Collection Comparisons: Rouault’s Seascapes

In the Collection Comparisons series, we pair one work from Gauguin to Picasso: Masterworks from Switzerland with a similar work from the Phillips’s own permanent collection.

Collection Comparison_Rouault

(left) Georges Rouault, Landscape with Red Sail, 1939. Oil on paper laid down on gauze, 19 3/4 x 33 in. Im Obersteg Foundation, permanent loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo © Mark Gisler, Müllheim. Image © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris (right) Georges Rouault, Afterglow, Galilee, before 1931. Oil on paper mounted on canvas, 19 3/4 x 25 5/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1939 © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

As Georges Rouault explained, “My real life is back in the age of the cathedrals,” a sentiment reflected in his art. After 1930, Rouault developed a new style in which he used the motifs of landscape and seascape to explore religious themes. In Landscape with Red Sail, atmospheric colors painted in thick tactile layers reveal a single boat at sea, perhaps on a spiritual journey. Painted at Rouault’s Paris studio on rue Martignac, this work was displayed with canvases by Chaïm Soutine, André Derain and Maurice Utrillo at Karl Im Obersteg’s residence.

Duncan Phillips also responded to Rouault’s religious landscapes. In 1939, he purchased a painting similar in style and motif, Afterglow, Galilee.

Meet Me in Montauk

(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

 

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.