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The Oakleigh Collection, presented here on this web site, represents an important segment of art history, American Figurative Expressionism from the early nineteen sixties to the present.  After thirty seven years of collecting, there are now over three hundred and twenty nine objects including major sized oil paintings, sculptures and drawings.  This group of forty American artists have, with a few exceptions, been woefully overlooked.  Yet they have persevered through all phases of the last four decades.  Their importance must be permanently recorded in art history, as they have continued the figurative strain of German expressionism in the United States.  These artists and sculptors have retained originality in the face of conformity and have masterfully recorded the angst, violence and happenings of these most turbulent times.

An art history course given at Brown University by Dr. Alexander Dorner, author of "The Way Beyond Art", left a lasting impression on the principal founder of the Oakleigh Collection.  Dorner taught that great art was dynamic and required the viewer to participate.  It also followed that great artists tend to associate with each other, socializing and exchanging ideas.  The Oakleigh Collection is based on these principals and as each artist was chosen, he or she was specifically asked to recommend a friend.  The catalogue for the Lester Johnson exhibition at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum was funded in part with a grant from the Oakleigh Collection.

Figurative work is our cornerstone, is about all of us and is an important part of art history. The Oakleigh Collection is proud to have assembled many of these works and currently plans to publish a major catalogue and arrange a traveling show of approximately eighty pieces, starting at various museums through out the country and ending at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.  When the late Meyer Shapiro heard about the project he said, "It should start at the Met!".  At present three museums have indicated that they wish to participate.

Several artists from this group have been given one man shows at various universities and museums.  In the fall of 1999, the Whitney Museum in New York City did a major retrospective on Bob Thompson, an important Afro-American, figurative artist from the sixties.  They chose the painting "Abundance and the Four Elements" which the Oakleigh Collection loaned to the exhibit, to be reproduced as their feature postcard for this exhibition.

We have an advisory board, several consultants and an accredited art conservator.  Presently, we seek all interested directors, curators, art historians and scholars who wish to assist in planing a major exhibition and catalogue.  The leaders of this effort should share a kindred perception and appreciation of this group of figurative expressionists. This level of enthusiasm will help establish a meaningful place in art history for these artists.

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