“Hundreds and Hundreds of Klees”

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Theodoros Stamos, Full Moon, 1948. Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. Gift of Peggy Davis Winston in memory of Thomas B. Winston, 1994

“I saw just hundreds of Klees, hundreds and hundreds. Between Nierendorf Gallery and the Buchholz’s Gallery there were just hundreds all the time with changing exhibitions.”—Theodoros Stamos

The son of Greek immigrants, Theodoros Stamos grew up on the Lower East Side of New York and exhibited an early talent for art, receiving a grant to attend the American Artists School at age 13. It was there that Stamos met artist Joseph Solman, an important mentor, whose own infectious love of Paul Klee was quickly instilled in his young protégé. Stamos not only recalled seeing “hundreds” of Klees on view regularly at New York’s commercial galleries, he also enjoyed physical contact with his art while working as a framer, handling paintings that Klee’s dealer brought to his 18th Street frame shop from 1941 to 1948.

This work is on view in Ten Americans: After Paul Klee through May 6, 2018.

Tuesday Tunes: A Playlist for Norman Lewis

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Norman Lewis, Untitled, 1947, Oil and sand on canvas, 33 7/8 × 20 in. Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY © Estate of Norman W. Lewis

Taking inspiration from the major theme of music in Ten Americans: After Paul Klee, we paired 11 staff members with 11 works from the exhibition and asked them to respond to create a playlist in response to their individual artwork. Amy Wike, Head of Marketing & Partnerships, created her playlist in response to Norman Lewis’s “Untitled.”

What immediately strikes me about this painting is the hazy but bright colors that give a luminous quality to an otherwise hauntingly dark work. In my playlist, you’ll find songs reminiscent of dusk, the twilight hour, and the ethereal.

Amy Wike, Head of Marketing & Partnerships

Feeling inspired? Create your own playlist based around works in the exhibition and send it to us at communications@phillipscollection.org and we may feature it on our blog and social media.

Baziotes,the Clown, and the Artist

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William Baziotes, Pierrot, 1947, Oil on canvas, 42 1/8 x 36 in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1984 © Estate of William Baziotes

By the time William Baziotes painted Pierrot, he had become active in the Surrealist circles in New York centered around Chilean émigré artist Roberto Matta. A regular at Matta’s studio, Baziotes joined his colleagues Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, and others, in making drawings using the method of automatic writing, a hallmark of Klee’s practice.

Baziotes adapted automatic writing to his drawing of the character Pierrot, who emerges from a few fluid lines and broad shapes of color that meld together against an ethereal turquoise and mauve background. In his whimsical portrayal of an eye encased within three concentric bands, Baziotes suggests that there may be more to the figure than “meets the eye.” For Baziotes as for Klee, the tragiccomic clown was analogous to the modern artist. “The clown is a romantic and classical image,” Baziotes said. “The artist doesn’t want to reveal his feelings directly so he presents himself in disguise. His clothes and gestures are gay and beautiful, his face is sad.”

This work is on view in Ten Americans: After Paul Klee through May 6, 2018.