Founded through the largesse of Phillips Academy alumnus Thomas Cochran (PA 1890), the Addison Gallery of American Art opened its doors in May of 1931 with a permanent collection of some 400 works. One of the first museums devoted solely to the art of the United States, the Addison was forged with a dynamic and unrelentingly adventurous spirit that has, through the support of generous donors, allowed the museum to assemble one of the world’s most significant and forward-looking collections of American art across media. The collection, which has since grown to include more than 23,000 works, allows visitors to trace the cultural, political, and social forces that have shaped and defined the American experience from the 18th century to the present day.
Filling the Addison’s first floor galleries, Learning to Look: The Addison at 90 features celebrated favorites, lesser-known gems, and new acquisitions that bring to life the Addison’s storied history and ongoing commitment to groundbreaking artists. With an installation that allows objects to speak across time and media, this exhibition includes masterworks by artists such as Winslow Homer, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, and McArthur Binion.
A complementary installation in the Museum Learning Center draws from the museum’s rich and extensive archives. Materials such as museum correspondence, artist’s letters and sketches, and architectural plans, further explore nine decades of innovative art education, progressive exhibitions, prescient acquisitions, and pioneering artist’s residencies.
Generous support for this exhibition and programming has been provided by the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Andrew and Barbara Gundlach P’22 and ’24, Edwin ’49 and Margaret Smith, William and Elizabeth Kahane P’20, and Harry Kahane ‘20.
Related Exhibition Materials
Press Release
Addison Gallery of American Art Celebrates 90th Anniversary with Exhibition of Treasures from Its Permanent Collection
Virtual Tour
Virtual Tour by Lightshed Photography
Podcast: "Look with Your Ears: The Addison at 90"
In celebration of our 90th anniversary, the Addison Gallery of American Art invited Tamar Avishai, host of the award-winning podcast The Lonely Palette, to create a limited series, “Look with Your Ears: The Addison at 90,” that thematically explores works in the Addison’s collection. With episodes that focus on abstraction, the figure, and the urban sublime, Tamar looks at a selection of some of the most important and provocative objects in the Addison’s collection, and investigates what they mean to art history and to each other.
Look with Your Ears: Abstraction by Addison Gallery of American Art
In celebration of our 90th anniversary, The Addison Gallery of American Art invited Tamar Avishai, host of the award-winning podcast The Lonely Palette, to create a limited series that thematically explores works in the Addison's collection. In this episode, Tamar looks at abstract art by Jackson Pollock, Agnes Martin, Jasper Johns, Mark Bradford, and Donald Judd.
Episode 1: Abstraction
Tamar examines works by Agnes Martin, Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, Mark Bradford, and Donald Judd, and asks listeners to consider how art with no fixed narrative invites the viewer’s participation.
Image: Jackson Pollock, Phosphorescence (detail), 1947, oil, enamel, and aluminum paint on canvas, gift of Peggy Guggenheim, 1950.3
Look with Your Ears: The Figure by Addison Gallery of American Art
In the second episode of Look with Your Ears: The Addison at 90, Tamar Avishai explores photographs by Lalla Essaydi, Laurie Simmons, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Sally Mann, and Dawoud Bey. Using these images, she asks viewers to consider the myriad ways that artists have used the figure to probe stereotypes and the multiple lenses through which bodies in art are viewed.
Episode 2: The Figure
Tamar explores photographs by Lalla Essaydi, Laurie Simmons, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Sally Mann, and Dawoud Bey. Using these images, she asks viewers to consider the myriad ways that artists have used the figure to probe stereotypes and the multiple lenses through which bodies in art are viewed.
Image: Lalla Essaydi, Les Femmes du Maroc: La Grande Odalisque (detail), 2008, chromogenic print mounted to aluminum with UV protective laminate, purchased as the gift of Katherine D. and Stephen C. Sherrill (PA 1971, and P 2005, 2007, 2010), 2018.51
Look with Your Ears: Urban Sublime by Addison Gallery of American Art
In the third episode of Look with Your Ears: The Addison at 90, Tamar Avishai explores the relationship of human beings to their environments in American art, beginning with Winslow Homer's Eight Bells.
Episode 3: Urban Sublime
Tamar explores the relationship of human beings to their environments in American art, observing that landscape images almost always have a deeper meaning, she then considers how artists have used urban landscapes to depict the city as sites of loneliness, energy, oppression, nostalgia, and comfort.
Image: Winslow Homer, Eight Bells (detail), 1886, oil on canvas, gift of anonymous donor, 1930.379
