What’s summer vacation without some art? As New York City gallerists and art enthusiasts scope out ideal summer destination spots, we’re on the road to visit exhibitions opening in breathtaking Martha’s Vineyard and sunny Beverly Hills, CA. Eisenhauer Gallery will be featuring figurative paintings by Carol Bennett (American) and Jim Zwadlo (American), two Contemporary artists who play up distinctive visual angles of figures in motion. Across the country, Post Impressionist Gallery will showcase a significant selection of Post-Impressionist paintings by artists including, Ludovic Rodo Pissarro (French, 1878–1952), Eugène Galien-Laloue (French, 1854–1941), and Edouard Léon-Cortès (French, 1882–1969). These two noteworthy exhibitions are a treat for those who love art painted from nature and experience.

Carol Bennett and Jim Zwadlo will be on view August 8th at 38 North Water Street, Edgartown, MA 02539.

Jim Zwadlo, Pedestrians 285, Eisenhauer Gallery, Edgartown, MA

In his series, Pedestrians, artist Jim Zwadlo represents people from an aerial point of view. Zwadlo uses photographs as models for gridding his painted compositions, combining his memories of working in New York City skyscrapers and living in the flatlands of the Midwest to juxtapose the human figure against the flat surface of the urban cityscape and construct spatially ambiguous images. In contrast, Carol Bennett’s paintings of swimmers take the viewer below the surface in a study of the anatomy of nature and the human form. Her figures dip, float, and glide in bodies of water that ripple in reaction to the swimmers’ bodies.

Impressionist Highlights will be on view August 8th at 432 North Palm Drive #Beverly Hills, CA 90210.

Marcel Dyf, Les Sainte Maries De La Mar, Post Impressionist Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA

In Beverly Hills, CA, Art Director Behnaz Mahdavi has curated an exhibition encompassing the finest pieces of her vast collection of Post-Impressionist paintings, as well as pieces by French artists such as Paul Renard and Jacques Michel G. Dunoyer, who painted in the Impressionist style in the 20th century. Floral still-lifes, seasonal landscapes, and Parisian street scenes are all rendered en plein air, with swift and broad brush strokes that convey the fleeting essence of beauty in nature and society. This grouping of museum-quality oil paintings also includes maritime seascapes like the riveting, Les Sainte Maries De La Mar by reputed artist Marcel Dyf (French, 1899–1985), arguably one of the last true Impressionist painters. Dyf’s powerful composition depicts menacing clouds looming over surging waves on the coastline in the South of France. Thick, textured strokes of neutral hues, applied fluidly onto the canvas, capture the extensive range of light and shadow of the shore vista, making it stand out among the assortment of colorful florals and bright city scenes that are prominent in the collection.