmanship and accurate sense of local color.” And his dock scene “looks like Whistler, poetic and peaceful.”

Irina Rybakova, whose art appears in museums and collections around the world, is the most famous of the three. The landscape master’s works sold the most at the show. “There was a great one of Madison Street that captures those autumnal vibrations.”

There were also several American painters in the show including Carl Bretzke from Minnesota. We
bring him up because his painting of the Sag Harbor Cinema, painted in early November, is the last one of that iconic structure.