Mr. White's passion for impressionistic landscapes of Bermuda is as much evident in this collection, as is his love of the Island. When situated in his home, these paintings en masse evoke the very atmosphere just beyond the door. Here in the Gallery, these works take on an even grander aestheticism, one that reminds us of the fragile beauty of our environment, and of the therapeutic qualities of experience them thus. – Bermuda National Gallery: The David L. White Collection, 2010

"Art Becomes Heritage" is a two-edged sword, for it can cut through several meanings. In one, its verb takes on the sense of enhancing or flattering something or some one, as in "That dress becomes you".

Thus "art" in all its forms becomes heritage, that is to say that it elevates our material inheritance to greater heights of meaning through imbuing "heritage" with an infusion of beauty, which, of course as any artist will tell you, is "in the eye of the beholder".

Another sense is more direct and simply a statement of fact: works of art will become part of the heritage of a place, whether in private homes or in public and institution settings.

It is around both these meanings that wealthy individuals, ruling authorities and latterly museums and art galleries, have amassed great collections of art. Such collections also, in an additional sense, become the persons and bodies that create such unusual compendiums of art heritage. Honour comes to them that so do, especially those who have given or intend to give their collection to a trustee institution, such as a museum or gallery, for the sake of posterity.

Such honour is in inherent in the 2010 exhibit at the Bermuda National Gallery, "Impressions of Bermuda", being in the half the private collection of David L. White, OBE, formerly longtime editor of The Royal Gazette in these islands.

This extensive exhibition becomes Mr. White and also becomes Bermuda, as it is comprised entirely of paintings, engravings and other works on paper solely featuring the island. The beauty of the place has been captured on canvas by a number of visiting artists, but particular those deemed to be "Impressionists".

Impressionism was a movement that began in the last quarter of the 1800s and included the art luminaries of Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and the American-born Mary Cassatt, among others. Primarily based in Paris, the movement attracted painters from this hemisphere, some of whom later painted at Bermuda.

Mr. White's collection is composed largely of such impressionistic works, although it contains other classics, such as an Edward James' painting of blockade-runners in St. George's during the American Civil War of the 1860s. Another earlier work is the highly evocative land- and seascape of Hamilton Harbour, painted from the heights to the north of Crow Lane by the British artist Mary Parker West, perhaps one of the last of the "Romanticists".

Being perhaps an artist with a pen, rather than a brush, I will eschew any discussion about the techniques employed by the visitors who came here to paint and have left behind the legacy of beauty that is now in Mr. White's collection. That is the playing field of artists, critics and art historians, with goal posts as moveable as there are points of view about the paintings under review.

Rather, I would like to say a few words about what impressed those Impressionists who tarried here for a while to transmit to paper or canvas their perceptions, their "impressions" of Bermuda.

Doing a quick head count, not many pictures include people, or certainly not people in any detail that would reveal the "whites of their eyes" or other recognisable features, as a portrait painter must do. Rather, it is the vernacular architecture of Bermuda that largely caught the eye of most of the Impressionists, with an occasion foray to the beach or the brooding outcrops of the island's coastal formations of rock.

There is no need to query at length why that should be so, for as one scholar once stated: "Architecture is Bermuda's only indigenous art from". Millions of visitors who have come here underscore that assertion, as it is the beauty of Bermuda house architecture that has been its most enduring enticement. To mix a metaphor (as we Bermudians seem genetically prone to do), "built-heritage is the ointment that has always attracted the tourist flies", hopefully to hold them in its essence for as long as possible.

That fact unfortunately has not made the right impression where it is needed most in these enchanted isles. Not to digress further from art criticism to social comment, I close with some remarks from the devoted personnel at the Bermuda National Gallery, who are to be congratulated on the splendid exhibit of the David L. White Collection.

Director Lisa Howie states: "Mr. White's collection provides a powerful and truly captivating aesthetic experience. The museum is literally alight with Bermuda's beauty. That such aestheticism is offset by the tragedies affecting our world, further communicates the therapeutic values of art. The exhibition is a must for all of Bermuda and her guests. To come and enjoy a few moments of respite from the outside word, while rekindling understanding of the importance of our delicate environment and how this must be sustained at all costs."

Curator Sophie Cressall wrote: " The BNG is thrilled to display this calibre of paintings. The collection contextualizes an important past in Bermuda's art history- a significant part of it- and we continue to see art created today that was inspired by these artists. Bermuda has a thriving Plein Air group of artists, perhaps some of whom were directly inspired by these very artists and their styles or approaches; and interestingly, this style of art continues to be important to the Bermuda aesthetic."

"Impressions of Bermuda", also featuring the stained glass art of Vivienne J. Gardner, is open at the Bermuda National Gallery at City Hall until June 3, 2010.

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Edward Cecil Harris, MBE, JP, PHD, FSA is Executive Director of the National Museum of Bermuda, incorporating the Bermuda Maritime Museum. Comments may be made to drharris@logic.bm or 704-5480.