Written by DCist contributor Genevieve Smith.

Tucked away in an upstairs corner at the Phillips Collection, two remarkable little watercolors, barely bigger than postcards, depict early experimentations into abstraction, decades before abstract art would really take hold in Europe. Washes of color dance across the page of Arthur Melville's Dancers at the Moulin Rouge (at right), but the forms do not so much as hint at the shape of actual dancers. Instead, the bursts of color blend together, like Rothkos in miniature. Dating from 1889, the images are startling early examples of modernist art from a time when most artists were just beginning to experiment with line and form. It is gems like these that make the Degas, Sickert, Toulouse-Lautrec show, organized by London's Tate Britain, well worth the $12 admissions fee.

Like the Dada retrospective currently at the National Gallery, the Phillips exhibition aims to elucidate a cross-continental dialogue between artists of a particular movement, in this case focusing specifically on the connection between French and British artists at the end of the nineteenth century. The show pays particular homage to the influence of Degas on both his French and British contemporaries. Those already interested in romantic or impressionist art need no convincing; the exhibition is saturated in both canonical works, such as Degas's L'Absinthe and Sickert's Minnie Cunningham, as well as lesser known examples of Degas and Sickert's experimentation with line, color, light and composition. Pieces such as George Claussen's A Spring Morning, Haverstock Hill and The Old Bedford Music Hall by Sickert, depicting those at the fringes of high society--dancers, actors and the working class--also highlight early departures from classical subjects.

For those with more of an interest in modern art, the exhibition still provides some worthwhile treasures. Rothenstein's portrait of a young prostitute, Parting at Morning, outlines the figure in thick expressive lines and drops out the background in a style that anticipates the expressive works of Viennese artists like Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele twenty years later. A Degas pastel of a circus performer also allows the background to drop completely out, and the form floats suspended in line. Beautiful nude figures by Pierre Bonnard (who is having a full retrospective in Paris right now) are also exceptional. The roots of the modern movement can also be seen in the artists' interest in spectacle and performance. Both Degas's signature paintings of ballet dancers as well as Sickert's music hall performers explore a theme that would later be picked up by the Dadaists.

If there is any fault with the show, it is with its organization and presentation more so than the works themselves. Though the accompanying text claims to present a cross-continental dialogue between fin-de-siècle French and British artists, the rooms are arranged more by subject matter than by some sort of artistic or intellectual narrative. The groupings can sometimes create awkward pairings, such as in the case of Melville's abstractions, which seem out of place surrounded by more figurative impressionist paintings and Toulouse-Lautrec posters. This somewhat clumsy juxtaposition of pieces often obscures the artists' innovations in form and style.

The exhibition presents themes without fully teasing them out and stops short of elucidating why the works presented are significant in a larger context. For those well-versed in art history, greater explanation may not be necessary. Those seeking an introduction to the period or its significance, however, would do well to bolster their visit with some outside reading.

Degas, Sickert, Toulouse-Lautrec is on display at the Phillips Collection through May 14.