Boats on the Shore, Spain by Gordon Peers is part of an exhibition at the Bert Gallery in Providence.

In music, a perfect note-for-note recital is usually enough to earn a performer a standing ovation. In art, on the other hand, even a passing reference to another artist’s work — A drip! A cube! A Campbell’s soup can! What an outrage! — is often met with derision.

All of which brings us to the curious case of Gordon Peers. Peers, who’s the focus of a wonderful mini-retrospective at the Bert Gallery in Providence, is a terrific painter whose best work has a disconcerting tendency to look like someone else’s. Gazing at the strange, almost hallucinatory still lifes and beach scenes Peers did in the 1940s, for example, it’s hard not to think of the strange, almost hallucinatory work of Salvador Dali and his fellow Surrealists.

Likewise, the lovely paint-dappled landscape Peers began making in the 1950s often bring to mind the lovely paint-dappled landscapes of another artist: Paul Cézanne. Even Peers’ most innovative works — notably his bright, neon-hued still lifes — have a déjà-vu quality. Didn’t some of the early Pop artists — Wayne Thiebaud, say, or the young David Hockney — do something similar?

In Peers’ defense, it might be said that mastering and understanding different stylistic trends was part of his job. Born in Providence in 1909, Peers attended Classical High School before graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1933. The same year, Peers joined the RISD faculty, eventually becoming head of the school’s European Honors program.

In the classroom, Peers’ familiarity with the various strands of modern art — the sketchy, less-is-more style of late Cézanne, the vibrant color of Matisse, the “magic realism” of the Surrealists — obviously came in handy. But for Peers the artist, it raises some interesting questions.

For example: How many influences can one artist absorb without becoming a mere copycat? And if the work is good enough — and a lot of Peers’ paintings are very good indeed — does it really matter?

At least Peers had the sense to borrow from the very best. When he channels Cézanne, as he does in a group of small beach scenes and landscape paintings from the 1940s and ’50s, he does it brilliantly. The patchy brushwork, the sketch-like technique and the colors — mostly ruddy greens and tans spiked with lighter blues, reds and yellows — are all vintage Cézanne.

Only the setting is different: rather than Provence, most of Peers’ landscapes were done on Cape Cod, where he and his wife, the painter Florence Leif, had a summer house

Similarly, when Peers communes with Matisse, as he does in the marvelous Boats on a Shore, Spain from 1955, he’s almost as good as the great French master.

Painted during a trip to Spain and Portugal, the work depicts a classic Mediterranean scene: a small town perched on hill overlooking a shimmering bay. Many of the details, including a church at the top of the hill and the fleet of fishing boats that gives the painting its name, are barely sketched in. Yet the painting feels complete, with not a mark out of place.

Perhaps Peers most distinctive paintings are his still lifes. Though simple in format — most depict a single vase of flowers or bowl of fruit — they’re enlivened by Peer’s daring sense of color and his use of a palette knife to create a more three-dimensional effect.

A good example is Pink Stripe Still Life, a 1982 painting of pears, peaches and other fruits outlined against a vibrantly striped background. Though painted near the end of Peers life (he died in 1988), it’s filled with a rambunctious energy and joie de vivre. Clearly, Peers’ love of painting lasted a lifetime.

Interestingly, the two dominant art movements of Peers’ life — Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art — seem to have had relatively little impact on his work.

The sketch-like look of Boats on a Shore, Spain may have been influenced by Abstract Expressionism and the bright colors of Peers’ paintings from the 1960s and ’70s may owe something to Pop Art. But for the most part, these are distant echoes rather than direct responses.

Rather than adapt to the latest art-world trends, Peers generally stayed true to his youthful idols — mainly Cézanne and Matisse. It’s a decision that probably hurt his career, but it can’t obscure his talents as a painter.

Through June 28 at the Bert Gallery, 540 South Water St., Providence. Hours: Tues.-Fri. 11-5 and Sat. noon-4. Contact: (401) 751-2628 or www.bertgallery.com.

Thanks to some lucky timing, two of Peers’ former colleagues at the Rhode Island School of Design — painter Dean Richardson and sculptor Merlin Szasz — are exhibiting this month in the Providence Art Club’s upstairs gallery. It’s a great pairing — Richardson’s portraits and landscapes have a rugged, roughhewn look that’s almost sculptural, while Szasz has painter’s feel for flowing shapes and lines — but you’ll have to hurry. The show closes today.

Though both artists work within relatively traditional genres, the results are quite different.

Szasz, for example, draws on neo-classical and Art Nouveau sources for his cast-bronze sculptures, plaques and reliefs. He’s especially good at capturing motion — a skill that’s on dramatic display in Jonah’s Odyssey, a big multi-part work in which the title character (looking as well-muscled as a Greek sea god) appears to leap from the whale’s mouth.

Richardson, meanwhile, gives new life to an old art form: the history painting.

Rather than depicting famous people and events, Richardson seeks out forgotten corners of American history: the Negro league baseball teams of the 1920s and ’30s, the exploration of the American West, Native American history and culture. Richardson’s painting style is equally unique. Rather than a brush, he uses a palette knife to scrape and scour paint across the canvas.

The results, which include some wonderful Western landscapes and a series of craggy, mask-like portraits, are well worth a visit.

Ends today at the Providence Art Club, 11 Thomas St. Hours: noon-9 (For Gallery Night). Contact: (401) 331-1114 or www.providenceartclub.org.