Director’s Desk: Kansas City, Here We Come

I write from the road to Kansas City, en route from Bentonville, Arkansas, where a group of Phillips friends and I explored the new Crystal Bridges Museum collection and Moshe Safdie-designed building. Take a look at some of our discoveries.

Dorothy Kosinski, Director

Phillips patrons and trustees explore the galleries at Crystal Bridges. Photos: Dorothy Kosinski

Phillips patrons and trustees explore the galleries at Crystal Bridges. Photos: Dorothy Kosinski

Taking a shot of the unique spaces and shapes created outdoors by the Crystal Bridges Museum. The building hugs a stream.

Taking a shot of the unique spaces and shapes created outdoors by the Crystal Bridges Museum. The building hugs a stream.

A sculpture by Mark Di Suvero seen with the reflection of lighted barrel vaulted ceilings.

A sculpture by Mark Di Suvero seen with the reflection of lighted barrel vaulted ceilings.

Director’s Desk: Treasure Hunt

Anish Kapoor. Underground

Anish Kapoor. Underground, 2005. Photo: Dorothy Kosinski

As I settle back into the office routine at the Phillips, my mind drifts back to Tuscany.  Last time I wrote about the surprise of a powerful Antony Gormley exhibition in San Gimignano.  I want to share a photograph of another contemporary sculpture, a large site specific work by Anish Kapoor.  The cone shaped concrete form was nestled within the fortress walls that ring the hilltop town.  It took some work and persistence to find the piece, but was worth the effort.  It felt like a secret, an art treat that revealed itself especially for us.

Dorothy Kosinski, Director

Director’s Desk: Dispatch from Italy

Antony Gormley's human figures perched atop a tower

One of Antony Gormley’s human figures perched high atop a tower over the town of San Gimignano. Photos: Dorothy Kosinski

After fulfilling my teaching assignment with the Legatum Institute summer seminar, my husband Thomas and I spent a week in nearby Siena, a town that I love. Our final day in the area was devoted to a trip to the beautiful hilltop village of San Gimignano. I always make that pilgrimage to see the fabulous frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli in the monastery church of Saint Augustine or the painting cycles in the main cathedral, the Collegiata, including the gory damnation scenes by Taddeo Bartoli. What a 21st-century treat, however, to see the absolutely vast and wonderful exhibition of works by Antony Gormley at Galleria Continua! They had also installed Antony’s powerful figures in the town, including high on one of the many towers. We were pampered by one of the gallery owners, Mario Cristiani, who offered us a beautiful Tuscan lunch al fresco out in the garden on a terrace overlooking the beautiful surrounding landscape (with a two-figured marble Gormley nearby). Of course I loved the tie back to our own Phillips Gormley installation.

Dorothy Kosinski, Director

Clockwise from top left: Thomas and Antony Gormley’s Another Time XV in the town of San Gimignano; moving among Gormley’s Two x Two II; Gormley’s Vessel on view inside Galleria Continua; Mario Cristiani and Gormley’s Drift I.