Fairfield University Art Museum - Sears Gallagher Collection

Sears Gallagher Collection

Sears Gallagher (American, 1869–1955) was a prolific, commercially successful artist active from the 1890s through WW II. His work consists largely of landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes depicting Boston, New York, and northern New England, especially Mohegan Island, Maine. His artistic practice included drawing, etching, watercolor and oil painting. During the height of Gallagher’s career he was one of Boston’s most respected artists and a key figure in the development of American watercolor painting and printmaking. During his lifetime, his watercolors were favorably compared to those of Winslow Homer (1836–1910) and his etchings and drypoints to those of James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903). The works in this collection were a generous donation to the museum in 2020 by the artist’s granddaughter Anne Burr Czepiel.