Hugh Knetzger was born too many years ago to remember in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, the son of Ed from Webster Groves, Missouri, and Leo, born in East Lansing, Michigan. His interest in art was sparked by his mother, who was a fine painter in her own right. When Hugh was 10 years old, she took him to the Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris, where he was transfixed by a painting by Claude Monet entitled Woman with Parasol, a painting of Monet’s wife, Camille, and their young son. He vividly remembers feeling as though he could step into the painting to join them on the beautiful French day. The sky is azure blue with beautiful white clouds hanging like puffs of cotton, an almost magical realism capturing the beauty of the French countryside. His love of Impressionism was founded at that moment. He continues to love that school of art, especially the works of Renoir.

Leo, his Mom, dropped out of Denison University and in 1943 moved to New York, where she took a job working in the Betty Parsons Gallery.  The gallery was an early proponent of the abstract expressionists and she meet Rothko, de Kooning, Pollock et al, who were all in the early stages of their careers.  Hugh continues to be influenced by these painters and he considers his paintings to be in essence the colors of the rainbow playing with each other.  His dream is to complete a mural of abstract colors with a canvas 20 feet by 20 feet or perhaps even larger on a commission basis.  His latest works are 5 feet by 6 feet and he continues to explore the interplay of color and a variety of different ways of applying paint to canvas using primarily acrylic paints but incorporating oil based paints as well.  His love of the abstract is on full display and he would love talking to anyone interested in his art.  Or better yet, swing by his studio in Greenwich, Connecticut, for a visit!  Prices range from $1200 to $5000.