In this newest exhibit at the Phillips Collection, the museum shows off 120 works acquired in the last decade, including work by 28 artists new to the Phillips. Director Jay Gates, along with Chief Curator Eliza Rathbone, explained at the press preview on Monday that these recent acquisitions continue the tradition of Founder Duncan Phillips, who expressly wished for the museum’s collection not to be stable or static, but for his successors to maintain the integrity of the collection with a respect for the past, and “a commitment to the discourse of living artists.”

The exhibit spans several rooms, and includes work that represents many of art history’s key movements, including work by such recognizable masters as Stuart Davis, with his 1932 Spar (pictured above) serving as an iconic example of his graphic and geometric style, as well as German Expressionist Lionel Feininger, with four watercolors showcasing the post-WW2 work he created after his move to the United States. Other classic highlights include work by Color Field artist Helen Frankenthaler and Abstract Expressionist Hans Hoffman, whose 1949 Two Studies for Sculpture and 1955 One Afternoon sit side-by-side, allowing viewers to examine differences between two works separated by six years of art-making.

Throughout Degas to Diebenkorn, the curators pair works with similar content, giving visitors with less knowledge of art history an invitation to explore the art work on familiar ground. For example, Ansel Adams’ high contrast Ice on Ellery Lake, Sierra Nevada is placed alongside two Milton Avery woodcuts of birds and the sea. Similarly, in one of the exhibit's most memorable rooms, Weegee (Arthur Felig)’s black and white photograph of four away-facing, top-hat-wearing men hangs above Jacques-Henri Lartigue’s contrasting print of four forward-facing women, all adorned with enormous hats of their own, complete with feathers, flowers, and poofs. This room, filled completely with black and white photography, is a surprising addition to the Phillips Collection, and marks the museum’s recent effort to collect photographic work.

In addition to the curator’s efforts to pair work of similar content, it also seems that the museum is purposely displaying less expected works by artists known for working in a particular medium. For example, an ink on paper work by well-known sculptor David Smith is on display, as are pen and ink sketches by Color Field painter Morris Louis.

Additionally, a full half of one large room holds a variety of work by Alabama born, now D.C.-based artist William Christenberry, whose work is also showing at the Katzen Arts Center and included in Arlington Arts Center's Collectors Select. Only one photograph of Christenberry’s is on view -- the 2000 Barry’s Place, Greensboro, Alabama which features a nondescript, blue side-paneled building accented by a hand-painted sign stating the rules of the drinking establishment. Christenberry’s other work demonstrates the artist’s flexibility in medium, and includes several delightful ink drawings of chinaberry trees, two thick and crusty mixed media works, and a sculpture titled Southern Monument XI (pictured). Southern Monument XI is inspired by the artist’s childhood memories of Alabama Civil War Monuments and uses real, red Alabama soil, gathered from the homes of his relatives.

Other featured artists include Jean Arp, Alexander Calder, Imogen Cunningham, Ellsworth Kelly, Paul Klee, Jasper Johns, Wayne Thiebaud, Joseph Stella and Edouard Vuillard.

Degas to Diebenkorn: The Phillips Collects is on view at the Phillips Collection from February 9 until May 25. The museum is located at 1600 21st Street NW, near the Dupont Circle metro, and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., for Thursday’s Artful Evenings until 8:30 p.m., and on Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Image Credits:
Stuart Davis (1894–1964), Spar, 1932, Oil on canvas, 14 3/8 x 20 1/4 in., Partial and promised gift of Linda Lichtenberg Kaplan, 2003

William Christenberry (b. 1936), Southern Monument XI, 1983, Mixed media, wood, metal, signage, roofing materials, and paint, 19 x 28 1/2 x 19 in., Gift of Philip M. Smith, 2004