Tag Archives: Henri Matisse

Law and Order: Phillips Edition

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Ever been to a dinner party in Washington, D.C. and not met an attorney or someone who went to law school? Wonder what happens when people leave law school behind in favor of artistic vocations?

CakeLove’s Warren Brown stopped practicing law in 2002 to start a bakery, and the Pink Line Project’s Chief Creative Contrarian Philippa Hughes also worked as a lawyer and lobbyist until 2003. I’m sure there are scores of other creatives who’ve joined the ex-lawyer club.

Washington, D.C. takes the legal cake in this map of U.S. career concentration by city from Richard Florida's 2008 book "Who's Your City."

Several artists included in The Phillips Collection initially set out to become lawyers. Here are a few notables; I think art history is glad they changed career paths! Continue reading →

Young Vocalists Paint the Music Room with Sound

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A Wolf Trap Opera performer responds to Henri Matisse's Studio Quai Saint-Michel (1916) with Stephen Sondheim's I'm Losing My Mind (1971). Photo courtesy Wolf Trap Opera.

I was a classical cellist before falling in love with art history, and one of the things that I love about The Phillips Collection is the way art of all kinds is brought together in conversation.  In this spirit, the Phillips is hosting singers from Wolf Trap’s bright and talented Filene Young Artists tomorrow at 6:30 pm. Vocal performances are paired with multimedia presentations of works from the Collection – some highlights include pairings of Schubert with Cézanne and Stephen Sondheim’s I’m losing my Mind with Studio Quai Saint-Michel by Matisse.  The vocalists will perform in the Phillips’s lush, Victorian music room, where Duncan Phillips and his brother used to relax while they plunked out tunes on the grand piano, making plans for their budding art collection.

Check out some photos from Sunday’s rehearsal!

-Evelyn Gardett, Graduate Intern for Lectures and Programs