February 18, 2025
On view
Addison Gallery spring season plays to its strengthsThis spring, the Addison Gallery of American Art will present a major exhibition devoted to the work of June Leaf (1929–2024), whose art is both endlessly inventive and uncategorizable. The most comprehensive exhibition of Leaf’s work in more than three decades and the first to span the entirety of the artist’s 75-year career, June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart demonstrates Leaf’s expansive mind and cyclical returns to the themes of movement, theater, gender, and the human condition.
Also on view are three exhibitions highlighting different aspects of the Addison’s collection. Comprised of works from various time periods, artists, and subject matter, these exhibitions explore the American experience—past, present, and future.
Please join us for a reception to celebrate these new exhibitions: Saturday, March 29, 4–6 p.m., free and open to the public. Enjoy great company, light refreshments, and the best of American art! Additional program listings can be found at addisongallery.org/events.
Playing to Our Strengths: Highlights from the Permanent Collection (through July 31) presents exceptional works from the collection in three sections: late-19th-century masterworks by Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer; modernist paintings that convey the ingenuity of artists working amidst the tumult of the interwar years; and large-format postwar abstract paintings that distill the vocabulary of painting to its very essence.
Dynamic Duos (through July 31) features works from the museum's photography collection and considers the dynamics of two beings sharing space, whether they be romantic partners, family members, close friends, strangers, or interspecies companions. Each image invites viewers to delve into the stories behind the expressions, prompting questions about the context of the encounter, and the emotions at play.
On and Off Stage: Performance and Persona (February 22–July 31) draws works from the Addison’s collection that invite viewers to reflect on the roles we perform in everyday life, in both public settings, such as dance, theater, and the circus, and on private stages in which individuals explore new identities and modes of expression, as well as challenge stereotypes and societal norms using costume and roleplay to experiment with shifting personas.
June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart (March 15–July 31) includes over 150 sculptures, paintings, and works on paper to explore decades of the artist’s inventive blending of media and materials in unconventional and intuitive ways. Synthesizing outside influences with distinctive motifs and symbols drawn from her own rich self-mythology, Leaf’s art allows for new ways to see the world and ourselves.
Top Image: Robert Frank, June's Hand and Sculpture, Mabou, c. 1980. Gelatin silver print, 12 1/2 x 8 5/8 inches. Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA. Gift of the artist, 1995.50. © June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation
Categories: Arts
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