Thank You Veterans

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Experiment Station

Gifford Beal, Ten soldiers, ca. 1910-ca. 1920. Blue-black ink, graphite pencil, and watercolor on wove paper, 5 x 8 3/8 in. (uneven cut). Gift of Gifford Beal Family, courtesy of Kraushaar Galleries, 2011.

Today and every day, we value our veterans! We’re proud of our growing list of military initiatives and programs, thanks largely to supporters of our major exhibitions like Lockheed Martin. The Phillips is a Blue Star Museum, welcoming military and their family free of charge between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and our renowned music program wouldn’t look the same without the significant role musicians from the Armed Forces have played over the years (watch for a blog post on this soon). Looking toward our future, this winter the Phillips will begin a pilot program with the Community Living Center at the DC Medical Center which will invite participants to connect with each other through conversations in the Phillips galleries and respond by creating their own artworks. Thank you, veterans!

A Microsite for Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Experiment Station

If you’ve been to the Phillips, you’ve likely encountered Jacob Lawrence’s epic Migration Series, a sequence of 60 paintings of which the Phillips owns 30 (the rest live at the Museum of Modern Art in New York). Since their acquisition in 1942, these works have played a critical role at the heart of the museum’s collection, inspiring vast educational resources, performances, exhibitions, and community programs.

Visit the crowdfunding campaign to learn more.

We’re excited to announce plans to launch a Jacob Lawrence Microsite next summer, but we need your help to make it happen! Visit our Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign through Dec. 10 to learn more about what the microsite will look like, the resources users will have access to, and where donations will go. This is a particularly critical moment as the launch of the microsite will coincide with the co-organized exhibition Jacob Lawrence: The Migration Series that will be presented at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in spring 2015 and then at the Phillips in fall 2016.

Along with the Phillips’s treasure trove of knowledge and insights about Jacob Lawrence amassed over the years, the site will feature never-before-published video interviews with the artist, high-resolution images of all 60 panels in the series, biographical materials, an interactive map, archival photographs, and audio and video clips of musical, literary, and historical events of the time. The interactive site will engage visitors with the powerful history and contemporary context of migration through the lens of Lawrence’s striking visual masterwork.

In addition to a warm fuzzy feeling, your contribution comes with some other benefits. From stickers to curator-led tours, we have a few perks to say “thank you.”

Help us spread the word! Share the Jacob Lawrence Microsite Indiegogo campaign page with friends, family, and anyone you think might be interested using http://igg.me/at/jacob-lawrence. Watch #LawrenceLegacy for updates and progress!

The Choreographer’s Process: Dance and the Dream of Realities, Part 1

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Experiment Station

In this series of guest posts, Jason Garcia Ignacio, one of CityDance’s 2014–2015 OnStage Ignite Artists, talks about artwork that inspired him for the Dance and the Dream of Realities performance at the Phillips on Nov. 20.

When undertaking this project, I started by researching Neo-Impressionism and the painters themselves. It was important for me to get acquainted with them in order to understand the depth of their masterpieces. I was intrigued to know their struggles, their journeys and the differences between their philosophies and techniques.

I visited each piece at The Phillips Collection, sat with it, and thought about its resonance to me and to the 21st century. A lot of the structure of my work explores the artists’ insights about their own art juxtaposed by my insights. These contrasting viewpoints add dimension and depth to the dance.

In pointillism, the colors are meticulously separate on the palette, yet together they create a mesmerizing optical illusion to the observer. I can relate to this; I want the audience to view the dancers as separate but whole in their beauty.

Charles Angrand, The Good Samaritan, 1895. Conté crayon on paper, 33 x 24 in. Private Collection

Charles Angrand, The Good Samaritan (1895)

This powerful painting grabbed me. Based on the parable of the good samaritan in the bible’s new testament, it’s both haunting and poetic in its portrayal of the samaritan’s compassion. The duet between the two young dancers blends precision and rawness to convey a sense of vulnerability—an emotion that I feel is inextricably linked to compassion.

Jason Garcia Ignacio, one of CityDance’s 2014–2015 OnStage Ignite Artists