In 1916, the painter Wood Gaylor and his friends Walt Kuhn and Florine Stettheimer formed what became known as The Penguin, a cheeky group of artists. Gaylor painted clowns, performers, and party revelers in bright colors, while setting flat, outlined forms against grand backgrounds. Together, the group organized the unthinkable—exhibition parties with musicians and comics; nude sketching sessions and saloon gatherings—all the while recording their experiences in vivacious paintwork. Right now, these densely populated and ebullient scenes from the New York art world seem like a thing of the past. But they do allow us to look ahead and dream. —E.C.

A second Gaylor show is on display at Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts, in Manhattan.