In the Family: Three Generations of Impressionists on Display at Shelter Island History Museum

At age 28, Laura Grenning found herself standing in the sand at Lily’s Beach on Shelter Island, watching a man in the distance.

He was painting, she recalled, and she decided to approach him.

“I love what you’re doing,” she said, admiring his canvas. “Would you ever teach me how to do that?”

The 63-year-old artist took her under his wing and, over the next two and a half years, taught her everything he knew about plein air painting.

“He gave me the palette that I still have, and he showed me how to mix the colors,” she said. “He would basically tutor me and show me what to do to get the brush to feel like it’s puffy, how to do the dark first and then the light on top. He was very, very instructive.”

Three decades later, that strip of land where they met is now known as Sunset Beach. The artist, Nelson H. White, is not only her friend but is represented by her very own Grenning Gallery, in Sag Harbor, which all began with him.

And while some details have changed, this much is the same: White can still be found at the beach, in the forest or among the fields with his oil paints and canvas, even at age 93.

“He’s so highly attuned to nature, because that’s basically his studio,” Grenning said. “When he brings a painting, a smaller sketch, inside to blow up into something bigger, he has complete recall of what it felt like to be outside. So there’s a lot of emotional response to nature in all of his work.”

White, as Grenning would come to learn, is the youngest of three generations of artists in his family, starting with his grandfather, Henry Cooke White, and his father, Nelson Cooke White, who were both important American painters, with roots on the East End dating back to 1908.

The elder White had sailed from their home in Waterford, Connecticut, to Shelter Island, bought a swath of land on West Neck Creek for $800, and built a two-story, nonwinterized “fishing shack,” as it’s affectionately called, which still stands today, Grenning said.

A new exhibit, “Generations of Shelter Island Impressionists” — showcasing paintings by the Whites at the Shelter Island History Museum — is a tribute to their remarkable journey here, as well as their dedication to the preservation of its natural beauty.

“I’m very happy to have it here, because it’s a place that I love to paint,” Nelson H. White said from his home on Shelter Island. “I usually paint over in Greenport, and also on Long Beach in Sag Harbor — those are places. But, here, I find it one of the most relaxing places in the world to be.”

Born in New London, Connecticut, White has been surrounded by art — and artists — since he was a young boy.

He first studied with his grandfather when he was 13. He was an early member of the art colony in Old Lyme, known for his paintings of the local landscape and shoreline, White said.

He also taught his son, Nelson Cooke White, but by the time he focused on his grandson, the youngest White was more interested in pursuing music — specifically, violin. “That’s what I really planned to do,” he said.

But, at a certain point, White decided he had more talent in painting than music, he explained, which was cemented during a family trip to Italy.

“My father was always going into bookstores,” he said, “and he went into a bookstore and saw a book by a man by the name of Annigoni. He said, ‘I didn’t think anyone was alive who could paint that well today.’”

The owner overheard the conversation and offered to connect the family with the artist, Pietro Annigoni, a world-renowned Florentine master.

“We called him up, went over to see him, and my father said, ‘Well, my son would like to study with you,’” White recalled. “He said, ‘Well, the boy seems to have a great desire to learn. I’ll take him.’ So my father said, ‘Well, how much do you charge for instruction?’ He said, ‘I don’t charge for instruction. If he wants to help me mix paints or do some secretary work, that’s fine.’”

And so, in 1954, an apprenticeship began. Within two years, White had won two awards for his work and began showing in galleries. To date, he has had exhibits across the globe, from the United States to Italy and Russia.

His first museum retrospective was in the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut in July 2012, and his work can be found in many private and public collections, as well as several museums.

“He’s really much more of a colorist than his older relatives, and I think that he’s much more dedicated,” Grenning said. “There are a lot more paintings by him than anybody else in his family, because this is all he’s done. His father was an art historian and an art collector, and they were a little more dilettante. He dove in deep on this.”

For over a century, the Whites have found respite and inspiration along the shores of West Neck Creek. In 2022, the family sold 20 acres of this undeveloped land to the island’s Community Preservation Fund, and the patriarch still spends time there — and paints — when he’s not in Connecticut, or in Italy, where he sits on the board of the Florence Academy of Art.

“I saw what was coming out of the school, and I was so impressed that I said, ‘I think I’ll go back to art school and see what I can get from this school,’” he said. “So I did, and I’ve been going there and taking additional training in portrait painting.”

Disciplined and organized, White sticks to certain routines religiously, Grenning said. He exercises regularly, typically eats an apple for dessert, and creates, on average, two paintings a day.

“He’s never stopped,” she said. “Every day, he paints. He’s oil painting outdoors all the time.”

“Generations of Shelter Island Impressionists,” featuring the paintings of artists Henry Cooke White, Nelson Cooke White and Nelson H. White, will be on view through October 11 at the Shelter Island History Museum. The show is open Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. For more information, visit shelterislandhistorical.org.