NEW BRITAIN, CONN.- The New Britain Museum of American Art presents the exhibition As We See It: The Collection of Gail and Ernst von Metzsch. The exhibition features over 80 paintings by approximately 30 American artists, whose careers have been supported by Boston-area collectors Gail and Ernst von Metzsch throughout their four decades of collecting.

Longtime residents of Massachusetts, Gail and Ernst von Metzsch have consistently been drawn to collecting works by Boston and New England artists such as George Nick, Paul Rahilly, Janet Monafo, Steve Hawley, and Ed Stitt, among others, whose paintings reflect the visual environment of this region. The collection now reflects a multitude of styles and subjects best described as “contemporary realism,” and includes naturalistic landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and interiors, as well as colorful, evocative abstractions.

During the early phases of developing their collection, Gail and Ernst began acquiring urban scenes and gradually expanded more broadly to regional artists whose work captivated them. The couple acquired a large number of works, focusing their collection on select artists in order to help cultivate their careers. Invested and interested in artists, their lives, and the worlds around them, as well as the technical issues and processes that inform their work, Gail and Ernst von Metzsch have amassed their collection through active and ongoing conversations with artists and also with curators, gallerists, and fellow collectors whom they admire and with whom they share a dialogue.

As We See It: The Collection of Gail and Ernst von Metzsch spans the Museum’s Stitzer Family Gallery and Robert and Dorothy Vance Gallery.