Adelson Galleries is pleased to present Figures in Light, an exhibition of new oil paintings by Jacob Collins.

This show features a selection of recently painted portraits and figurative works rendered in the artist’s particular mode of realism for which he is widely celebrated. These paintings highlight Collins’ mastery in the representation of natural light, shadow, texture, nuances of color, and the subtle complexity of his draftsmanship.

Adelson Galleries are thrilled to exhibit Collins’ work in our New York gallery for the first time in seven years. Figures in Light is on view from May 11 to June 23, 2023.

Jacob Collins lives and works in New York. He has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions worldwide and his work is held in significant public collections, such as the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA, and the Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA, among others.

A leading figure in the contemporary revival of classical painting, Jacob Collins was born and received his formal training in New York, and also studied in Paris. He embraces a variety of subject matter and is equally adept at portraiture (his sitters have included J. Paul Getty Jr., President George Herbert Walker Bush, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger) as he is at painting landscape, still-life and figural themes. Collins, who has said he aims to "paint with the skills of past masters while still feeling fresh," relies on meticulous observation, careful draftsmanship, and dramatic use of darkness and illumination to create works that – while set in the present – exude a sense of timelessness.

In addition to his own painting, Collins is also a sought-after teacher who believes in rigorous classical training in disciplines that hark back to the Renaissance. While living and working in New York, Collins has established several painting ateliers in the tradition of the French academy, finding the rich exchange of ideas among like-minded peers to be stimulating and beneficial to his work as well. Collins has been the subject of over 20 solo exhibitions, and his work is represented in numerous prestigious public and private collections including Harvard's Fogg Art Museum and Amherst's Mead Art Museum, among others.