RTPI is bringing you a new exhibition! In the meantime, the ground floor will have limited access October 30 through November 8. Anderson Gallery, Mezzanine, trails and gift shop remain open with free admission.

Chautauqua County En Plein Air 2024

Over the course of a few days in mid-September, the Roger Tory Peterson Institute hosted their third annual Chautauqua County en Plein Air Festival. Artists from across the United States scoured Chautauqua County’s hills and dales, preserves and ponds—everywhere from the dappled crevices of Panama Rocks to the picturesque brick alleyways of Jamestown, in order to capture the beauty of the outdoors. Chautauqua County en Plein Air features artwork from seventeen artists that was created at Panama Rocks, The Roger Tory Peterson Institute, Downtown Jamestown Riverwalk, Johnson Estate Winery, Cassadaga Lake, Long Point State Park, various locations preserved by the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy, and other locations across the county.

En plein air or plein-air painting was developed in the 1800s as a way of removing the artist from the studio and placing them within the physical landscape they were painting. Landscape portraitists could now more easily capture the natural light and translate the minute changes in weather onto the canvas, in ways that simply weren’t possible when painting from inside a studio. Artists who famously created works en plein air were Claude Monet (1840-1926), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), and Georges Seurat (1859-1891). Following in their footsteps, today’s artists created works that reflect careful observation, artistic interpretation, and a sensitivity to the beauty that the natural world has to offer.