In 1938, during the town’s 200th anniversary, the works of 11 nationally known artists, all summer residents of the Wilton Center, were shown at the town library. Four of those artists posed for a picture. They are, from left, Stanley Woodward, Chauncey Ryder, Roy Brown and Hobart Nichols. The picture is owned by the Wilton Public-Gregg Free Library.

WILTON – Wilton has long been known for its resident artists. Riverview Mills, part of the former Abbott Machine Co., is home to a collection of studios of many kinds, and other artists live or work in town.

The first such group, known now as the Wilton Center Artists’ Colony, rented summer homes in the area. At a recent meeting of the Historical Society, member Nancy Clark presented an overview of some of the group, all New York artists.

The colony is considered to have begun in 1901 when Ross Turner rented a cottage and had a studio in a barn, and ended in 1987 with the death of longtime resident Stanley Hallett.

Turner, who died in 1915, was a teacher of watercolor painting, and was known for his landscapes, both realistic and impressionist. He usually worked out of the Boston area. It is not known why he chose a Wilton summer cottage, but he kept returning and drawing other artists with him.

Hallett, who had a permanent home on The Bennington Battle Trail, was an impressionist who usually used a palette knife rather than a brush. Prior to taking up painting, he was a violinist and what he called “a fly tying extraordinaire.”

In 1938, as part of the town’s 200th anniversary celebration, works by 11 nationally known artists, all with summer homes in Wilton, were displayed at the library. Four of those men posed for a picture for the Milford Cabinet. That picture is displayed at the library.

The four men pictured, Stanley Wingate Woodward, Chauncey Foster Ryder, Roy Henry Brown and Hobart Nichols, all had studios in New York City.

Woodward (1890-1970) was a landscape and marine artist. He conducted outdoor painting classes in Ogunquit and Rockport, Maine. He served in the Air Force in both World War I and II.

Ryder (1868-1949) was born in Danbury, Conn., studied in Chicago and Paris and moved to Wilton for summers beginning in 1910. A landscape painter, he was known for a favorite shade of gray-green which became known as Ryder Green. He died in Wilton.

Brown (1879-1956) began his career as an illustrator for the Chicago Tribune, and studied in Paris from 1907-1914. He was a landscape painter who worked in both oils and watercolor. In 1939- 40 he was president of the American Watercolor Society.

Nichols (1869-1962) was a landscape painter and illustrator. He was born in Washington, D.C., studied in Pennsylvania and Paris, and died in Bronxville, N.Y. He began his career as an illustrator for the U.S. Geological Survey. He was president of the National Academy of Art for 10 years.

Drawn to New Hampshire by its scenery, the artists settled near each other. During much of the period, the popular novelist Eleanor Hallowell Abbott lived at what was later Anne Jackson Memorial Girl Scout Camp.

Works by the artists are on display at various well-known galleries and colleges. Several are owned by the Wilton Public-Gregg Free Library. From time to time, a picture shows up for sale. Two Ryders were recently in the upstairs gallery at the N.H. Antique Coop in Milford, one of them a magnificent huge landscape of a mountain scene.