Riffs and Relations: Reframing Impressionism

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While The Phillips Collection is closed, The Experiment Station will be sharing some of the great artwork featured in Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition.

When the Impressionist artists first exhibited their work in Paris in 1874, their loose brushwork and focus on modern life was considered radical by the art establishment. But by the 20th century, the visual language of Impressionism had gained practitioners and collectors and had become a beloved style that was essential to the development of modernism.

Henry Ossawa Tanner and Titus Kaphar are two African American artists with different relationships to this important and influential movement. Tanner was an expatriate artist who worked in an Impressionist style in the early 20th century. On the other hand, in the 21st century, Kaphar disrupts the romantic notion of the Impressionist landscape to urge us to see what lies beneath its beautiful surfaces.

Henry Ossawa Tanner, Haystacks, 1930, Oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, Gift of Irwin M. Sparr

Henry Ossawa Tanner (b. 1859, Pittsburgh, PA; d. 1937, Paris, France) traveled to Europe in 1891 in hopes of studying art with a freedom not readily available to African Americans in the United States. He forged a successful career and spent the remainder of his life in France. He became a respected and decorated French artist and an inspiration to African Americans in search of a modern and liberated artistic community. Known for his atmospheric paintings of religious subject matter, Tanner was influenced by French Impressionist techniques, in particular the style of the revered Claude Monet. It is likely that Tanner’s canvas pays homage to Monet, whose haystack paintings were exhibited in Paris in 1891, the year Tanner arrived.

Claude Monet, Woman with a Parasol—Madame Monet and Her Son, 1875, Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Claude Monet (b. 1840, Paris, France; d. 1926, Giverny, France) painted Woman with a Parasol in a single session over several hours outdoors. With a vivid palette and a loaded brush, he freely rendered in paint the gentle intimacy shared between a mother and son on a glorious, bright and windy day. Its spontaneity was praised when the picture appeared in the Second Impressionist Exhibition in Paris in 1876. Monet’s attention to recording the leisure pursuits of modern Parisians, his open brushwork, and his illusionistic approach to light and atmosphere were seen as revolutionary art practices during the 19th century. But they also created a veil of beauty that contemporary artist Titus Kaphar seeks to challenge.

Titus Kaphar, Pushing Back the Light, 2012, Oil and tar on canvas, Courtesy of MARUANI MERCIER Gallery

Titus Kaphar, Pushing Back the Light, 2012, Oil and tar on canvas, Courtesy of MARUANI MERCIER Gallery

Titus Kaphar (b. 1976, Kalamazoo, MI) often taps into art history in order to call attention to its absences and blind spots. In Pushing Back the Light, Kaphar samples Claude Monet’s Woman with a Parasol–Madame Monet and Her Son (1875), a typical subject of modern life executed with the lush color and bright light for which Impressionism is celebrated. Kaphar disturbs Monet’s luminous landscape with black tar that erupts from behind the figures, literally pushing the canvas to the border of the painting and exposing what he sees as the underbelly of Impressionist art—a movement which flourished during a critical moment in history when black lives were impacted by European colonialism in Africa and racial oppression in America after the Civil War.

The artist explains: “We look at these Impressionist paintings as beautiful pictures of the world, and to a degree they are. But what I am struck by is how much revolution is happening on the planet at the same time that we are looking at these beautiful pictures of people picnicking on the grass. . . . While we are talking and thinking about color in this different kind of way, there are people on the other side of the world who are suffering because of their color.”

Finding Peace, Solace, and Joy

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Alice Phillips Swistel, grandniece of museum founder Duncan Phillips, reflects on the founding of The Phillips Collection.

I am named after my paternal grandmother, Alice Gifford Phillips. I have been thinking a lot about her lately, though I never knew her, especially as I have been sheltering separately from my husband, a surgeon, as this coronavirus rages on.

Duncan and James Phillips with their father, Major D.C. Phillips, c. 1900.

My grandmother, Alice, was married, had a baby, and suddenly became a widow all in the span of 14 months, from August 1917 to October 1918. Her husband, my grandfather, James Laughlin Phillips, Duncan’s older brother, died of the influenza pandemic of 1918. The baby, my father, was four months old. It was a tragedy that changed the lives of the family and of so many around the world. The so-called Spanish flu killed an estimated 50 million people.

Rockwell Kent, Burial of a Young Man, c. 1908-11, Oil on canvas, 28 1/8 x 52 1/4 in., The Phillips Collection, Acquired 1918

Duncan and his brother, James, we very close, having been raised by older parents in a privileged home. Their father, a major in the union army during the Civil War, was a widower when he married 38-year-old Eliza Laughlin. The brothers, grandsons of the founder of Jones and Laughlin Steel, were schooled together, traveled to Asia together, and attended college at the same time. At Yale University, Duncan and James developed a fascination and love of contemporary art. They started collecting paintings, pooling their allowance and even asking their parents for an additional stipend so they could purchase more. After graduation, Duncan continued writing art history criticism for publications. James was interested in politics and became the assistant treasurer for the Republican Party. He met Alice in New York. The daughter of an architect, she had style, was lively, with a sense of humor and quite athletic, so I’ve heard. They married in the summer in Nantucket. Duncan was best man, clutching his top hat on his way to the wedding in a speeding boat. Sadly, just a month after their wedding, the Major died suddenly. James and Alice moved from New York to Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside of Washington, DC, to be closer to his mother.

Gustave Courbet, The Mediterranean, 1857, Oil on canvas, 23 1/4 x 33 1/2 in., The Phillips Collection, Acquired 1924

When the United States entered World War I, both brothers enlisted but both were rejected due to health problems. Duncan was apparently 40 pounds underweight according to army regulations and James had bad lungs due to several bouts of pneumonia. Instead, James signed up for the American Red Cross, where he was an associate director of personnel, in charge of applications for overseas service. It was there that he contracted the flu virus. He died after a matter of days, at the family house on R and 21st St. His mother, already stunned by her husband’s sudden death, had a breakdown. She became an “invalid,“ moved to the top floor of the mansion, as my father recalled, and never left it again. Duncan was profoundly grief stricken, and fell into poor health and a lingering depression.

Somehow, remembering his and his brother’s love of art and collecting, Duncan seized on the idea of a memorial and that is how we came to have The Phillips Collection today. Duncan, along with his artist wife, Marjorie, in 1921, threw open the doors of the family house even though they all still lived upstairs. A home that had been a place of sorrow became a place to linger and reflect with color, line, and form, to be stimulated by bold ideas and intimate moments, both historical and contemporary, political and lyrical. Duncan, my great uncle, who impressed me as a little girl as bristling with enthusiasm, was passionate about sharing his experience. He wanted everyone to find peace, solace, and ultimately joy in art and music.

Maurice Prendergast, Ponte della Paglia, c. 1898/reworked 1922, Oil on canvas, 27 7/8 x 23 1/8 in., The Phillips Collection, Acquired 1922

As we approach our centennial next year in 2021, I hope our quarantine and social-distancing months have subsided, and we can find joy again in the collection that Marjorie and Duncan founded.

I personally thank you for supporting The Phillips Collection at this critical time. Thank you for visiting us virtually and we hope to see you again in the near future.

Stay well, wash your hands, and thank you for being art lovers.

Sincerely,
Alice Phillips Swistel

Phillips at Home: Exploring a Tabletop

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Welcome to Phillips at Home!

I’m your host, Donna Jonte, Manager of Art and Wellness and Family Programs. I invite you and your family to spend time with works of art from The Phillips Collection, slowing down to look, think, wonder, and respond creatively.

Materials needed: A few pieces of paper (copy-paper size or larger), any drawing materials (pencil, crayon, marker, paint)

Time needed: 30-45 minutes

Designed for families with children ages 4-14

We are all in our homes and getting to know our surroundings really well. What do we learn when we compare the items on our tables with The Round Table by Georges Braque?

Let’s begin!

Georges Braque, The Round Table, 1929, Oil, sand, and charcoal on canvas, 57 3/8 x 44 3/4 in., The Phillips Collection, Acquired 1934

(STEP 1) With your family, find a comfortable place to sit together to look at Georges Braque’s The Round Table.

• Look at the image of The Round Table for 7 seconds.

• Now, turn away from your computer to talk with your family. What is one detail that caught your attention? Have a brief conversation about what you think the painting is about.

• Next, take a deep breath. Exhale slowly. Are you ready to look at the image again, slowly and silently for 30 more seconds? What will you notice this time?

• Can see details clearly? The table legs, the objects on the table, the shapes on the walls, the little details at the edge of the canvas. Notice colors, lines, and shapes. This might take you an entire minute. Look slowly and carefully.

• Can you see the entire painting on your screen? Look at the composition, or how the artist has arranged the items. Notice how much space is occupied by each object. Notice where your eye goes first and how the artist guides your eye through the painting. This might take another minute or so. Thank you for looking closely. Now it’s time to talk.

• Share observations with your family. You might want to make a collective list, writing down all the details you and your family noticed. Did someone in your family notice something that you did not? We all notice different things.

• What are some of your thoughts about this painting?

• What do you think about these objects? Are they familiar to you and your family? Which ones are unfamiliar or mysterious? Which object interests you the most?

• How might these objects be connected?

• What might these objects tell us about the person who uses them?

• What do you think about the marks and shapes on the wall behind the table? How might these marks connect (visually and thematically) to the objects on the table?

• Look at the way the tabletop tips up. Why might the artist have painted it this way?

• What do you wonder about the painting? What do you wonder about the artist and his process? Ask questions! Share your questions with your family. Like artists, we are curious. Ask another question!

 

(STEP 2) Thank you for looking closely, thinking about what you noticed, and being curious. Before we make art, let’s learn about artist Georges Braque.

The Round Table by Georges Braque on view at The Phillips Collection in 2013

• Georges Braque (French, 1882-1962) painted The Round Table in 1929. It’s a very large painting, almost 5 feet high and 4 feet wide. Maybe it is taller than you are!

• Braque loved music as much as he loved art. He was classically trained as a musician and played the violin, flute, and accordion. He was good friends with composer Erik Satie. Do you see a piece of sheet music on the table with fancy letters that might spell “SATIE”? Do you see a musical instrument? Do you like music too?

Detail of The Round Table

• Braque experimented with art methods just as Satie experimented with musical conventions. Braque added sand to his oil paint to give texture to the surface. In some places he left the canvas unpainted.

• Braque said, “You put a blob of yellow here, and another at the further edge of the canvas: straight away a rapport is established between them. Color acts in the way that music does.” Does this statement help you see his painting in a new way?

• Braque was also good friends with Pablo Picasso; together they invented a kind of art called Cubism. They liked to paint objects from many points of view at the same time! Cubist artists like to show an object from the side, the top, the front, the back—all at once. You can see that in The Round Table in the way the table top is tipped up, showing many views of the objects.

 

(STEP 3) Let’s get ready to sketch items on our tables. Remember, a sketch is like a rough draft in writing—it’s a no-pressure sort of drawing.

• Find paper and a writing tool—pencil, pen, marker, color pencil, crayon. Your choice!

• Before you make your first mark, ask yourself: Are you going to create a sketch of a table top in your home that you can see at this very moment? Will you sketch from observation?

• Or will you sketch from your imagination, drawing objects that are important to you but might not be on your table at this moment? What would the objects be? A musical instrument? Your favorite snack? A board game? Your cat? You choose!

• While you draw, you might want to listen to Erik Satie’s compositions.

• When you finish your sketch, give it a title.

• Discuss with your family the objects you drew, the title you chose, and the ways that Braque’s painting inspired you.

• Notice how different your sketches are, even if you drew the same objects on the same table.

 

(STEP 4) Now let’s look at the work of another artist who spent time at The Phillips Collection looking closely at paintings by Georges Braque and other artists: David Driskell (American, 1931-2020).

• David Driskell’s 1966 painting of a round table might remind us of Braque’s round table. Mr. Driskell was well respected for his scholarship on African American art, his teaching, his mentorship, his promotion of younger artists, and his paintings, prints, collages, and gardens. Sadly, Mr. Driskell recently passed away. We find joy in his legacy and the important works of art he left behind.

David Driskell, Still Life with Sunset, 1966, Oil on canvas, 48 x 32 in., Collection of Joseph and Lynne Horning, on view in Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition.

• Talk to your family about how Still Life with Sunset is similar to Braque’s The Round Table. How is it different? Remember that it is important to take your time to look closely. What do you see? What do you think? What do you wonder?

• We call art works such as The Round Table and Still Life with Sunset “still life” paintings, probably because the subject of the painting doesn’t move. Often still life paintings (or sketches or drawings) show everyday objects in our homes like fruit, books, pottery, or musical instruments.

• Driskell said about his painting: “Looking back to the 1960s, I used still life subjects as an avenue to seeing a union of household objects as beautiful forms blending in with the natural world. Here, the studio extended into the exterior space of the natural world, where the sunset gave flavor to a unified composition.” Listen to him talk about this work.

 

(STEP 5) Let’s make art. Inspired by Driskell’s painting, create another sketch.

• If you can, use a different art tool this time. If you used crayon before, try pencil. If you used paint, use an ink pen. Artists love to experiment.

• What colors will you use? What might you put in the background? Will you add a window, connecting inside and outside, as Driskell has?

• Give your sketch a title. Put your first and second sketches side by side. Share your thoughts with your family.

• Do you think spending time with objects in your home, as we are doing now, makes them more precious to you? Are you thinking about how you are connected to the objects inside the home and to the world outside the window?

 

Thank you for spending time with me. I’d love to see your creations. You may email photos of your art work to me at djonte@phillipscollection.org. Observe! Imagine! Make art!

Here is some more inspiration:

(left) Still life drawing from Georges Braque sketchbook, Archives Laurens (right) Georges Braque, Still Life, 1924, Charcoal and graphite on paper, Tate

Paper Flowers: Dinner Table, by Elana, age 11, Chevy Chase, MD

Kitchen Table, by Joyce, Arcata, CA, with photo of Joyce’s kitchen table

The guided looking sequence was adapted from Harvard’s Project Zero’s Thinking Routine “See-Think-Wonder.” Learn more about Visible Thinking Routines on the Project Zero website.