“June Leaf: Thought Is Infinite presents the artist’s remarkable achievement in drawing over the past five decades. In addition to drawings, installed to suggest the way the works have inhabited Leaf’s studio, the exhibition also includes a smaller selection of the artist’s sculpture and painting.
June Leaf’s vision is deeply personal and bravely frank in addressing the frailties of the human condition. Her work falls within a trajectory of the fantastic: the fraught, symbolic mental landscapes introduced into Western art by Hieronymus Bosch and continuing in various strains with Francisco Goya, James Ensor, Odilon Redon, and the Surrealists. Leaf’s imagery frequently suggests a direct and physical struggle between men, women, and unseen forces, with control up for grabs and outcomes uncertain.” — Whitney Museum of American Art
June Leaf (b. 1929), Harvey, c. 2004–05. Pastel and charcoal on paper, 29 1/2 × 34 1/2in. (74.9 × 87.6 cm). Collection of the artist. Photograph by Alice Attie
June Leaf (b. 1929), Head, 1975. Pen and ink and colored pencil on paper, 13 7/8 × 19 7/8 in. (35.2 × 50.5 cm). Collection of the artist. Photograph by Alice Attie
June Leaf (b. 1929), Man (Dreaming), 1972. Acrylic, and brush and ink on paper, 24 3/4 × 39 3/4 in. (62.9 × 101 cm). Collection of the artist. Photograph by Alice Attie
June Leaf (b. 1929), Mother/Ballroom, c. 1978 (detail). Pen and ink, fiber-tipped pen, graphite pencil, rubbing, and colored pencil on paper, 27 × 21 in. (68.6 × 53.3 cm). Collection of the artist. Photograph by Alice Attie
June Leaf (b. 1929), Robert Enters the Room, 1973. Acrylic, collage, gelatin silver prints, and pen and ink on paper, 22 × 28 in. (55.9 × 71.1 cm). Collection of the artist. Photograph by Alice Attie
June Leaf (b. 1929), Study for Woman Monument, 1975. Pen and ink, and acrylic on paper, 17 × 14 in. (43.2 × 35.6 cm). Collection of the artist. Photograph by Alice Attie
June Leaf (b. 1929), The Tin Barrel, 2015. Acrylic, charcoal, and collage on paper, 30 × 22 in. (76.2 × 55.9 cm). Collection of the artist. Photograph by Alice Attie
June Leaf (b. 1929), Umbrella Woman, 1951. Pen and ink on paper, 10 1/8 × 8 7/16 in. (25.7 × 21.4 cm). Courtesy Edward Thorp Gallery, New York. Photograph by Alice Attie
Installation photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary. Art images courtesy Whitney Museum of American Art.
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