Tag Archives: permanent collection

Meet Me in Montauk

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(Left) Reynolds Beal, In the Rips off Montauk, 1928, Drypoint on paper; 8 3/4 x 12 7/8 in. (22.2 x 32.7 cm). Acquisition date unknown. (Right) Rattner, Abraham, Window at Montauk Point, 1943, Oil on canvas; 25 5/8 x 32 in.; 65.0875 x 81.28 cm.. Acquired 1943.

(Left) Reynolds Beal, In the Rips off Montauk, 1928, Drypoint on paper; 8 3/4 x 12 7/8 in. (22.2 x 32.7 cm). Acquisition date unknown. (Right) Rattner, Abraham, Window at Montauk Point, 1943, Oil on canvas; 25 5/8 x 32 in.; 65.0875 x 81.28 cm.. Acquired 1943.

Seems that we have three paintings in the collection that capture Montauk. Reynolds Beal puts us out at sea in the choppy waters. Abraham Rattner keeps us safe inside, looking out at the lighthouse through a window. In Marjorie Phillips’s painting, which was recently hung in the stairwell by the Music Room (often home to her painting, Night Baseball, 1951), we’re high above a natural beach without a structure or another person in sight.

Marjorie Phillips, Montauk Point, circa 1922.

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

 

Congenial Spirits: Seeing Double

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(Left) Frank Stella, Marriage of Reason and Squalor, 1967 Right) Aimé Mpane, Mapasa (Twins), 2012.

A view in the house: (Left) Frank Stella, Marriage of Reason and Squalor, 1967. Print on paper, 14 7/8 x 21 3/4 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Gift of Richard Madlener, 1991. (Right) Aimé Mpane, Mapasa (Twins), 2012. Acrylic and mixed media on two wooden panels, each panel: 12 1/2 in x 12 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Acquired with The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Award, 2012. Photos: Sarah Osborne Bender

Looking Inward: Artist Self-Portraits

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Images of two sculptural self-portraits made by Xavier Veilhan

(Left) Xavier Veilhan, Xavier, 2006. Polyurethane, epoxy paint, 59 3/4 x 20 1/2 x 18 in. Private Collection, New York © 2012 Veilhan / ADAGP, Paris, and ARS, New York Courtesy Gallerie Perrotin. Photo: André Morin (Right) Installation view of (IN)balance. Photo: Lee Stalsworth

If you haven’t been in person to see Xavier Veilhan’s sculptural self-portraits in his exhibition at the Phillips, (IN)balance, you’re in for a surprise. What you can’t tell from these image is that the statues are just shy of life-size. Measuring about 5 feet tall, these statues seem to be exact replicas of the artist—just tinier. This (no pun intended) small but significant detail begs the question: what is the purpose of a self-portrait? Is it to record a moment in time, to challenge oneself to make the truest likeness possible, to make an inward-looking statement, or all of the above?

Veilhan answered this question in part during a recent interview with Express‘s Mark Jenkins, stating “for me, they’re not really self-portraits. There is no attempt to show something psychologically about myself.” But what about the artists who do intend these likenesses to reveal something about themselves?

I looked to our own collection to investigate the relationship between artist and self-portrait, and found that I had a lot to work with. We have a stoic Paul Cézanne, a somber Käthe Kollwitz, a dark Edvard Munch—the list goes on. Among diverse styles, I found a consistent message: this is who I am as an artist, inside and out. In contrast to the free experimentation you might find in other works by these same artists, self-portraits tend to have calculated details. Cézanne’s facial features are constructed with his signature block-like brush strokes, Milton Avery strives to exemplify the bohemian artist (note the dangling cigarette, beret, and all), and Augustus Vincent Tack actually uses one of his own paintings as a backdrop.

My personal favorite self-portrait in The Phillips Collection is the one by Piet Mondrian. After a lifetime of associating this artist with stark, geometric grids, the fluid and painterly style he uses here came as a shock.

Amy Wike, Publicity and Marketing Coordinator

(Left) Piet Mondrian, Self-Portrait, c. 1900. Oil on canvas, 20 x 15 1/2 in. Acquired 1958. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (Middle) Milton Avery, Self-Portrait with Red Tam and Scarf, 1938. Oil on canvas, 22 in x 14 in. Gift of Louis and Annette Kaufman Trust, 2008. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (Right) Joseph De Martini, Self-Portrait, c. 1943. Oil on canvas, 48 7/8 x 30 1/4 in. Acquired 1943. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.