Phillips Flashback: June 1921

Duncan Phillips, "15 Best Purchases 1918-19; 15 Best Purchases Since Jan. 1920." Acquisitions list. Unpublished. From Phillips Collection Archives.

Duncan Phillips and his mother decide to found the Phillips Memorial Art Gallery, and Duncan begins to build a collection with this view. By June 1921, he publishes a checklist of the collection comprising some 230 titles. A handwritten note lists his “15 best purchases of 1918-1919,” including one work by Twachtman, two each by Monet and Weir, and Chardin’s A Bowl of Plums (c. 1728).  The note also includes his best purchases since January 1920. (Note that American painters Twachtman and Weir are listed before Monet.)