These Paintings

By Deborah Sisson

Michael Hensley created a book before he started to paint some of his masterpieces-a book of detailed and exquisite anatomy. Each muscle, each limb of  the human body is rendered in the utmost detail and accuracy. Hensley knows how each muscle works, how each looks when still or when in movement. After he finished his book, he moved onto canvas to create a museum-quality painting of more than one hundred figures, all anatomically correct, all beautifully rendered and all in one massive room-size painting.

The time Hensley spends on his work is indicative of his philosophy and that of his family's gallery.

Hensley gallery opened in Connecticut in 1960 and moved to Taos in 1966. The gallery began with only three artists-Jackson Hensley, Vladimir Bachinsky and Janus Annus. All three still exhibit with the gallery.

Most of the 20 artist's with the Hensley's today work in the style of the old masters-spending years on each piece, starting with studies and drawings, watercolors and preliminary sketches, before moving onto oils on linen. The works are beautifully done, the time and heartfelt passions of each artist are obvious at a glance. But a simple glance will never do-each of these works is worth hours of inspection and many of the artists are already represented in museums all over the country.

Hensley Gallery is of the old school. It is somber, a little dark and gloomy, yet at the same time welcoming-calm and quiet. The paintings reach from floor to ceiling and the frames on many of them are as exquisite and ornate as the oils themselves. The Hensley's have a full library of art, philosophy, literature books, opera and classical music echo subtly throughout the massive rooms "Art is something people strive for and work hard at," says Michael Hensley "it is not something that is randomly knocked out in half an hour." "You do as best you can and history will take care of the rest," Hensley said.

Gustav Rehberger has received international acclaim for his paintings and drawings of the human figure done in a classical style. As a painter and well-known teacher of art, he stresses the presentation of man as an integral part of nature.

Rehberger uses a Baroque, driving, whirling movement involving all parts of the composition in total activity. He harnesses explosive forces and pulls them together in dynamic paintings.

Hensley calls Rehberger one of the greatest draftsmen to ever live and said he has been compared quite often to Michelangelo. His drawings are beautiful, sensual and energetic and he is a master of the human form.

Jackson Hensley, Michael's father, has had numerous one-man shows and over two hundred gallery group shows all over the country. His paintings are in over two hundred private collections, including museums and corporations. His oils are massive, and the frames are as beautiful as the paintings. He has either designed or created each frame himself, and the appear to be about a foot wide all the way around.

Ben Stahl, a quite wealthy and famous artist, also shows with the Hensley's. Stahl did very well by opening the "Famous Artist School" perhaps the country's largest correspondence art school. Stahl a Florida resident in the 1960's, also created the  "Museum of the Cross" in Florida in 1965 to house his famous series of 14 religious paintings entitled "The Stations of the Cross". That same year, all the paintings were stolen, an estimated $1.5 million worth of merchandise-and they have never been recovered.

Stahl now shows some more impressionistic work with the Hensley's. His paintings are reminiscent of the French school, both in subject matter and in style, Michael Hensley said.

Since painter Alan Wolton came to the United States eight years ago, he has been  with the Hensley Gallery. His bold, impressionistic landscapes are large, colorful and light. The Hensley's have 220 of his paintings, which they rotate throughout the year.

"Is a joy in being able to bring the awe of  God's creation to a finite setting, like in a canvas," says Wolton. "My subject matter allows me to take people out of their domestic environments and place them in the rugged outdoors."

Vladimir Bachinsky, one of the  gallery's original three artists, paints surreal canvases, and he has painted murals and ceilings in cathedrals and many Greek orthodox churches all over the United States. His surreal work is moving, but his religious work is so much more-it is powerfully potent.

Artists who take pride and time with their work, who put in years of effort and personal passion, are unusual in today's world of "marketable" art.

"The finished paintings have more personality," said Michael Hensley. "Unlike others that have no warmth, nothing personal". The Paintings at Hensley Gallery, shall we say, seem to have a soul.