Sears Gallagher

Sears Gallagher (1869–1955) was a prolific, commercially successful American artist proficient in multiple media: drawing, etching, watercolor and oil painting. His work consists largely of landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes depicting his native Boston and northern New England, especially Monhegan Island, Maine. Illustrating magazines and books provided steady work and income, and his etchings and prints attracted popular demand. Gallagher took his art seriously, adapted new techniques, and was open to the influence of European Impressionism. During the height of his career his watercolors were favorably compared to those of Winslow Homer (1836–1910) and F. W. Benson (1862–1910), and his etchings and drypoints to those of James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903).

1869 Born in South Boston, April 30

1887–89 Studied and worked in the Boston studio of Italian-born painter Tommaso Juglaris (1844–1925)

1888 Met and began studying with Samuel Peter Rolt Triscott (1846–1925), English-born painter

1891 Exhibited 4 watercolors at Boston Art Club annual exhibition

1892 With Triscott, made first trip to Monhegan Island, Maine

1895 Married Charlotte Dodge, April 16

1895–96 Studied at Academie Julian in Paris

1897 Settled in West Roxbury, MA

1903 Travel and painting in England, France, Italy

1904 Son Bradford born, June 13

1906 Daughter Katherine born, November 13

1945 Last one-man exhibition at Grand Central Galleries, New York

1955 Died in West Roxbury, MA, June 9

Gallagher was born in South Boston to parents who were members of the city's mercantile class; his father was a cabinetmaker and stove merchant and his mother was a descendant of Massachusetts Bay Colony pilgrims. He seems to have had a natural talent for drawing, remarked on by family and friends in his early years. During the time he was a student at the English High School of Boston he also studied with artist George H. Bartlett (1839–1923) in a private night school. He had a drawing selected for exhibition at the Boston Art Club in 1887, when he was only 18. While launching his career as an illustrator for magazines and books, he also pursued a career as an artist of etchings and watercolors, enhancing that career through additional training, first in Boston and then in Paris. For about two years, from 1887 to 1889, he studied figure drawing and worked in the Boston studio of Italian-born art teacher and muralist, Tommaso Juglaris (1844–1925). Chambers, 2007, p. 162. Gallagher also received instruction, especially in the techniques of etching, from Charles H. Woodbury (1865–1946), an accomplished and successful artist who founded the Ogunquit School of Art in Maine. Gallagher and Woodbury remained lifelong friends. After Juglaris returned to Italy, Gallagher began studying with Samuel Peter Rolt Triscott (1846–1925), an English-born painter with a growing reputation in Boston.

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