The Addison Gallery, located on the campus of Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, is free and open to the public. Plan your visit >
Our Mission
Home to a world-class collection of American art, the Addison Gallery, located on the campus of Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, presents an adventurous exhibition program, hosts a vital artist-in-residence program, and works collaboratively with students and faculty at the Academy and in neighboring communities. Through our ongoing query What is America?, the Addison seeks to engage with the history of American art and American experience—past, present, and future.
About Our Collection
Comprised of more than 28,000 works in all media—painting, sculpture, photography, drawings, prints, and decorative arts—from the 18th century to the present, the Addison Gallery’s collection of American art is one of the most important in the world.
The museum’s founding collection included major works by such prominent American artists as John Singleton Copley, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Maurice Prendergast, John Singer Sargent, John Twachtman, and James McNeill Whistler.
In the nine decades since, aggressive purchasing and generous gifts have added works by such artists as Mark Bradford, Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Marsden Hartley, Hans Hofmann, Edward Hopper, Kerry James Marshall, Eadweard Muybridge, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Charles Sheeler, Lorna Simpson, John Sloan, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Frank Stella, Kara Walker, and Stanley Whitney.
Please join us in congratulating 2025 Guggenheim Fellow, Tommy Kha! As you may know, @tommykha is the recipient of the Addison Artist Council’s 2025 Bartlett H. Hayes Prize and will have his first solo museum exhibition here at the Addison this fall!
In preparation for his upcoming fall exhibition, on Monday Tommy Kha met with 115 students over the course of the school day to jumpstart his Chain Letter Project, a collaborative photography project exploring themes of family and community. Students from Central Catholic High School, Andover High School, Middlesex Community College, and Phillips Academy courses ranging from photography to Asian American literature discussed Kha’s work and ways in which they themselves will exchange shared disposable cameras to make photos in response to Kha’s Chain Letter prompts.
Selections from the resulting images will be on display in the fall exhibition as part of a layered photocollage that explores community and collective memory. Hayes Prize 2025: Tommy Kha will be on view at the Addison from September 2, 2025 through January 4, 2026.
#tommykha #addisonartistcouncil #hayesprize
Please join us in congratulating 2025 Guggenheim Fellow, Tommy Kha! As you may know, @tommykha is the recipient of the Addison Artist Council’s 2025 Bartlett H. Hayes Prize and will have his first solo museum exhibition here at the Addison this fall!
In preparation for his upcoming fall exhibition, on Monday Tommy Kha met with 115 students over the course of the school day to jumpstart his Chain Letter Project, a collaborative photography project exploring themes of family and community. Students from Central Catholic High School, Andover High School, Middlesex Community College, and Phillips Academy courses ranging from photography to Asian American literature discussed Kha’s work and ways in which they themselves will exchange shared disposable cameras to make photos in response to Kha’s Chain Letter prompts.
Selections from the resulting images will be on display in the fall exhibition as part of a layered photocollage that explores community and collective memory. Hayes Prize 2025: Tommy Kha will be on view at the Addison from September 2, 2025 through January 4, 2026.
#tommykha #addisonartistcouncil #hayesprize
Join us Thursday, April 10th at 6:30 for a FREE screening of “Another Light on the Road: Robert Frank and June Leaf’s Canadian Home” [work in progress], 2024, directed by Kathryn Whalen and John Parlante. Presented in conjunction with June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart, the film provides a portrait of Leaf and the hardscrabble seaside farmhouse and studio she shared for 50 years with her husband, Robert Frank, in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. “Another Light in the Road” stands as a testament not only to the artist couple’s powerfully intimate and creative relationship but also to their enduring ties to the Mabou community of Cape Breton, as we see friends and neighbors gather in the warmth of her kitchen to share colorful stories.
The museum will remain open through 6:30 pm on this day so that program attendees may view the exhibition before the film screening.
Following the screening the directors will take questions from the audience.
This FREE program will be presented in Kemper Auditorium. Registration is required—just click the link in our bio!
#juneleaf
Join us Thursday, April 10th at 6:30 for a FREE screening of “Another Light on the Road: Robert Frank and June Leaf’s Canadian Home” [work in progress], 2024, directed by Kathryn Whalen and John Parlante. Presented in conjunction with June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart, the film provides a portrait of Leaf and the hardscrabble seaside farmhouse and studio she shared for 50 years with her husband, Robert Frank, in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. “Another Light in the Road” stands as a testament not only to the artist couple’s powerfully intimate and creative relationship but also to their enduring ties to the Mabou community of Cape Breton, as we see friends and neighbors gather in the warmth of her kitchen to share colorful stories.
The museum will remain open through 6:30 pm on this day so that program attendees may view the exhibition before the film screening.
Following the screening the directors will take questions from the audience.
This FREE program will be presented in Kemper Auditorium. Registration is required—just click the link in our bio!
#juneleaf
Thank you to the hundreds of Addison supporters and art lovers who joined us on Saturday to celebrate the opening of our current spring slate of exhibitions!
In addition to our major exhibition, June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart, we celebrated the opening of three shows drawn entirely from the Addison’s vast permanent collection: Dynamic Duos, On and Off Stage: Performance and Persona, and Playing to Our Strengths: Highlights from the Permanent Collection.
We’re always happy to sing our own praises but leave you with the words of Mark Feeney from today’s Boston Globe review of our permanent collection shows: The excellence of all three shows, as one might infer, testifies to the quality of that collection. Even if it charged admission, which it doesn’t, the Addison would be as good a museumgoing bargain as there is in New England. And that’s not even counting the traveling June Leaf retrospective, which is also up through July 31. As Spencer Tracy says in “Pat and Mike” (a movie with lots of two shots), “what’s there is cherce.”
We hope you agree!
All photos by @kathytphotos.
Thank you to the hundreds of Addison supporters and art lovers who joined us on Saturday to celebrate the opening of our current spring slate of exhibitions!
In addition to our major exhibition, June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart, we celebrated the opening of three shows drawn entirely from the Addison’s vast permanent collection: Dynamic Duos, On and Off Stage: Performance and Persona, and Playing to Our Strengths: Highlights from the Permanent Collection.
We’re always happy to sing our own praises but leave you with the words of Mark Feeney from today’s Boston Globe review of our permanent collection shows: The excellence of all three shows, as one might infer, testifies to the quality of that collection. Even if it charged admission, which it doesn’t, the Addison would be as good a museumgoing bargain as there is in New England. And that’s not even counting the traveling June Leaf retrospective, which is also up through July 31. As Spencer Tracy says in “Pat and Mike” (a movie with lots of two shots), “what’s there is cherce.”
We hope you agree!
All photos by @kathytphotos.
Exhibition announcement! The Addison Gallery of American Art has entered into a partnership with Lumon Industries to create what will become the very first in a series of temporary exhibitions for severed workers. Selected by members of Lumon’s Optics and Design Department in concert with the Addison’s curatorial staff, the inaugural iteration of this series will be comprised of works from the Addison’s vast holdings of George Tooker’s preliminary drawings. We’re told that Tooker’s renderings of vast, oddly menacing hallways and oppressive grids that speak to the dehumanization and alienation of modern life resonate with many “innies.” Not sure what that’s about but, regardless, praise Kier (PA 1860)!
George Tooker (1920-2011). Study for Landscape with Figures, 1965-66. Graphite and watercolor on paper. Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, gift of the artist (PA 1938) in memory of his parents, George Clair and Angela Montejo Roura Tooker, 1996.80.66
Exhibition announcement! The Addison Gallery of American Art has entered into a partnership with Lumon Industries to create what will become the very first in a series of temporary exhibitions for severed workers. Selected by members of Lumon’s Optics and Design Department in concert with the Addison’s curatorial staff, the inaugural iteration of this series will be comprised of works from the Addison’s vast holdings of George Tooker’s preliminary drawings. We’re told that Tooker’s renderings of vast, oddly menacing hallways and oppressive grids that speak to the dehumanization and alienation of modern life resonate with many “innies.” Not sure what that’s about but, regardless, praise Kier (PA 1860)!
George Tooker (1920-2011). Study for Landscape with Figures, 1965-66. Graphite and watercolor on paper. Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, gift of the artist (PA 1938) in memory of his parents, George Clair and Angela Montejo Roura Tooker, 1996.80.66
Come celebrate June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart and the rest of our fantastic spring exhibitions at our opening reception on Saturday, March 29th from 4-6 right here at the Addison!
Light refreshments will be served and, as always, it will be free and open to all.
June Leaf, White Scroll with Dancing Figures, 2008. Tin, wood, wire, acrylic on fabric, and wood, 17 x 17 x 11 1/4 inches. Private collection. © The Estate of June Leaf. Photo: Johan Vipper
#juneleaf #shootingfromtheheart
Come celebrate June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart and the rest of our fantastic spring exhibitions at our opening reception on Saturday, March 29th from 4-6 right here at the Addison!
Light refreshments will be served and, as always, it will be free and open to all.
June Leaf, White Scroll with Dancing Figures, 2008. Tin, wood, wire, acrylic on fabric, and wood, 17 x 17 x 11 1/4 inches. Private collection. © The Estate of June Leaf. Photo: Johan Vipper
#juneleaf #shootingfromtheheart
2025 #PA Giving Day starts tomorrow (Wednesday, March 26th) at 9am EDT. Unite with fellow @phillipsacademy alumni, families, and friends worldwide to rally for the Addison! Every gift, of every size, truly makes a meaningful difference for our campus community. Kick off the celebration early at the link in our bio.
We’re excited to share that because of the generosity of a small group of Addison supporters, a gift of any size will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $35,000! An amazing opportunity to amplify your gift to the Addison Gallery of American Art!
2025 #PA Giving Day starts tomorrow (Wednesday, March 26th) at 9am EDT. Unite with fellow @phillipsacademy alumni, families, and friends worldwide to rally for the Addison! Every gift, of every size, truly makes a meaningful difference for our campus community. Kick off the celebration early at the link in our bio.
We’re excited to share that because of the generosity of a small group of Addison supporters, a gift of any size will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $35,000! An amazing opportunity to amplify your gift to the Addison Gallery of American Art!
June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart opens tomorrow (March 15th)!
Across a 75-year career, the artist, storyteller, dancer, and engineer June Leaf (1929-2024) produced an extraordinary body of work that revels in the human experience in all its banality and sublimity. Playfully navigating the planes of the real and the imaged, Leaf’s piercing eye and art powerfully hold a mirror up to essential human truths, reminding us of our shared humanity.
The most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work in more than three decades, this retrospective considers the breath of Leaf’s career with more than 150 sculptures, paintings, and works on paper placed in dynamic conversations across media and time to reveal the artist’s sustained engagement with such motifs and themes as the human drama, theater, dance, performance, motion, gender, and interpersonal relationships.
An accompanying catalogue, co-published with @rizzolibooks, will be available soon!
June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart is co-organized by the Addison Gallery of American Art and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College. Major support for this project has been provided by the Estate of June Leaf with additional funding provided by The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation (formerly the Andrea Frank Foundation), John and Sally Van Doren (PA 1980), and the Allen Memorial Art Museum’s John H. ’29 and Marjorie Fox ’29 Wieland Current-Use AMAM Support Fund.
June Leaf, “Mother Goose” Emerging Artist in Studio, 1976. Charcoal, ink, and collage on paper, 22 1/2 x 28 1/2 inches. Collection Estate of June Leaf. Courtesy Hyphen, New York. © The Estate of June Leaf. Photo: Alice Attie
#juneleaf #shootingfromtheheart
June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart opens tomorrow (March 15th)!
Across a 75-year career, the artist, storyteller, dancer, and engineer June Leaf (1929-2024) produced an extraordinary body of work that revels in the human experience in all its banality and sublimity. Playfully navigating the planes of the real and the imaged, Leaf’s piercing eye and art powerfully hold a mirror up to essential human truths, reminding us of our shared humanity.
The most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work in more than three decades, this retrospective considers the breath of Leaf’s career with more than 150 sculptures, paintings, and works on paper placed in dynamic conversations across media and time to reveal the artist’s sustained engagement with such motifs and themes as the human drama, theater, dance, performance, motion, gender, and interpersonal relationships.
An accompanying catalogue, co-published with @rizzolibooks, will be available soon!
June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart is co-organized by the Addison Gallery of American Art and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College. Major support for this project has been provided by the Estate of June Leaf with additional funding provided by The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation (formerly the Andrea Frank Foundation), John and Sally Van Doren (PA 1980), and the Allen Memorial Art Museum’s John H. ’29 and Marjorie Fox ’29 Wieland Current-Use AMAM Support Fund.
June Leaf, “Mother Goose” Emerging Artist in Studio, 1976. Charcoal, ink, and collage on paper, 22 1/2 x 28 1/2 inches. Collection Estate of June Leaf. Courtesy Hyphen, New York. © The Estate of June Leaf. Photo: Alice Attie
#juneleaf #shootingfromtheheart
Thank you to @artnews for including “June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart” on your list of the “66 Museum Exhibitions to See This Spring.”
ARTnews notes: “I work with these figures until I am released from them,” June Leaf once said. True to her word, she remained committed to figuration until her passing last July, leaving behind an indefinable body of work that spanned a sculptural version of a Vermeer painting and sculptures that moved at the touch of a trigger. Her inventive oeuvre has been elusive, and that makes this retrospective of her work a must-see for this under-known giant of recent American art history.
Don’t miss “June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart,” opening here at the Addison on March 15th!
#juneleaf #shootingfromtheheart
Thank you to @artnews for including “June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart” on your list of the “66 Museum Exhibitions to See This Spring.”
ARTnews notes: “I work with these figures until I am released from them,” June Leaf once said. True to her word, she remained committed to figuration until her passing last July, leaving behind an indefinable body of work that spanned a sculptural version of a Vermeer painting and sculptures that moved at the touch of a trigger. Her inventive oeuvre has been elusive, and that makes this retrospective of her work a must-see for this under-known giant of recent American art history.
Don’t miss “June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart,” opening here at the Addison on March 15th!
#juneleaf #shootingfromtheheart
Study Hours @addisongalleryofamericanart: Wednesday, March 5, 5:00 – 8:00pm.
Looking for a quiet place to get work done? Tables will be set up for studying in the galleries, peer tutors from the @pa.academicskillscenter will be available for @phillipsacademy students 5:00 – 6:30, and there will be snacks + @espresso_dave’s pop-up coffee cart if you need an energy boost.
All are welcome, no reservations required. Please note that the second-floor galleries will be closed at this time.
Co-sponsored by Phillips Academy’s Academic Skills Center.
Study Hours @addisongalleryofamericanart: Wednesday, March 5, 5:00 – 8:00pm.
Looking for a quiet place to get work done? Tables will be set up for studying in the galleries, peer tutors from the @pa.academicskillscenter will be available for @phillipsacademy students 5:00 – 6:30, and there will be snacks + @espresso_dave’s pop-up coffee cart if you need an energy boost.
All are welcome, no reservations required. Please note that the second-floor galleries will be closed at this time.
Co-sponsored by Phillips Academy’s Academic Skills Center.
Join us tomorrow (Tuesday, March 4th) from 5:00 to 6:30 to celebrate the opening of The Art of Opposition, an exhibition curated by @phillipsacademy students enrolled in Art 400 Visual Culture: Curating the Addison Collection. Enjoy great company (we can’t guarantee that without you coming), light refreshments, and a hands-on art activity led by students!
Rebellion has long fueled resilience, igniting the courage to challenge norms and reimagine the standards of society. This exhibition explores how creativity becomes an act of defiance, questioning power structures and reshaping narratives. Rebellion describes deliberate acts of resistance that disrupt the status quo. Resilience is the strength to endure and rebuild in the face of adversity.
The Art of Opposition captures the interplay between art and resistance in two different ways: art as a form of resistance and the artistic documentation of rebellion. On one hand, there are works born from rebellion—pieces that challenge norms or confront injustice. On the other, there are images that capture the energy of rebellion and youth, reflecting the enduring spirit of defiance.
Tabitha Soren (born 1967). facebook.com/kathleenwedgworth.reed/tear-gas-on-oakland-protest, 2016. Archival pigment print. 40 x 30 inches. Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon in memory of Dixie Lewis, 2024136
#theartofopposition #tabithasoren #addisongalleryofamericanart
Join us tomorrow (Tuesday, March 4th) from 5:00 to 6:30 to celebrate the opening of The Art of Opposition, an exhibition curated by @phillipsacademy students enrolled in Art 400 Visual Culture: Curating the Addison Collection. Enjoy great company (we can’t guarantee that without you coming), light refreshments, and a hands-on art activity led by students!
Rebellion has long fueled resilience, igniting the courage to challenge norms and reimagine the standards of society. This exhibition explores how creativity becomes an act of defiance, questioning power structures and reshaping narratives. Rebellion describes deliberate acts of resistance that disrupt the status quo. Resilience is the strength to endure and rebuild in the face of adversity.
The Art of Opposition captures the interplay between art and resistance in two different ways: art as a form of resistance and the artistic documentation of rebellion. On one hand, there are works born from rebellion—pieces that challenge norms or confront injustice. On the other, there are images that capture the energy of rebellion and youth, reflecting the enduring spirit of defiance.
Tabitha Soren (born 1967). facebook.com/kathleenwedgworth.reed/tear-gas-on-oakland-protest, 2016. Archival pigment print. 40 x 30 inches. Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon in memory of Dixie Lewis, 2024136
#theartofopposition #tabithasoren #addisongalleryofamericanart
Please join us in wishing the great Kay WalkingStick a wonderful 90th birthday! We were very fortunate to present Kay’s remarkable work here at the Addison in Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School, organized by the New York Historical. The Addison is also particularly fortunate to have Kay’s work in its permanent collection!
Created while WalkingStick was a student in the MFA program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, Untitled (A) is part of an important early series of experimental and innovative paintings and works on paper that signal the beginning of the artist’s prolonged, deliberate engagement with Indigenous themes and motifs. Following a series of increasingly abstract paintings that deconstructed the “simple iconic shape” of the apron, WalkingStick shifted her focus to creating a body of work that interrogated the iconic form of the tipi—here distilled into a bowed rectangle at the center of the composition. While Untitled (A) could be perceived as a work of pure abstraction, its horizontal orientation, sense of depth, and crepuscular color palette evoke a dazzling southwestern sunset.
Kay WalkingStick (born 1935). Untitled (A), 1974. Acrylic, wax, and ink on paper. 14 x 17 inches. Museum purchase, 2024.165
#kaywalkingstick
Please join us in wishing the great Kay WalkingStick a wonderful 90th birthday! We were very fortunate to present Kay’s remarkable work here at the Addison in Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School, organized by the New York Historical. The Addison is also particularly fortunate to have Kay’s work in its permanent collection!
Created while WalkingStick was a student in the MFA program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, Untitled (A) is part of an important early series of experimental and innovative paintings and works on paper that signal the beginning of the artist’s prolonged, deliberate engagement with Indigenous themes and motifs. Following a series of increasingly abstract paintings that deconstructed the “simple iconic shape” of the apron, WalkingStick shifted her focus to creating a body of work that interrogated the iconic form of the tipi—here distilled into a bowed rectangle at the center of the composition. While Untitled (A) could be perceived as a work of pure abstraction, its horizontal orientation, sense of depth, and crepuscular color palette evoke a dazzling southwestern sunset.
Kay WalkingStick (born 1935). Untitled (A), 1974. Acrylic, wax, and ink on paper. 14 x 17 inches. Museum purchase, 2024.165
#kaywalkingstick
Happy Valentine’s Day from your pals at the Addison! The Addison Community Ambassadors have prepared some special cards for you to share with your loved ones—all inspired by works from the permanent collection that are currently on view in Dynamic Duos!
👯♀️ Diane Arbus printed by Neil Selkirk. Identical twins, Cathleen (l.) and Colleen, members of a twin club in New Jersey, 1966. Gelatin silver print. Gift of the Stephen C. Sherrill Collection of American Art Foundation, 2024.122.2.1
🐮 Mary Ellen Mark. Twins Dressed As Cows, 1998. Gelatin silver print. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. George A. Violin, 2021.119
👑 Diane Arbus printed by Neil Selkirk. Their numbers were picked out of a hat. They were just chosen King and Queen of a senior citizens dance in N.Y.C. Yetta Granat is 72 and Charles Fahrer is 79. They have never met before, 1970. Gelatin silver print. Gift of the Stephen C. Sherrill Collection of American Art Foundation, 2024.122.2.10
🥩 Bill Owens. Sunday afternoon we get it together. I cook the steaks and my wife makes the salads, from Suburbia, 1972, printed 1998. Gelatin silver print. Gift of Katherine D. and Stephen C. Sherrill (PA 1971, and P 2005, 2007, 2010), 2006.77.66
🐕 William Wegman. Untitled, 1997. Polaroid. Museum purchase, 1999.5
🏖️ Wayne F. Miller. Father and son at Lake Michigan, 1947. Gelatin silver print. Gift of the Wayne F. Miller Family, 2023.33
#addisongalleryofamericanart @addisoncommunityambassadors
Happy Valentine’s Day from your pals at the Addison! The Addison Community Ambassadors have prepared some special cards for you to share with your loved ones—all inspired by works from the permanent collection that are currently on view in Dynamic Duos!
👯♀️ Diane Arbus printed by Neil Selkirk. Identical twins, Cathleen (l.) and Colleen, members of a twin club in New Jersey, 1966. Gelatin silver print. Gift of the Stephen C. Sherrill Collection of American Art Foundation, 2024.122.2.1
🐮 Mary Ellen Mark. Twins Dressed As Cows, 1998. Gelatin silver print. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. George A. Violin, 2021.119
👑 Diane Arbus printed by Neil Selkirk. Their numbers were picked out of a hat. They were just chosen King and Queen of a senior citizens dance in N.Y.C. Yetta Granat is 72 and Charles Fahrer is 79. They have never met before, 1970. Gelatin silver print. Gift of the Stephen C. Sherrill Collection of American Art Foundation, 2024.122.2.10
🥩 Bill Owens. Sunday afternoon we get it together. I cook the steaks and my wife makes the salads, from Suburbia, 1972, printed 1998. Gelatin silver print. Gift of Katherine D. and Stephen C. Sherrill (PA 1971, and P 2005, 2007, 2010), 2006.77.66
🐕 William Wegman. Untitled, 1997. Polaroid. Museum purchase, 1999.5
🏖️ Wayne F. Miller. Father and son at Lake Michigan, 1947. Gelatin silver print. Gift of the Wayne F. Miller Family, 2023.33
#addisongalleryofamericanart @addisoncommunityambassadors
Addison Stories
