“Spare a Dollar?”

An 1882 Morgan silver dollar

An 1882 Morgan silver dollar

Last week, we had an exciting gift in our visitor contribution box—an 1882 Morgan silver dollar!  The Morgan silver dollar was minted from 1878 to 1904 and again in 1921. Our gift was minted in Philadelphia and is in very fine condition. When minted, these coins had incredible purchasing power. A single dollar would allow you to sail from New York to Boston, and cowboys and railroad workers received these dollars as payment for a hard day’s work. It was a treat to find this unusual contribution, and we’d like to thank the anonymous donor!

Susan J. Nichols, Chief Operating Officer and Roberto Alcaraz, Museum Assistant

Painting the Wind

Harold Weston, Winds, Upper Ausable Lake, 1922

Harold Weston, Winds, Upper Ausable Lake, 1922. Oil on canvas, 16 1/8 x 22 3/16 in. Gift of Mrs. Harold Weston, 1981. The Phillips Collection, Washington DC.

This work by Harold Weston, part of the Made in the USA exhibition, captures the power of the wind in the pulsing ripples on the surface of the lake, bright morning sunlight glinting off each peak.

Tweeting Behind the Scenes of Made in the USA

To celebrate the opening of Made in the USA, we held a series of tweetups in the weeks leading up to the exhibition. Participants used #MyAmericanArt to share photos of their behind-the-scenes preview with friends. We started with a tour from exhibition curator Susan Behrends Frank:

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TWEETS (Clockwise from top left): “‘Everything is pushed to the corners.’ #myamericanart,” @sam_theriault; “Can a work of art be too realistic? People thought this one was at the time it was done. #MyAmericanArt,” @sbanks20; “Rockwell Kent went into nature to capture grittiness and drama: witness ‘The Road Roller.’ #myamericanart,” @museums365; “Great seeing 200+ old faves back from tour & home @PhillipsMuseum ‘Made in the USA,'” @efstewart; “Moving on to the Degrees of Abstraction room with Avery painting #myamericanart,” @jackievicino

Moved to the conservation lab to hear insights from Associate Conservator Patti Favero:

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TWEETS (Clockwise from top left): “In the conservation room @PhillipsMuseum! #MyAmericanArt,” @swahilary; “I would die for these @KremerPigments in the @PhillipsMuseum conservation studio. #MyAmericanArt,” @studio9201; “Our tweeters get a chance to look at a #Gauguin through the microscope #myamericanart,” @phillipsmuseum; “Restoration and conservation tools. #myamericanart #phillipscollection #art #dc,” @sam_theriault

Then pieced together our own masterpieces based on works from the exhibition:

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TWEETS (Clockwise from top left): “Now we’re making our own art! (With snacks) #myamericanart,” @philipsmuseum; “Before and after shot of collaborative art project at @PhillipsMuseum #myamericanart tweetup! You were a great host!” @danamuses; “Stefan Hirsch’s New York, Lower Manhattan, as interpreted by today’s #MyAmericanArt tweetup.” @Phillipsmuseum; “Before and after! #picstitch #myamericanart,” @VanitaKataria

See the rest of what our tweetup participants had to say on the Phillips’s Storify account, and join the conversation with #MyAmericanArt!