OUT OF HIDING

Even After hundreds of paintings by Jason Schoener were already taken from his summer studio in Georgetown, five dozen more were found hidden in the walls. Schoener, the cousin of artist Dahlov Ipcar, died in 1997. The latest example of his early work are, pictured: “Girl and Horse.” (Courtesy of Susie Westly Wren)

GEORGETOWN — Art curator Susie Westly Wren didn’t think there could be any more paintings.

The latest example of his early work are, pictured: “Circus.” (Courtesy of Susie Westly Wren)

Hundreds of Jason Schoener’s works had already been unearthed from his summer studio in Georgetown, the island community where relatives William and Marguerite Zorach raised his cousin, Dahlov Ipcar.

But tucked away behind false backs of closets and other clandestine locations in Schoener’s 1798 homestead, 60 more paintings were secreted away.

The latest example of his early work are, pictured: “Ruskogen Rocks.” (Courtesy of Susie Westly Wren)

“We haven’t found out why Jason would hide all of these canvases,” Wren said, but her painter’s sense gives her an inkling. “Most of the paintings were done when he was in art school or graduate school — they’re not necessarily the paintings you would put out at a show when you’re 50 years old.”

The latest example of his early work are, pictured: another “Circus.” (Courtesy of Susie Westly Wren)

Just more than 15 years after Schoener’s death, Wren said that those works now give context to the prolific artist’s beginnings and possible influences from his cousin, Ipcar.

“There’s some argument about whether he was influenced by her or if she was influenced by him,” Wren said Tuesday.

In any case, new paintings depicting a circus cement an early stylistic connection between Schoener and Ipcar in the cavalcade of horses that follows a bright, red-vested marching band and a parade of elephants.

In 2007, Wren put more than 400 Schoener paintings on display at her gallery in Georgetown and at the Chocolate Church in Bath. In 2008, she looked more carefully through the Georgetown house that remained vacant since Schoener’s death in 1997 and found another 50 paintings.

Six weeks ago, following the death of Schoener’s wife, Virginia Worley, in California, Wren said she was invited to make another sweep of the home before Schoener’s brother, Allon, put the historic Washington Heal House on the market.

The new paintings — in various styles and conditions, on stretched canvas and loose rolls of canvas — will be on public display for the first time for a three-day show this weekend in Georgetown.

The exhibit of recently discovered Schoener works will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday at the West Island Gallery, 37 Bay Point Road.

For more information, visit the gallery website at www.westislandgallery.com.

dfishell@timesrecord.com

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