About the Artist


Christopher Lenfest Armstrong May 27, 1967- July 27, 2019

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Our beloved Chris left us unexpectedly on July 27th, 2019. He was 52. A brilliantly talented artist, Chris was renowned for his masterful paintings of the ocean as organic and enlivened landscapes. In all ways, Chris’s life mirrored his work. Like the ocean itself, his seascape paintings vary from elegantly serene to voraciously dynamic. In addition to his fathomless talent as a painter, Chris was also a gifted actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. As passionately brilliant as he was in all creative endeavors, Chris was ultimately destined to gift the world with his art.

Chris especially loved summers (and reluctantly braved winters!) in picturesque Gloucester, MA as a way of maintaining his profound connection to the water. As an avid year round surfer, Chris could be seen with his board in tow on any local beach if there was swell to be found.

Chris graduated from The Taft School in Connecticut class of 1985. He then went on to receive a BA from Bucknell University in PA and an MFA from NYU in New York City. Sprinkled in the mix, Chris studied acting with Bill Esper at the esteemed William Esper Studio in Manhattan as well as studying at Studio Art Centers International in Florence Italy.

His work is represented by Gallery Henoch in New York, NY, Beth Urdang Gallery in Boston, MA and Morrison Gallery in Kent, CT.

Chris is survived by his beautiful daughter Lily, the light of his life and his greatest joy. There are no words to capture how intensely proud he was of the amazing young woman she has become.

He is also survived by his loving mother Georgia Lenfest Armstrong of Unityville, PA whose devotion to her son knows no bounds.

In addition, he is survived by his sister Katy Armstrong and nephews Atticus and William of Kent CT, Aunts and Uncles Mimi and Stoney Armstrong-Conley of Newton MA, Kip and Merry Armstrong and daughter Rebecca of Danville PA, Jan and Bob Antonucci and daughters Jacklyn and Robyn of Somers NY, former wife and Lily’s mother Tatiana Dillen of Gloucester, and longtime dear friends including The Doc, Tim, Owen, Dwight, Rob, Peter, Sean, Swanny, “Cuz” Charlie, Martha and David.

He is predeceased by his father, esteemed American Landscape painter David Armstrong.

Yeah little things they make me so happy-
All I want to do is live by the sea-
Yeah little things they make me so happy-
But it's good, yes it's good, it's good to be free-Yeah it's good, yes it's good, it's good to be free. ~Noel Gallagher


Chris Armstrong is known for his masterful paintings of the ocean as luminous living landscapes. Armstrong's realistic representations of the ocean are experienced as 'immersions' and vary from voraciously ferocious to elegantly serene. Chris, from a young age, was mentored in the American realist tradition by his father David Armstrong. While David was painting exquisite virtuosic representations of the rural American landscape, Chris felt a calling to the geography of the fathomless flow of the Sea.
 

Representation

Morrison Gallery
60 N Main Street
Kent, CT 06757
www.morrisongallery.com

Gallery Henoch

555 W 25th Street
New York, NY 10001
www.galleryhenoch.com

Beth Urdang Gallery
460 Harrison Ave
Boston, MA 02118
www.bethurdanggallery.com 

 
 

Biography

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2017   Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2016   Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2013   Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA
2012   Morrison Gallery, Kent, CT
2010   Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA
2009   Morrison Gallery, Kent, CT
2008   Morrison Gallery, Kent, CT
           Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA
2007   Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA
2006   Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA
2005   Morrison Gallery, Kent, CT
2004   Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA
2003   Paris, New York, Kent CT

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2018 ‘Art in Embassies’, Morrison Gallery, CT
Summer Group Show, Gallery Henoch New York, NY
Context Art Miami, Gallery Henoch, Miami, FL
Summer Group Show, MM Fine Art, NY
Context Art International, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2017 Summer Group Show, Gallery Henoch New York, NY
  Art Dallas, Gallery Henoch, Dallas, TX
  Winter Group Show, Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2016   "50 Years a Dealer: George Henoch Shechtman," Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2015   ArtMiami: Context, Miami, FL
          "Water Scenes," Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2014   "Summer Selections," Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA
          "Holiday Group Show," Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2013   "Art Southampton," Peter Marcelle Gallery, BridgeHampton, NY
          "The Sea and the Subway," Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
2012   "Water," Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
           "Land, Sea, Sky," Beth Urdang, Boston, MA
2011   Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
          Aqua, Miami, FL
          "American Realism," Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
          Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA
2010   Dallas Art Fair, Dallas, TX
          "Artists Perspectives," Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
          "Stop Motion," Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
          "Summer," Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA
2009   Art of the 20th Century, New York, NY
           Gallery Henoch, New York, NY
           Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
           Craighead Green Gallery, TX
2008   Morrison Gallery, Kent, CT
2007   Meyer East Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
           Edith Caldwell Gallery, Sausalito, CA
           Penn College, Lancaster, PA
           Munson Gallery, Chatham, MA
2006   Penn College, Lancaster, PA
           Meyer/Munson, Santa Fe, NM
           U.S. State Department’s Art in Embassies, Kyrgyzstan Exhibition
2005   Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
2003   Morrison Gallery, Kent, CT
2002   Paris, New York, Kent Gallery, CT
2001   Paris, New York, Kent Gallery, CT
1999   B&S Gallery, Williamsport, PA
1997   Boone Gallery, PA
          B&S Gallery, Willamsport, PA
1996   Bennington Art Museum, VT
1995   Rose Gallery, CT
1995   Bennington Art Museum, VT
1993   MVP Exhibition, Washington Square East Gallery, New York, NY

 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Fidelity Investments
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Wellington Group
Dodge & Cox
Geisinger Hospital Corporation
Bennington Fine Art Museum

 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Armstrong at Beth Urdang," ARTNews, November 2013
"Boston Uncommon," Architectural Digest, October 2013
"Portraits of Power, Perception" Boston Globe, September 2009
"Christopher Armstrong Down By the Sea" Bucknell University Magazine, Spring 2009 Issue, Alumni Profile, p. 53
"Conflating Austerities" Boston Globe, March, 2007
"Art in Embassies" AIR Magazine, September, 2006
"PKNY Opens One Man Show" Kent G.T.D, May 2003
"Water Water Everywhere" U.S. Art Magazine, May 1998

 

EDUCATION

1991-93   M.F.A. New York University
1988   S.A.C.I. Studio Art Centers International Florence, Italy
1985-89   B.A. Bucknell University
1981-85   The Taft School

 

FAMILIAL LINKS

David Armstrong
Mary Armstrong
William H. Armstrong

Chris, 2007.

Chris, 2007.

Chris in his studio in Gloucester, MA.

Chris in his studio in Gloucester, MA.

Chris and his daughter Lily, 2008.

Chris and his daughter Lily, 2008.