This spring, the Addison Gallery of American Art, located on the campus of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, will present Alfred Maurer: At the Vanguard of Modernism, a comprehensive exhibition celebrating the American painter’s singular accomplishments and invaluable contributions to American art in the early twentieth century. After securing a place as one of the most accomplished late nineteenth-century American figurative artists, Maurer (1868-1932) went on to join the ranks of the avant-garde. From his cross-fertilization of Fauvism between French and American circles to his exploration of abstraction in his late radical works, Maurer proved to be a formidable creative force in expanding the potential for artistic expression in American art. Alfred Maurer opens at the Addison on April 25 and will be on view through July 31. Following its run at the Addison, the exhibition will travel to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, where it will be on view October 10, 2015–January 4, 2016.

“All phases of Maurer’s artistic career are covered in this groundbreaking exhibition, which features his fin-de-siècle figure paintings, scenes of contemporary leisure, Fauvist works, landscapes and florals, heads and figures, still lifes, and late abstractions, including the Addison’s own Still Life with Pears,” Susan Faxon, the Addison’s Associate Director and Curator of Art After 1950, notes. “While Maurer is often characterized as a painter of divergent, seemingly contradictory aesthetics, this careful study of his oeuvre reveals steady interest in thematic ideas, as well as formal experimentation with color, form, and abstraction.”

With an intimate knowledge of the most current French art and friendships with key vanguard American art figures, Maurer was positioned at the nexus of new ideas about art. He left New York for Paris to study in 1897 and remained there until the outbreak of World War I. While abroad, he became an intimate of Leo and Gertrude Stein’s circle of creative luminaries. Through his involvement with the Steins, Maurer became one of the first Americans to experience the work of Henri Matisse, as well as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, and Pablo Picasso, among others. He in turn played a key role in introducing fellow Americans to their vanguard artistic salon, which was brimming with progressive art and ideas. Maurer continued to bridge French and American Modernism through the sophisticated Fauve work he was producing and exhibiting in Paris as early as 1906. Witness to and participant in the development of and revolutionary artistic ideas, he was perfectly poised to elucidate others in their quest for knowledge of the latest artistic developments. This included such important collectors as Dr. Albert C. Barnes, for whom Maurer served as an agent while Barnes was building his remarkable collection of twentieth-century masterpieces.

Maurer proved to be an invaluable contact for other pioneering American figures of the day as well, including Walt Kuhn, Walter Pach, and Arthur B. Davies, who, in the early 1910s, assembled the pivotal exhibition commonly known as the Armory Show. Following his return from Paris, Maurer moved in the most current art sets in New York, sustaining close friendships with individuals who were committed to changing the direction of American painting. In his quest to forge new paths, Maurer produced some of the most advanced and adventurous work by an American in the first half of the twentieth century.

“The pioneering spirit of American Modernism is crystallized in Maurer’s late Cubist paintings, a body of work rich with pictorial possibilities. This is a virtual treasure trove of American art that turns a lens on the art of innovation and expression in the modern age,” Dr. Stacey B. Epstein, the exhibition’s curator, adds.

Alfred Maurer: At the Vanguard of Modernism is accompanied by a fully illustrated exhibition catalogue that documents many of Maurer’s most accomplished works and includes a comprehensive examination of Maurer and his cultural context by Epstein, whose thorough and original research sets Maurer in his rightful place within American Modernism. This impressive catalogue is the first published since 1973 to focus solely on Maurer’s work.

In celebration of the opening of Alfred Maurer: At the Vanguard of Modernism, the Addison will host a reception on Friday, April 24, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and a panel discussion featuring curators Stacey B. Epstein and Susan Faxon, and collector Tommy LiPuma, on Saturday, April 25, at 2:00 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

Generous support for this exhibition and publication was provided by The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, Inc., Wyeth Foundation for American Art, the Maurer Family Foundation, Mary L. Craven, The Karen and Kevin Kennedy Foundation, the Keamy Family Foundation in memory of Yvonne and Donald Keamy, and the Sidney R. Knafel Fund.

The Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., and Sunday 1:00–5:00 p.m. The Gallery 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.