Recently Rediscovered Photographs by John Goodman at the Addison

Made up of large-scale color photographs, the majority of which have never before been exhibited, John Goodman: not recent color at the Addison Gallery of American Art examines changes to the American cultural landscape through the coming of age of a young artist from the 1970s through the late 1980s. John Goodman, a Boston native and noted photographer of urban American life, recently rediscovered a series of Kodachrome and Ektachrome color slides from this period depicting Boston and beyond. Rescued from deep storage, the slides have been scanned and printed by the photographer, and the resulting series will make its museum debut in the exhibition John Goodman: not recent color on view at the Addison from April 13–July 31, 2019.

Predating the work for which he is best known—poignant and gritty photographs capturing disparate subjects such as Boston’s famed Combat Zone, backstage at the Boston Ballet, the streets of Havana, and a Times Square boxing gym—these early images announce a lifelong interest in capturing fleeting moments, as well as the more abstract and enduring essence of places and people. A student of Minor White (1908–1976), an artist renowned for meditative photographs that penetrate beneath the surface of his subjects, Goodman credits his mentor with helping him to find his own way of seeing. Describing the making of these color images, John Goodman writes, "I was emotionally drawn to the vibrancy of the street with its energy and layers of time and texture. I was finding my voice as a photographer and the camera was my way to tell stories and make meaning of the rich materials I discovered in everyday life."

“We were thrilled that John Goodman chose to bring this body of work to the Addison, and it has been inspiring to collaborate with him on exhibiting these compelling images as a full series for the first time,” said Allison Kemmerer, Mead Curator of Photography and Senior Curator of Contemporary Art. “An important example of a young artist on the threshold of his signature imagery, this body of work will have particular resonance for students at Phillips Academy and across the region, and we look forward to welcoming John to campus as part of the Addison’s mission to bring living artists together with students as well as visitors of all ages.”

“In rediscovering these works, John Goodman has unearthed a particular view of American life from decades past that sheds new light not only on the complicated cultural, racial, artistic, and economic history of Boston, but on how our country has—and has not—changed in the intervening decades,” said Judith F. Dolkart, The Mary Stripp and R. Crosby Kemper Director of the Addison Gallery of American Art. “We are delighted to bring these important works to the public, further complementing and expanding the narrative we present with the Addison’s robust holdings in American photography.”

Bearing the fine detail and brilliant, saturated colors typical of slide film, the images in not recent color are cinematic in the way they transport viewers to another time and are characteristic of the artist’s balance of the particular and universal, which provides multisensory impressions of the worlds depicted. Piercing yet tender images captured in diners, bowling alleys, and darkened theaters, outside phone booths and gas stations, and on city streets and sidewalks conjure moments in individual lives and social interactions that together tell a story about the slowly changing social fabric of Goodman’s studio neighborhood in Boston––and the country at large. John Goodman: not recent color is part of the Addison’s 2018–2019 program which explores notions of place in American art as part of the museum’s ongoing effort to probe the question What is America?

About John Goodman
Goodman has exhibited widely in the United States, notably in the exhibitions Naked Before the Camera at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Exposed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In addition to the Addison, his work resides in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Harvard University Art Museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His photographic series depicting a New York City boxing gym were published in the critically acclaimed monograph The Times Square Gym (1997). Throughout his career, Goodman has continually worked as an editorial, advertising, fashion, and fine art photographer. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Esquire, and Boston Globe Magazine. He has photographed campaigns for Gucci, Gap, Louis Boston, and Converse. He has also taught at the College of Art and Design at Lesley University and the Maine Media Workshops.

About the Addison Gallery of American Art
Devoted exclusively to American art, the Addison, which opened in 1931, holds one of the most important collections of American art in the country. Its holdings include more than 19,000 works by prominent artists such as John Singleton Copley, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, George Bellows, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker, and Mark Bradford, as well as photographers Eadweard Muybridge, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Cindy Sherman, Dawoud Bey, and many more. The Addison Gallery, located in a stand-alone building on the campus of Phillips Academy—a residential school of grades nine through 12 in Andover, Massachusetts—offers a continually rotating series of exhibitions and programs, all of which are free and open to the public. Phillips Academy welcomes visitors to its beautiful, walkable campus year-round.

The Addison Gallery of American Art is open to the public from Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., and Sunday 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays, national holidays, December 24, and the month of August. Admission to all exhibitions and events is free. The Addison Gallery also offers free education programs for teachers and groups. For more information, call 978-749-4015, or visit the website at www.addisongallery.org.