This installation is the first in a series of exhibitions that will explore particular strengths of the Addison’s renowned art collection. While we acknowledge—and constantly try to remedy—the gaps and omissions in this collection of art of the United States from the 17th century to the present day, the remarkable breadth, depth, and quality of our holdings across media are cause for celebration. With over 28,000 objects from which to choose, our series of collection “samplers” could continue forever.
This inaugural iteration of Playing to Our Strengths unfolds over three galleries, each with a different focus. The first contains masterworks by Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer, two titans of late 19th-century realism, whose works captured the aspirations and apprehensions of a nation coming into its own. The second gallery, comprised of American modernist paintings, conveys the radical dynamism and ingenuity of artists attempting to forge a new, distinctly American visual language during the cultural, economic, and political tumult of the interwar years. Reacting against the supremacy of the New York school of abstract expressionist painting, so-called color field painters, the focus of the third gallery, deemphasized gesture and active brushstrokes in favor of large fields of flat, unmodulated color and unbroken surfaces that distilled the vocabulary of painting to its very essence. Taken together, these three galleries offer no coherent narrative of American art. Instead, they propose frameworks through which to engage with the Addison’s unparalleled holdings.
This exhibition is generously supported by the Bernard and Louise Palitz Exhibitions Fund.
