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The work of Paul Landry can brighten a room by
its presence alone. Romantic images of flower-
filled seaside gardens, cozy cottages, and
ocean shores, the paintings are bright and airy
and filled with lush colors.
Now one of the most popular nostalgia artists
in the U.S., Landry was born on the coast of
Canada, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The grandson
of two sea captains (one Scottish, the other
French), it was inevitable that he, too, turn to
the sea as he grew older, working with fishermen
on the banks of Nova Scotia and helping them
pull up their nets and traps. Never far away
were his sketchpad and camera. “I believe that
you have to know your subject to paint it well,”
he says. “Spending time on the sea has allowed
me to know its many moods.”
By the time Landry was seventeen, he had
gained apprentice status as a photoengraver.
He started working his way through the Nova
Scotia College of Art and also attended the
Art Students League in New York City. Shortly
afterward, he took a brief sabbatical to paint
the sea and the people who make their living
from it.
Finally Landry settled in Connecticut, where he
taught at Westport’s Famous Artists School and
wrote the popular textbook On Drawing and
Painting. He still lives near the shore, enjoying
the company of his wife and three children. He
maintains an interest in sports car racing, and
he likes to garden, play golf and walk with his
dog. His second book, The Captain’s Garden:
A Reflective Journey Home Through the Art of
Paul Landry, was published to unanimous
praise in 1996.
Landry’s paintings have a loyal and growing
audience because they celebrate the spirit of
life and bring back memories of halcyon days.
“The sea, the villages that border it and the
people who work it all hold a great fascination
for me,” he says. “The quality of ever-changing
stability makes the sea and coast unending
sources of inspiration as they beckon my heart
and hand.”
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