Stephen Hannock: Recent Nocturnes in the Gloaming

Berggruen Gallery is pleased to present a two-part exhibition of recent work by Stephen Hannock. Building on Hannock’s five decades of work in luminous landscapes, Nocturnes in the Gloaming and From the River Tyne to the Port of San Francisco bring a contemporary context to the tradition of American landscape painting. The exhibition will be on view from October 29, 2026 through January 7, 2027. The gallery will host an artist discussion moderated by Emma Acker, Curator of American Art at The Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, on Thursday, October 29, at 4:30 p.m. followed by an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m.

Stephen Hannock has long observed the diffuse light between day and night, rendering the quiet color of this atmosphere in specific luminosity. In Nocturnes in the Gloaming, Hannock pays special attention to the surface of the paintings. Employing a method in which oil paint is machine polished between applications, the artist renders a velvet-like surface quality. Hannock will present ten polished oil paintings along with each painting’s accompanying preliminary study.

In From the River Tyne to the Port of San Francisco, Hannock spotlights a unique and surprising maritime history linking the port city of Newcastle upon Tyne to San Francisco. The painting Arrival of the Steam-Tug Eppleton Hall: The Port of San Francisco, March 1970, celebrates Newcastle upon Tyne’s last surviving historic steam tugboat and its improbable westward voyage to its current home in the San Francisco Bay. Hannock relates the 11,000-mile journey to the creative renaissance of the postindustrial city. A forty-year friendship with the artist and musician Sting further connects Hannock to Newcastle upon Tyne, which is both Sting’s hometown and the setting for his acclaimed musical The Last Ship. The exhibition will also feature four hand-colored serigraphs by Stephen Hannock from the publication accompanying The Last Ship, alongside new paintings.

Stephen Hannock is one of the few living artists included in the recent compendium, The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Masterpiece Paintings, a highlight of the institution's expansive collection spanning 5,000 years. Hannock's striking neo-Luminist paintings are held in major museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. He has been recognized with honors that underscore his engagement with the American landscape tradition, including the Frederic E. Church Award from The Olana Partnership (2013). He has lived and worked between New York City and Williamstown, Massachusetts, continuing to refine his luminous, text-inflected approach to the landscape.