Paintings on a European Vacation

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Experiment Station

Installation view of one of the six galleries dedicated to a traveling exhibition of works from the Phillips’s permanent collection at the Palazzo delle Eposizioni in Rome. Photo courtesy Palaexpo

Last month, a number of works from the Phillips’s permanent collection found themselves in a new setting at the Palazzo delle Eposizioni in Rome. The exhibition will be on view through February 14, 2016, before heading to Barcelona.

Installation view of the gallery just opposite the above picture. Photo courtesy Palaexpo

Phillips Curator Susan Behrends Frank snapped this photo of the condition reporting as a final check before this work gets installed in the galleries. Photo courtesy The Phillips Collection

(left) The facade of the Palazzo delle Eposizioni (right) line out the door on opening night. Photos courtesy Palaexpo

Opening night at the Palazzo delle Eposizioni. Photo courtesy Palaexpo

(left) Phillips Curator Susan Behrends Frank discusses the exhibition with press. Photo courtesy Palaexpo (right) the exhibition makes a splash in the news after the opening. Photo courtesy The Phillips Collection

Perhaps We All Come From Pissarro

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Experiment Station

Camille Pissarro, Quarry, Pontoise, c. 1874. Oil on canvas, 22 7/8 x 28 1/2 in. The Rudolf Staechelin Collection © Kunstmuseum Basel, Martin P. Bühler

On view in Gauguin to Picasso: Masterworks from Switzerland, Camille Pissarro‘s Quarry, Pontoise is a lush, peaceful scene. After the Franco-Prussian War, the artist moved from Louveciennes to Pontoise in the rural Oise Valley, where he lived from 1872–82. He chose the hamlet of l’Hermitage for almost his entire stay, inspired by its streets, fields, and countryside. Here, Pissarro shows a woman with a basket walking past a quarry on the arcing path of the rue de l’Hermitage, which leads to the Saint-Antoine ravine. In this area 25 miles northwest of Paris, Pissarro painted side-by-side with Paul Cézanne from 1872 to 1874. Both artists greatly admired and influenced each other. Cézanne claimed to be a pupil of Pissarro and stated: “Perhaps we all come from Pissarro.”

School Program Educators Meet with Question Bridge Artist

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Experiment Station

Bayeté Ross Smith discusses Question Bridge with Phillips School Programs Educators last month.

On Wednesday, October 7, Bayeté Ross Smith, one of the creators of Question Bridge: Black Males met with Phillips School Programs Educators to discuss strategies on how to integrate the themes and content of the exhibition into school tours. On view through January 3, 2016, this documentary-style video installation seeks to represent and redefine black male identity in America.

According to Smith, Question Bridge is an effective education tool because, as a case study, it facilitates broader conversations about the identity politics operating in other identity groups and underrepresented demographics. Smith explained that the project reveals not only that indicators of identity are rather arbitrary, but also that there is as much diversity within a demographic as there is outside of it. “The only thing that black men have in common is that they are male and black,” said Smith. “You can’t say they have one thing in common. This seemed like a prime way to examine this issue and deconstruct it, as well as examine the idea of communication and healing within one community—even though it isn’t exactly ‘one community’ so to speak.”

Bayeté Ross Smith and Phillips School Program Educators during October’s session on Question Bridge.

During his presentation, Smith exposed the group to the many ways educators can engage with the project through the Question Bridge curriculum, website, and mobile app. The curriculum aims to help students develop a variety of skills, such as building cultural, visual, and multimedia literacy. Furthermore, it allows students to engage in the essential, overarching question of how we can create equitable environments of inclusion in our diverse 21st century society. Composed of eight functioning modules with specific learning goals, based on themes such as “The Human Condition,” “Code Switching,” and “The Power of Communication,” the Question Bridge curriculum offers an alternative way for workshops to be structured and students to engage with the material. Each module includes a student workbook and teacher guide, which consists of a list of additional resources and a glossary of terms for reference.

On Thursday, November 12, the Phillips is hosting an Evening for Educators focused on Question Bridge. Find details and register here.

Caitlin Casey, K12 Education Intern