Classic paintings by the likes of James Fitzgerald, Robert Henri, Edward Redfield, Clarence K. Chatterton, George Bellows and William Trost Richards are displayed with the works of contemporary artists Kevin Beers, Helen St. Clair, Kathleen Billis, Henry Isaacs, Mitch Billis, Bill Irvine, Phillip Frey, Brad Betts, Jean Swan Gordon and others.

Fine art of the 19th and 20th centuries is to be found, and explored, in the collection at the Gleason Fine Art gallery in Boothbay Harbor.

This year, gallery owners Dennis and Marty Gleason are celebrating their 30th year in the art business. The once Massachusetts-based freelance medical book editors for McGraw-Hill turned art gallery owners have made the venture a successful one.

When the couple started out in 1985, they dealt exclusively in estate paintings, most of which were from their private collection. They still buy and sell estate and auction paintings, though no longer exclusively. And, their fascination with the history of the artists and art colonies of Boothbay Harbor and Monhegan Island endures.

Before finding the gallery space they have now at 31 Townsend Ave., they exhibited in three other Boothbay Harbor locations. Two were on McKown Street when the gallery was known as The McKown Street Gallery, the first in the building currently housing Coastal Shipping. It was Just two small rooms Marty describes as “a quirky space that seemed to fit with the old paintings.”

During their early years, the Gleasons represented 8-10 artists, including the newly arrived Kathleen and Mitch Billis, Helen St. Clair, Jim Wilmot, Marvel Wynn and Asa Grant Randall.

They also had the good fortune to buy Emily Muir's (of Stonington) pre-1955 works of in an estate sale. The Gleasons also had works by Monhegan artist Elizabeth Galbrith Jewell — a lucky estate purchase.

The McKown Street Gallery was open seasonally, Memorial Day to Labor Day, then it was back to Massachusetts for Dennis, Marty, and baby Andrew.

After four years, the gallery moved to a farmhouse up the street for one year. The Gleasons had three showrooms there, but it was a little too far removed from the happening downtown area. Fortunately, Bud Logan had just finished renovating the Brick House on Oak Street.

Once they relocated to the Brick House, the gallery name became Gleason Fine Art.

Although they were, and are known for fine art, at the Brick House they took a chance on an exhibition of dioramas by French artist Anne-Emmanuelle Marpeau, to whom they were introduced by a mutual friend. The show was a success — all the pieces sold.

While there, they immersed themselves in a fundraiser for the Monhegan Museum; Dennis had begun appraising art for the Portland Museum of Art, the Farnsworth and the Monhegan Museum as a member of the New England Society of Appraisers. Last year, Dennis became a certified appraiser for the Appraiser Association of America, his specialty being 19th and 20th century American art.

Dennis worked art fairs in Boston, Philadelphia, Palm Beach and New York City. At these fairs he met dealers, including one Eric Baumgartner, with whom he struck up a friendship. That friendship led to the Gleasons to works by George Bellows, Randall Davey and Fairchild Porter.

At the Brick House, Gleason Fine Art remained a seasonal gallery, at first, with Marty and Dennis continuing their freelance editing, and attended auctions and estate sales. But, the publishing world was changing, and they began thinking of what they else they could do. They considered a few options, but decided on the gallery.

After 10 years at the Brick house, the couple began looking for another location, one they could own.

Enter the 31 Townsend Ave. opportunity in 2000. John Newton had just renovated the building and offered to rent the Gleasons the first two rooms downstairs. Soon after, he asked if they'd be interested in buying the building.

Many an artist has been represented by the Gleasons over the years. Today they represent 35, some date back to the early days on McKown Street, like Helen St. Clair and the Billises.

Through their friendships with a network of Boston dealers, the Gleasons landed the estate of Eleanor Parke Custis (a direct descendant of Martha Washington) who painted in summers of 1923 and ’24 as a student of Henry Bayley Snell at the art colony at Mt. Pisgah in Boothbay Harbor. Custis later became a pioneering photographer in the late 1940s.

The Gleasons cite stone sculptor Don Meserve as one of their most influential artists.

“He showed up at the Brick House one day,” Marty said. “He introduced himself to us, walked around and said, ‘I think I want to show here.’”

Laughing, Marty said, “Not the way it's usually done. The next week he showed up with a truckload of his work. He's really the one who got us interested in stone sculpture.”

Estates represented by the Gleasons include those of James Fitzgerald, Clarence K. Chatterton and, most recently, Jean Swan Gordon.

Gleason Fine Art represents 35 artists and sculptors today.

Criteria used by the Gleasons in determining who to represent has never changed: to start with, the individual has to be a professional artist whose work they both liked and which 'fit' in the gallery.

“Many artists have come and gone. We have to fit the artist and vice versa,” said Marty.

Over the years they've worked with several notable collectors, including Elizabeth Noyce, Charlie Crowley and Remak Ramsey.

And over those years, the Gleasons are still drawn to Monhegan Island and the artists who are inspired by it.

“Edward Redfield had a house in Boothbay Harbor; it was Redfield who took artists like Bellows, (Rockwell) Kent and Robert Henri to Monhegan for the first time,” Marty said. “The importance of little old Boothbay Harbor in the art history of Maine, and Monhegan in particular, isn't necessarily known. Both have been, and continue to be, important to the art history of Maine.”

With an eye to the future, important to the history of Gleason Fine Art, is Andrew Gleason. Andrew grew up in the art world and already has long-standing relationships with many of the artists represented at the family gallery.

Andrew became interested in the gallery in his teens, but instead of art school, he graduated from culinary school. Deciding it wasn't really what he wanted to do, at age 24, he managed the Gleason's Portland gallery when it opened in 2007. Andrew's lifelong informal education about art and artists came into play.

“In Portland we carried a lot of the same artists — and answered a lot of the same questions. Who did the artist study with and why are their works worth so much,” said Andrew. “I've always liked dealing with artists and clients. I get a huge amount of pleasure selling and delivering paintings.”

The Gleason Road Show/Delivery Service has provided the family with many amusing stories.

There's the one about Dennis and Andrew delivering a 7-foot painting to a townhouse in the vicinity of Charles Street in Boston and the only available parking spot was three blocks away. It was raining. It was a watercolor.

How about the delivery of a  3-foot, 80-pound marble sand dollar sculpture to a Manhattan collector in the East 50s where no parking was permitted at the front entrance of the building — for any length of time, for any reason.

Then there’s the one about the buyer that purchased a whale’s tail sculpture at the gallery and asked to have it delivered to their boat. A 45-foot sail boat. Picture, if you will, Andrew loading the sculpture on a dingy. Now picture him unloading it.

No worries, though. Andrew enjoys the adventure. He was the man on the spot when the arctic winds of this winter blew open a window in the apartment above the gallery, which froze the sprinkler system and caused the pipes to burst. Andrew had already moved a lot of the artwork before the police and fire departments arrived.

“It's exciting,” Andrew said about the business. “And it's always a thrill when you sell a painting or sculpture.”

“We're going to be easing back a bit, and with Andrew, Gleason Fine Art will go on,” Dennis said.