Headless Torsos & White Wine: Attending My First Exhibition Opening at the Phillips

Posted on by

Curatorial Intern Jason Rosenberg on his experience at the opening of Marta Pérez García: Restos Traces.

White walls and silence: across all the museums I’ve visited, these have been the unifying attributes. This familiar atmosphere of peace and introspection provides a powerful juxtaposition to the vibrancy of the works on view; by removing all distractions, a deeper level of understanding can presumably be more easily achieved. And yet, this set-up always felt characteristically out of place—somehow at odds with the lively scholarly debates endemic to the evolution of the art historical field. If the entire purpose of art is to spark dialogue and call attention to pressing societal issues, why are audiences being so quiet?

Joining The Phillips Collection this spring as a Curatorial Intern, I longed to be a part of an institution actively working to shatter this passive normative practice in the art world. Given the opportunity to professionally shadow the Director for Contemporary Art Initiatives Vesela Sretenović, I quickly recognized our shared connection and desire to make art accessible—envisioning a world in which exhibitions stay open far past 5 pm, feature texts understood by all skill-levels, and promote a bustling immersive communal experience within the confines of the gallery and beyond.

Having little to no prior experience to go off of, I attended my first exhibition opening this past March. Throughout the planning and installation process, I began to recognize the series of variables that need to align in order for an event like this to be successful. The Intersections project Restos-Traces by Marta Pérez García centers around a series of nearly 20 headless female torsos—many of which are in muted in color and altered to comment on the prevalence of domestic violence. I wondered: how would audiences react? Would the room be celebratory or somber? Would people show up on a Thursday night?

Marta Pérez García and Jason Rosenberg and scenes from the exhibition opening

Surrounded by cups of white wine and dozens of strangers in suits, I quickly realized there was no reason to worry. Making my way through the bustling crowds of lively and diverse groups of visitors in attendance, all pretenses began to dissipate. The once banal white walls were substituted with Pérez García’s work hanging from the ceiling; silence was replaced with staggering conversation; audiences interacted with rare cordiality. As my mentor and exhibition curator Vesela interviewed the artist, I began to see the profound impact one’s research and hard work can have on otherwise disjointed populations. Joining the crowd in awe, I caught a glimpse of what museums have the potential to be: a place of widespread connection and celebration.

As a first-time attendee, this opening celebration was of special personal significance from the get-go; after years of studying artistic theory through textbooks, it felt surreal to watch a living artist debut their work in-person. No longer did I need to flip through heaps of journal articles to answer a question; there was no need to track down secondary sources. Rather, I was living through the history—the artist was alive and present. Like many others that night, I felt part of something greater; despite being strangers, our shared collective passion for the arts was able to transcend through trivial boundaries and foster a rare environment of unity.

As the first fully in-person Intersections opening following the onset of COVID-19, this gathering signified a powerful spirit of resilience; like García’s encircling torsos, Restos-Traces embodies perseverance and endurance through one’s circumstances, acknowledging humility and a desire to smile along the way.

From the Archives: Barnett Aden Gallery and The Phillips Collection

Posted on by

Through archival materials, Associate Curator Renée Maurer explores the rich relationship between The Phillips Collection and Barnett Aden Gallery.

The groundbreaking Barnett Aden Gallery, the first Black-owned commercial art gallery in the United States, opened at 127 Randolph Place NW on October 16, 1943. It was founded in the private home of James V. Herring, director of the Howard University art department and Alonzo Aden, former curator of the Howard University Gallery of Art. Alma Thomas was the gallery’s primary funder and vice president. Herring and Aden, who frequently collaborated with Duncan Phillips, modeled the Barnett Aden Gallery on Phillips’s conviction that art should be enjoyed in an intimate setting. Phillips described his museum as “a home for all those who love art [where] visitors will feel inclined to linger and to return again.” Inspired by these ideas, the inaugural show at Barnett Aden was called Art for the Home. The gallery displayed works by artists of diverse backgrounds and upheld the belief that art should be available to everyone. It endorsed living artists who were not yet established and sold small-scale works for the starting collector. Visitors from across the city attended the gallery’s racially diverse exhibitions and educational programs. The gallery became a destination for cultural exchange and discourse, and the art openings were among the few interracial social events in the city.

Many local and up-and-coming painters were given their first group or solo show at the Barnett Aden Gallery. The Phillipses and the museum staff offered support by loaning paintings, purchasing art, and attending exhibitions. For example, from April to May of 1946, the Barnett Aden hosted Loïs Mailou Jones’s first solo show. Duncan Phillips lent Place du Tertre, 1938, which he had purchased from Jones in 1944. The painting was prominently featured in the brochure, below.

Brochure for Loïs Mailou Jones exhibition at Barnett Aden Gallery

The Barnett Aden Gallery also hosted Irene Rice Pereira’s first solo exhibition, from December 1948 to January 1949. The Phillipses attended the opening and made their first acquisition from the gallery, Pereira’s Transversion, 1946. Aden thanked Duncan Phillips in a letter dated February 17, 1949: “The members of the staff of the Gallery and I wish to express deep appreciation of yours and Mrs. Phillips’s visit and of your willingness to purchase the painting of I. Rice Pereira. We hope that you will continue to enjoy it more during the coming years.” The receipt below reveals the $650 purchase price for the work.

Letter from Alonzo Aden to Duncan Phillips about Irene Rice Pereira painting and purchase receipt

For the Barnett Aden’s 10th anniversary show Eighteen Washington Artists, the Phillipses lent Fish by Robert Gates. Duncan and Marjorie attended the exhibition with staff and kept this brochure.

The Barnett Aden Gallery 10th Anniversary brochure

On May 2, 1954, Aden wrote a letter of thanks to Phillips and enclosed a newspaper clipping from The Washington Star, which relayed details from the 10th anniversary exhibition opening. Aden noted that The Phillips Collection’s loan was prominently featured in one of the images in the article.

[Transcript: Dear Mr. Phillips, As I send this article for you to see, I am reminded of many kindnesses which you and your gallery have extended us. The painting shown in the background of the lower photographs is the Robert Gates “Fish” which you were so kind to lend for our tenth anniversary show. With grateful appreciation. Sincerely, Alonzo J. Aden]

At the gallery opening, The Washington Star reviewer highlighted the art of Jones and Pereira, who stands by her piece and next to Aden in the top right photo.

The Washington Star review

Painting Native Land

Posted on by

Sherman Fairchild Fellow Gary Calcagno on why Native voices are necessary in representing the land we occupy. Join us on April 7 for a discussion about Indigenous arts with Dr. Jolene Rickard (Tuscarora) Lisa Myers (Beausoleil First Nation).

Spring is a time of renewal and a chance to smell blossoming flowers, hear the chirping birds, and bask in warming weather. In Washington, DC, the cherry blossoms are a yearly event drawing crowds from all over and inspiring painters like Marjorie Phillips who depicted the Tidal Basin with the flowering cherry blossoms. The land around us has inspired artistic representation from time immemorial with movements like the Hudson River School being a notable American example situated in the Northeast. Artists across the U.S. have represented American soil in varying ways.

Georgia O’Keeffe, for example, is an artist who often painted the land of Taos, New Mexico, where she remained in the latter years of her life. In Ranchos Church, No. II, NM, O’Keeffe depicts the San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church, a Spanish church completed in the turn of the 18th century during Spanish colonization. O’Keeffe captures the undulating adobe facade that blends with the beige earth creating an abstracted view of the church. The church also sits on the land of the Taos Pueblo people and incorporates the commonly used adobe of the region that creates the iconic landscape of Taos, New Mexico.

Georgia O’Keeffe, Ranchos Church, No. II, N.M., 1929, Oil on canvas, 24 1/8 x 36 1/8 in., The Phillips Collection, Acquired 1930; © The Phillips Collection

However, our relationship to the land is much more than the flowers, birds, and earth. The Phillips Collection sits on the unceded and ancestral lands of the Piscataway and Anocostan peoples of the region. Decolonizing the museum is a movement that seeks to undo the colonial violence of museum institutions. While no strategy is one size fits all, the Abbe Museum in Maine offers, for example, “at a minimum, sharing authority for the documentation and interpretation of Native culture.” When artists paint landscapes, what is often left out is the Indigenous presence, a byproduct of colonial violence.

Bringing in Native voices into museum spaces is thus a vital step in decolonizing institutions. Indigenous perspectives are necessary in rewriting narratives that have left out the very people whose land we occupy. As part of the collaboration between The Phillips Collection and the University of Maryland, we are excited for the next installment in the Antiracism: Communities + Collaborations series which will be hosted virtually on Thursday, April 7, at 6 pm EST. Dr. Jolene Rickard (Tuscarora) from Cornell University will be in conversation with Lisa Myers (Beausoleil First Nation) discussing Indigenous arts and decolonizing action. For more information and Zoom registration links, see the event page on our website.