Maureen O’Leary is known for her vibrant paintings that capture fleeting everyday moments through an expressive blend of figuration and abstraction. For her latest exhibition, The Linden Trees, currently on view at Cristin Tierney Gallery, the artist has created a new literature-inspired body of work that dazzles.
The artist’s first narrative painting series, The Linden Trees is based on two characters from 19th-century Russian novels—Natasha from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Polina from Alexander Pushkin’s Roslavlev. Through a sequence of 34 oil paintings and accompanying texts, O’Leary expands on their stories, following the pair as they pursue their ambitions of becoming creatives, not archetypes.
Featuring folk-like imagery of the Russian countryside, Parisian ballrooms, and Moscow salons, the works are charming and rooted in history, offering a fresh perspective on the agency of women in literature.
It’s a busy November for O’Leary, whose work will also be featured in a solo presentation at the ADAA Fair this week. Additionally, Cristin Tierney Gallery will host a special reception for the artist this Friday, November 13 as part of Art Week NYC. With so much happening across the city, O’Leary is one artist worth keeping on your radar—and your agenda.
You’re known for your stylized paintings that capture the energy of everyday moments. The Linden Trees is your first foray into narrative painting. What inspired you to do this series?
MOL: Many of my paintings have a narrative quality but, yes, this is my first project that is a single work comprised of 34 separate but interrelated paintings combined with text. I have always admired Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series, which combines paintings with text, and long contemplated doing a piece with that cadence. But the direct inspiration came from the literature itself, which created an overwhelming emotional response. Creating art arises from a feeling or vision that will bother you to death until you put it down, often with a lot of struggle, in whatever artistic form you believe it should take. My works derive from a deep affection for the subject matter even if that subject is awkward or flawed.
