Past Exhibitions

2024

September 28–November 3, 2024
Mystical Murmurs: An Enchanted Environment by Adrien Broom

September 28–November 3, 2024
Play Time! Toys & Amusements from the Collection

August 13–September 15, 2024
Dmitri Wright: Contemporary Connecticut Impressionist

June 13–September 15, 2024
At First Glance: Highlights from the Westerly Museum of American Impressionism

June 1–September 8, 2024
Impressionism 150: From Paris to Connecticut & Beyond

February 20–May 19, 2024
Fun & Games? Leo Jensen’s Pop Art

September 30, 2023–January 28, 2024
Abandon in Place: The Worlds of Anna Audette

The Baxter Collection: Selections from the Matthew A. Baxter Bequest

2023

October 1, 2022-May 14, 2023
Dreams & Memories

June 3-September 10, 2023
Object Lessons in American Art: Selections from the Princeton University Art Museum

September 1-November 12, 2023
Oceangoing: Art & Archival Collections About Lyme’s Links to the Sea

September 30, 2023—January 28, 2024
Abandon in Place: The Worlds of Anna Audette

2022

February 12-May 1, 2022
New London County Quilts & Bed Covers, 1750-1825

October 2, 2021-January 23, 2022
Revisiting America: The Prints of Currier & Ives

May 21-September 18, 2022
Dana Sherwood: Animal Appetites and Other Encounters in Wildness

October 1, 2022-May 14, 2023
Dreams & Memories

2021

November 7, 2020 to May 23, 2021
Expanding Horizons: Celebrating 20 Years of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection

November 7, 2020 to May 23, 2021
Centennial of the Lyme Art Association Gallery

June 5-September 19, 2021
Social & Solitary: Reflections on Art, Isolation, and Renewal

October 2, 2021-January 23, 2022
Revisiting America: The Prints of Currier & Ives

2020

November 7, 2020 to May 23, 2021
Expanding Horizons: Celebrating 20 Years of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection

November 7, 2020 to May 23, 2021
Centennial of the Lyme Art Association Gallery

July 7 – November 1, 2020
Fresh Fields: American Impressionist Landscapes from the Florence Griswold Museum

September 29, 2019 – May 24, 2020
“Nothing More American:” Immigration, Sanctuary, and Community – an exhibition by Matthew Leifheit

2019

September 29, 2019 – May 24, 2020
“Nothing More American:” Immigration, Sanctuary, and Community – an exhibition by Matthew Leifheit

June 1 – September 8, 2019
Fragile Earth: The Naturalist Impulse in Contemporary Art

February 9–May 12, 2019
The Great Americans: Portraits by Jac Lahav

September 29, 2018 – January 27, 2019
Paper Trail: American Prints, Drawings, and Watercolors

2018

September 30, 2017 – January 28, 2018
On the Front Lines: Three Reflections on Identity
World War I and the Lyme Art Colony
Oscar Fehrer: Reflecting and Reflections
A Room of Her Own (Ballad of Ruth Coxe)

February 9 to May 6, 2018
Pen to Paper: Artists’ Handwritten Letters from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art
P.S.: Letters from the Lyme Art Colony

May 11 – September 16, 2018
Art and the New England Farm

September 29, 2018 – January 27, 2019
Paper Trail: American Prints, Drawings, and Watercolors

October 1, 2016 – January 29, 2017
In Place: Contemporary Photographers Envision a Museum

February 10–May 28, 2017
Matilda Browne: Idylls of Farm and Garden

June 3 – September 17, 2017 
Flora/Fauna:The Naturalist Impulse in American Art

September 30, 2017 – January 28, 2018
On the Front Lines: Three Reflections on Identity
World War I and the Lyme Art Colony
Oscar Fehrer: Reflecting and Reflections
A Room of Her Own (Ballad of Ruth Coxe)

October 2, 2015 – January 31, 2016
The Artist in the Connecticut Landscape

February-May 31, 2016
Ten/Forty: Collecting American Art at the Florence Griswold Museum

June 3-September 18, 2016
American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920

October 1, 2016 – January 29, 2017
In Place: Contemporary Photographers Envision a Museum

June 8, 2013 through May 2015
Matthew Geller’s Anticipator

February 6 through May 31, 2015
Peter Halley: Big Paintings

June 6—September 20, 2015
All the Sea Knows: Marine Art from the Museum of the City of New York

October 2, 2015–January 31, 2016
The Artist in the Connecticut Landscape

February 7 through June 1, 2014
Lyme Artists Abroad

March 21 through June 1, 2014
Lucien Abrams: A Cosmopolitan in Connecticut

June 7, 2014 – September 21, 2014
Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art from the Fenimore Art Museum

June 7, 2014 – September 21, 2014
Thistles and Crowns: The Painted Chests of the Connecticut Shore

October 3, 2014, through January 25, 2015
Life Stories in Art
A concurrent series of exhibitions highlighting the contributions of three American women artists based in Connecticut. “Forever Seeing New Beauties:” The Art of Mary Rogers Williams
Modern Figures: Mary Knollenberg Sculptures
Kari Russell-Pool: Self-Portraits in Glass

October 4, 2013–January 26, 2014
Harry Holtzman and American Abstraction

December 6, 2013 through January 5, 2014
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Tradition

February 7 through March 16, 2014
The Artist’s Easel

October 4 – November 3, 2013
Wee Faerie Village in the Land of Oz

June 8 – September 22, 2013
Animal/Vegetable/Mineral: An Artist’s Guide to the World

February 8 – June 2, 2013
Arthur Heming: Chronicler of the North

October 5, 2012 – January 27, 2013
White on White: Churches of Rural New England

October 5, 2012 – January 27, 2013
The Art of First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson:
American Impressionist

December 1, 2012 through January 6, 2013
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Tradition

December 1, 2012 – January 6, 2013
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Tradition

October 5, 2012 – January 27, 2013
White on White: Churches of Rural New England

October 5, 2012 – January 27, 2013
The Art of First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson: American Impressionist

October 5 – November 5
Wee Faerie Village in the Land of Picture Making

Summer 2009 – March, 2012
Patrick Dougherty Stickwork: The Rambles, a site specific temporary installation

June 15 – September 23, 2012
On Hudson: Highlights from the Albany Institute of History & Art

February 10 – June 10, 2012
..isms: Unlocking Art’s Mysteries

October 1, 2011 – January 29, 2012
The Exacting Eye of Walker Evans

November 19 – January 9, 2012
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Tradition

October 1 – 31, 2011
Of Feathers & Fairy Tales: Enchanted Birdhouses at the Museum

October 1, 2011 – January 29, 2012
The Exacting Eye of Walker Evans

July 1 – September 18, 2011
American Landscapes: Treasures from the Parrish Art Museum

Summer 2009 – March, 2012
Patrick Dougherty Stickwork: The Rambles, a site specific temporary installation

May 6 – June 26, 2011
In Mountain Laurel and the Lyme Art Colony

February 12 – June 26, 2011
Inspiration & Impact: The Legacy of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection

October 2, 2010 – January 30, 2011
With Needle and Brush: Schoolgirl Embroidery from the Connecticut River Valley

November 20 – January 9, 2011
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Tradition

July 3 – September 19, 2010
Connecticut Treasures: Works from Private Collections

April 24 – June 27, 2010
Tula Telfair: Landscapes in Counterpoint

February 13 – April 18, 2010
Sewell Sillman: Pushing Limits

Summer 2009 – March, 2012
Patrick Dougherty Stickwork: The Rambles, a site specific temporary installation

October 24, 2009 – January 31, 2010
Call of the Coast: Art Colonies of New England

November 21 – January 10, 2009
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Celebration

October 10 – November 1, 2009
The Lyme Art Colony’s Wee Faerie Village

Summer 2009 – March, 2012
Patrick Dougherty Stickwork: The Rambles, a site specific temporary installation

July 18 – October 18, 2009
Lyme in Mind: The Clement C. Moore Collection

April 18 – July 12, 2009
Visions of Mood: Henry C. White Pastels

January 17 – April 12 , 2009
The Road Less Traveled: Thomas Nason’s Rural New England

November 22 – January 4, 2009
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Celebration

October 11, 2008 – January 11, 2009
Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women

August 2 – October 5, 2008
Warm Winds: Connecticut Artists in the Tropics

May 3 – July 27, 2008
Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France, 1885-1915
Selections from the Terra Foundation for American Art

February 2 – April 27, 2008
The Fininshing Touch: Understanding the Techniques of Impressionist and Tonalist Painters

October 27, 2007 – April 27, 2008
The Artistic Heritage of Connecticut: Highlights from the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection

October 20 through January 27, 2008
Faces and Figures: American Portraits from the Florence Griswold Museum

October 27 through April 27, 2008
The Artistic Heritage of Connecticut: Highlights from the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection

July 7 – October 14, 2007
Picturing Health: Norman Rockwell and the Art of Illustration

June 30 – October 14, 2007
The Way We Work: David Macaulay’s Human Body

June 3 , 2006 – June 24, 2007
The Freedom Business:
Connecticut Landscapes Through the Eyes of Venture Smith

March 31 – July 1 , 2007
A Circle of Friends: The Artists of the Florence Griswold House

September 16, 2006 through March 25, 2007
A Collective Endeavor: Three Decades of Acquisitions

January 14 through May 28, 2006
Finding Religion:American Art from the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection

Ongoing exhibition (starts July 1, 2007)
An American Place: The Art Colony at Old Lyme

June 3 through September 10, 2006
A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster, Jr.

June 3, 2006 through March 25, 2007
The Freedom Business: Connecticut Landscapes Through the Eyes of Venture Smith
featuring the poems of Marilyn Nelson

November 17, 2004 – January 8, 2005
Magic of Christmas

September 17, 2005 through January 8, 2006
The Allen Sisters: Pictorial Photographs of New England, 1885 – 1920

May 1 – September 11, 2005
May Night: Willard Metcalf at Old Lyme

November 24, 2004 – May 29, 2005
From Likeness to Landscape: American Art from the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection

October 9, 2004 through April 17, 2005
A Matter of Style: The Influence of French Art on the Old Lyme Art Colony

November 20, 2004 – January 2, 2005
Magic of Christmas

October 9 – November 14, 2004
The Hay House : Step Right In!

June 19 through September 26, 2004
Envisioning New England: Treasures from Community Art Museums

June 4 through September 26, 2004
“A Pretty Fine Old Town “: Childe Hassam in Old Lyme

January 10, 2004 through January 2, 2005
A Haven for Painters: The Art Colony at Old Lyme

January 17, 2004 through May 30, 2004
A Corner in an Etcher’s Studio

January 17, 2004 through June 13, 2004
White, Green, and Gold: The Seasons in American Landscape Painting

November 22, 2003 through January 4, 2004
Home for the Holidays

October 11, 2003 through January 4, 2004
The American River

October 11, 2003 through January 4, 2004
The River’s Course

June 28 – September 28, 2003
Masterworks of Pennsylvania Impressionism

February 9, 2002 – January 2, 2005
The American Art Colony at Lyme

July 2, 2002 – June 22, 2003
The American Artist in Connecticut: Legacy of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection

November 22, 2002 – January 4, 2003
Home for the Holidays

January 20 – November 25, 2001
Painter’s Paradise: A Land Distinctly Lyme

December 1 – 30, 2001
Home for the Holidays

January 15 – May 28, 2000
Community Choices: New Perspectives on the Permanent Collection

June 3 – September 24, 2000
The California Impressionists at Laguna

September 30 – November 26, 2000
American Impressionism from the Florence Griswold Museum

December 2 – 31, 2000
Home for the Holidays

January 16 – May 30, 1999
The Lure of Lyme: Celebrating an American Art Colony (film premiere)

June 5 – September 5, 1999
Henry Ward Ranger and the Humanized Landscape

September 11 – November 28, 1999
Collecting for the Future: Gifts in Honor of the Centennial

December 4, 1999 – January 2, 2000
Home for the Holidays

January 17 – May 31, 1998
American Naïve Paintings from the National Gallery of Art

June 16 – August 30, 1998
Wilson Henry Irvine and the Poetry of Light

September 5 – November 29, 1998
Embracing Nature: Selections from the Permanent Collection

December 5, 1998 – January 3, 1999
Celebration of Holiday Traditions

February 1 – June 20, 1997
Revealing the Lyme Landscape

June 28 – September 28, 1997
Visions of Home: American Impressionist Images of Suburban Leisure and Country Comfort

October 5 – November 30, 1997
An American Tradition: The Pennsylvania Impressionists

December 4, 1997 – January 4, 1998
Celebration of Holiday Traditions

November 3, 1995 – June 2, 1996
The American Impressionists at Lyme

June 8 – September 29, 1996
Color, Light and Atmosphere: The Art of Charles & Mary Roberts Ebert

October 5, 1996 – January 5, 1997
Lines of Thought: American Works on Paper from a Private Collection

December 4, 1996 – January 3, 1997
Celebration of Trees

March 3 – June 25, 1995
Material Matters: Revealing History through Objects

July 7 – September 3, 1995
A Noble Tradition: American Painting from the National Arts Club

September 8 – October 29, 1995
The Art of Ivan Olinsky

December 4, 1995 – January 3, 1996
Celebration of Trees