Fathers and Daughters Exhibition at BCK Fine Arts Gallery in Montauk Features Four Generations of Painters

BCK Fine Arts Gallery in Montauk, New York presented "Fathers and Daughters" from September 16 to October 8, 2020, featuring paintings by Albert Kresch, Leland Bell, Elizabeth Kresch, and Temma Bell. The exhibition highlighted intergenerational artistic relationships that began in the early 1940s when Leland Bell first met Albert Kresch on a Greenwich Village street. Their friendship expanded to include family members who became accomplished artists themselves. Works on display ranged from figure studies to landscapes and still lifes, showcasing painterly modernism with influences from Hans Hofmann and Jean Hélion. Albert Kresch's landscapes from recent decades evoked Georges Rouault's moody radiance, while his 1998 still life recalled Hélion's geometric precision. Temma Bell's work evolved from thick brushstrokes in her 1970 self-portrait to thinner applications in later pieces like her 1981 Icelandic landscape. Leland Bell's typically outlined compositions gave way to color-focused approaches in works like his 1975 landscape. Elizabeth Kresch's paintings included a 2016 shoreline scene and a 2020 five-foot-tall portrait of a woman in a red dress. The exhibition occurred during a period when Montauk saw new gallery openings from Manhattan dealers like Chase Contemporary and South Etna, with COVID-19 safety measures including masks and outdoor receptions becoming standard practice.