While Ogden Minton Pleissner is recognized today for his hunting and fishing scenes, the artist once noted to his biographer that “I’ve done quite a few sporting pictures because I have always loved to fish and shoot, but I am not one that specializes in sporting subjects. Ten or 15 percent of my work is sporting – the rest is pure landscape painting.” The tension between evocative landscape and lively narrative is especially evident in Pleissner’s fishing pictures. Drawn from Shelburne Museum’s permanent collection, the paintings, prints, and ephemera featured in Upstream with Ogden Pleissner transport viewers to some of the avid angler’s favorite streams, rivers, and lakes from Maine to Wyoming while also conveying Pleissner’s first-hand knowledge of and passion for the sport.
Museum Grounds