Hirschl & Adler Galleries

“See Verso” is most often seen in the registration notes for a work of art. Labels, inscriptions, and dates find themselves grouped in with this term to describe the contents found on the backs of pictures. But what does see verso mean when taken out of this literal context? It is an indication that there is something more; you must look back to produce something new. See Verso: A Guide to Looking Back showcases an eclectic group of modern and contemporary artists who look back to their art predecessors as a means of fully understanding them. Each work in "See Verso" possesses a unique mythic quality. Greco-Roman classicism, the art historical canon, biblical narratives, and the natural world are adapted onto canvas and paper as allegories, symbols, and as subjects themselves. Through these references, the artists are inviting us to look to history’s so-called “end product” to examine the present, and in turn render it changeable. Perhaps these myths shift or challenge perceptions. Perhaps they heighten them. One thing is for certain: they ensure that history is not left in the past. Pictured: David Ligare, "Still Life with Polykleitian Head and Candles (Idea)," 2018.

"The American Dream" derives from the title of an enigmatic painting from 1935 by the Magic Realist O. Louis Guglielmi, one of the centerpieces of the exhibition. The Guglielmi is accompanied by several new acquisitions making their exhibition début, including some great works of art from multi-generational private collections. Among the most noteworthy is a magnificent sporting painting by Frank Benson, "Redheads Lighting," which has been in one family's collection since the patriarch acquired it from Benson—his friend and hunting companion—in the mid-1920s. Another recent acquisition is a magical 1949 watercolor by Charles Burchfield called "Cobwebs in Autumn," which was acquired by the father of its current owner in the early 1950s, perhaps as a tangible memento of his undergraduate honors thesis on Burchfield at Harvard University in 1942—the first at the university treating a living artist.