A 1935 painting of the Straitsmouth Island lighthouse by noted artist Samuel Hershey (1904-1987) now hangs in the lobby of Town Hall, cleaned and restored.
Hershey, a muralist and former dean of Rhode Island School of Design, moved to Rockport in the 1930s, where he studied with Lester Stevens and Aldro T. Hibbard, a founder of the historic Rockport Art Association.
The painting was restored by the Rockport Town-Owned Art Committee, which was established decades ago.
Hershey studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. After he moved to Rockport, he ran the Sandy Bay Art School with another prominent Rockport artist, Stanley Woodward.
Hershey was an active muralist with the federal Works Progress Administration, painting public murals in Rockport and Indiana. The WPA paid for art projects during the Great Depression when the federal government funded many programs to put people to work, including artists who painted murals in public buildings. One panel from a WPA mural of his is also framed and hanging on the second floor of Rockport Public Library.
In 1947, Hershey became president of the Rockport Art Association. After World War II, he was an instructor of design at Harvard, a design dean at the Rhode Island School of Design during the 1950s and 1960s, and acting chairman of the design department at University of California School of Environmental Design at Berkeley in the 1970s.
"He has a very fine reputation," said Carol Linsky, director of the Rockport Art Association, which has some of Hershey's work in its museum collection.
Hershey's painting "Straitsmouth Light," which used to be hung in the lower level, has now been moved upstairs to the lobby.
His grandson, Caleb Rulli, owner of Hershey Frame Shop on Pleasant Street, named in honor of his grandfather, donated a period gilt frame for the painting.
The Town-Owned Art Committee was founded with a stipend from selectmen to oversee the restoration and exhibition of town-owned art.
Donald Mosher, a local artist and chairman of the committee, went before Town Meeting asking for money to preserve the town's historic works of art. To date, some 25 works on paper and oils have been restored, including work by Anthony Thieme and Marguerite Pearson.
Residents can view another recently restored oil painting in the town clerk's office, Thieme's "Schooners in Harbor." An Emile Gruppe painting is currently being restored.
Karen Berger, a member of the committee and an arts administrator, said that another piece in need of restoration is the Recchia sculpture located on Main Street, "Baby and Frog."
"Private donations, Community Preservation Act grants and town support are essential to continuing the work of securing and preserving this fine town collection," she said.
The Town-Owned Art Committee will submit an application for Community Preservation funding, which may be brought forward at the spring annual Town Meeting.
Gail McCarthy can be reached at gmccarthy@gloucestetimes,com
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