Beach Escape

Marjorie Phillips, Montauk Point, c. 1922. Oil on canvas, 18 7/8 x 30 3/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Bequest of Elmira Bier, 1976.

Marjorie Phillips, Montauk Point, c. 1922. Oil on canvas, 18 7/8 x 30 3/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Bequest of Elmira Bier, 1976.

As D.C. continues a gloomy week of winter drizzle, Marjorie Phillips‘s Montauk Point (c. 1922) reminds us of more pleasant days to come. This work was recently placed on view and greets us in the stairwell between Goh Annex and Music Room. If the painting cheers, the effect is intentional; Marjorie said of her work:

“I decided to paint the celebration of the wonder of the world. I didn’t want to paint depressing pictures. . . . That’s why my paintings are all on the cheerful side—I felt it was needed.”

Not only are we reminded of beach days to come, but the painting transports us to the heart of the story that unfolds in upcoming exhibition Angels, Demons, and Savages: Pollock, Ossorio, Dubuffet. Montauk Point State Park lies just beyond East Hampton where Jackson Pollock and Alfonso Ossorio made their homes and cultivated a friendship that inspired great artistic production. In just 24 days, the exhibition brings that world to the Phillips.