“June Leaf Made Art Like a Mad Scientist, a Dancer, an Aviator and an Archer”
June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart Exhibition Review
New York Times, November 26, 2025
Endlessly energetic, the sculptor, who died last year, was often overshadowed by her famous husband, Robert Frank — but the Grey Art Museum brings her to the foreground.
by Jillian Steinhauer
June Leaf’s artworks are animated by a force that’s easy to see but difficult to describe. They feel thrillingly dynamic — and not just because some, like her painted fabric scrolls attached to recycled metal cranks, actually do move.
Even her paintings and collages radiate energy, thanks to sketchy, brushy lines and impressionistic imagery. Looking at the 120 pieces in “June Leaf: Shooting From the Heart,” her retrospective on view at Grey Art Museum, in downtown Manhattan, you get the sense of someone who rushed headlong into her work, over and over again.