Donor Profile : John O'Reilly
Written by Sally Carlson, Communications Coordinator
Artist John O’Reilly has literally cut and pasted his way into art history by creating photographic tableaux from pictures and props that he reassembles into intimate and complex images. Not easily placed in any category or style, John has extended the art of collage and photography, making colossal universal statements in his meticulously crafted miniature worlds.
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John B. O'Reilly (1930 - ),
Occupied Territory #18, 1995,
Polaroid montage, gift of the artist,
Addison Gallery of American Art
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John’s relationship with the Addison began long before he had a name in the art world. While teaching art at the University of New Hampshire in the late 1950’s, John became acquainted with then Addison director Bartlett Hayes, who visited the school once each year to give a lecture. In the early 1980’s, while working part-time as an art therapist, John brought some of his work to the Addison to show director Chris Cook and to receive some guidance in finding a gallery that might be interested in his art. Chris steered him to the Allan Stone (PA 1950) Gallery in NY, where John had his first gallery exhibition. A few years later, John was one of four artists featured in the Addison exhibition 4 x 4: Michael Kaiser, Pat Keck, John O’Reilly, and John Jagel, which opened in January, 1983. It was John’s first museum exhibition and it was followed by many more, including a major retrospective of his work, John O’Reilly: Assemblies of Magic, which was
curated by Klaus Kertez (PA 1958) and
organized by and presented at the Addison in the fall of 2002.
Earlier this year, John O’Reilly donated twenty-three of his Polaroid montages to the Addison’s collection. The works span from 1974-2004 and greatly enhance the museum’s holdings of his work.
“When I came to the Addison the first time, I fell in love with the gallery spaces,” explained O’Reilly. “I work small, and an intimate gallery is attractive to me. A health scare a few years ago caused me to pause a bit. I began to think, ‘wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Addison would take some of my work.’ The Addison is always putting some part of their collection on display so when your work is in its collection, there’s always a chance that someone will see it. It’s not like that with most museums. More often then not, your work enters a collection and goes into storage, rarely seen again.
“The Addison’s connection to students is also important to me. Sometimes I wonder if I had been exposed to something as wonderful as the Addison when I was in school if my life would have been different. It makes me very happy and proud to be part of this great collection.”
We are very grateful to John O’Reilly for his generous gift to the Addison, a selection of which is currently on view in the exhibition Growing the Addison: Recent Acquisitions.
