Bannister & Friends: Works from the Collection of Dr. Nicholas P. Bruno and Providence Art Club

The life and work of Edward Mitchell Bannister, Providence's highly regarded African American painter, has been explored in several exhibitions over the last few decades. In Bannister & Friends, Bannister's network of friendships and associations in the Providence arts community of the late 19th century takes center stage. The exhibition highlights the collection of longtime Bannister enthusiast, Dr. Nicholas Bruno, who owns wonderful paintings by the artist and his colleagues. Largely self-taught as an artist, and despite his own concerns about his lack of formal training, he was able, "by his deep interpretation [to touch] the soul, representing clearly the invisible in the visible." Bannister shared studio space in the iconic Woods Building in Providence and he co-founded the Providence Art Club, both important gathering places for Bannister and his network of friends. His importance as one of Rhode Island's most distinguished nineteenth-century artists, and the influence of his personality and skill on the painters, friends and institutions that shaped and sustained his creative life, are amply displayed in this exhibition.