Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from The

Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
Il progetto espositivo Conversazioni: Capolavori impressionisti e moderni dalla Phillips
Collection propone una rassegna di circa sessanta capolavori dall’omonima collezione
americana, organizzati secondo un taglio curatoriale che esalta la specifica linea modernista su
cui si fonda la prestigiosa raccolta americana.
Fondata all’inizio del secolo dal critico-collezionista Duncan Phillips (1886-1966) sulla base di
una raccolta di famiglia, la collezione fu incrementata da una poderosa campagna di acquisti nel
corso dei primi tre decenni del secolo e costantemente ampliata fino al presente. L’intenzione
primaria di Duncan Phillips fu quella di sviluppare una collezione non limitandosi all’accumulo
di nuove accessioni, ma seguendo l’idea guida di un “museo di arte moderna e delle sue fonti”.
Ovvero un’istituzione a carattere pubblico-educativo che presentasse negli Stati Uniti l’arte
moderna articolandola secondo una precisa linea di sviluppo.
Ferma convinzione del collezionista, in parte confluita nella critica novecentesca, era l’idea che
il pensiero artistico moderno non fosse una “invenzione” contemporanea nata ex-abrupto ma il
frutto di un rapporto di influenze tra artisti attraverso i secoli; in questo modo, momenti
“rivoluzionari” della storia dell’arte del passato venivano inclusi in tale linea di sviluppo in
quanto germi di un pensiero innovativo.
E’ questo il senso della presenza, alle origini della collezione, di artisti più antichi “prelevati”
dalla storia dell’arte come figure ispiratrici della pittura contemporanea: El Greco inteso come
“il primo espressionista”, Chardin definito “primo pittore moderno”, Goya, considerato nella
sua produzione romantica come anello di congiunzione tra gli antichi maestri e i grandi
innovatori della pittura francese come Cézanne; Manet, a sua volta tramite tra il romanticismo di
Goya e le derivazioni fauves dell’impressionismo sviluppate da Gauguin e Matisse.
Sulla base di queste premesse, il progetto articola le opere selezionate in sei sezioni:
Classicismo, Romanticismo e Realismo, dove alcuni dipinti dei suddetti ‘predecessori’ (El
Greco, Goya, Chardin, Ingres,) fanno da sfondo alle opere di primo Ottocento francese (Corot,
Courbet Delacroix, Fantin-Latour)
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Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
Impressionismo e post-Impressionismo, (Cézanne, van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Sisley, Morisot)
Parigi moderna, in cui sono presentate le prime avanguardie e alcuni dei loro sviluppi (Picasso,
Utrillo, Rousseau, Modigliani, Gris, Braque, Dufy)
Intimismo e Modernismo, che illustra con una selezione di altissima qualità il versante lirico e
introspettivo del post-impressionismo, con uno sguardo già rivolto al Simbolismo (Bonnard,
Vouillard, Morandi)
Espressionismo (Kandinsky, Kokoshka), Soutine, Rouault)
Espressionismo astratto (Pollock, Rothko, Diebenkorn, Vieira da Silva, Guston)
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Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
Classicism, Romanticism, and Realism
1. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867)
The Small Bather, 1826
Oil on canvas
12 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. (32.7 x 25.1 cm)
Acquired 1948
2. Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824–1898)
The Wine Press, c. 1865
Oil on canvas
18 1/2 x 13 5/8 in. (47 x 34.6 cm)
Acquired 1920
3. El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (1541 – 1614)
The Repentant St. Peter, 1600 - 1605 or later,
Oil on canvas
36 7/8 x 29 5/8 in.; 93.7 x 75.2 cm.
Acquired 1922
4. Francisco José de Goya (1746–1828)
The Repentant St. Peter, c. 1820–1824
Oil on canvas
28 3/4 x 25 1/4 in. (73 x 64.1 cm)
Acquired 1936
5. John Constable (1776–1837)
On the River Stour, c. 1834–37
Oil on canvas
24 x 31 in. (61x 78.7 cm)
Acquired 1925
6. Antoine-Félix Boisselier (1790–1857)
View of Lake Nemi, 1811
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
13 x 19 in. (33 x 48.3 cm)
Gift of Mrs. John Jay Ide, 1996
7. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1875)
View from the Farnese Gardens, Rome, 1826
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
9 5/8 x 15 3/4 in. (24.5 x 40 cm)
Acquired 1942
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Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
8. Gustave Courbet (1819–1877)
Rocks at Mouthier, c. 1855
Oil on canvas
9 3/4 x 46 in. (75.6 x 116.8 cm)
Acquired 1925
9. Edouard Manet (1819–1877)
The Spanish Ballet, 1862
Oil on canvas
24 x 35 5/8 in. (601 x 90.5 cm)
Acquired 1928
10. Ferdinand-Victor-Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863)
Horses Coming Out of the Sea, 1860
Oil on canvas
20 1/4 x 24 1/4 in. (51.4 x 61.6 cm)
Acquired 1945
11. Honoré Daumier (1808–1879)
The Uprising (L'Emeute), 1848 or later
Oil on canvas
34 1/2 x 44 1/2 in. (87.6 x 113 cm)
Acquired 1925
12. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1875)
Genzano, 1843
Oil on canvas
14 1/8 x 22 1/2 in. (35.9 x 57.2 cm)
Acquired 1955
13. Henri Fantin-Latour (1836–1904)
Peaches, 1869
Oil on canvas
7 1/2 x 11 in. (19.1 x 27.9 cm)
Gift of Laughlin and Jennifer Phillips, 2008
14. Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (1834–1917)
Melancholy, late 1860s
Oil on canvas
7 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. (19.05 x 24.765 cm)
Acquired 1941
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Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
15. Alfred Sisley (1839-1899)
Snow at Louveciennes, 1874
Oil on canvas
22 x 18 in. (55.9 x 45.7 cm)
Acquired 1923
16. Claude Monet (1840–1926)
The Road to Vétheuil, 1879
Oil on canvas
23 3/8 x 28 5/8 in. (59.4 x 72.7 cm)
Acquired 1920
17. Paul Cézanne (1839–1906)
Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1886 – 1887
Oil on canvas
23 1/2 x 28 1/2 in. (59.7 x 72.4 cm)
Acquired 1925
18. Paul Cézanne (1839–1906)
Self-Portrait, 1878 - 1880
Oil on canvas
23 3/4 x 18 1/2 in. (60.33 x 46.99 cm)
Acquired 1928
19. Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
House at Auvers, 1890
Oil on canvas
19 1/8 x 24 3/4 in. (48.6 x 62.9 cm)
Acquired 1952
20. Adolphe Monticellli (1824-1886)
Bouquet, c. 1875
Oil on wood panel
27 1/4 x 19 3/8 in. (69.2 x 49.2 cm)
Acquired 1961
21. Berthe Morisot (1841–1895)
Two Girls, c. 1894
Oil on canvas
25 5/8 x 21 1/4 in. (65 x 54 cm)
Acquired 1925
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Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
22. Odilon Redon (1840-1916)
Mystery, c. 1910
Oil on canvas
28 3/4 x 21 3/8 in. (73 x 54.3 cm)
Acquired 1925
23. Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (1834–1917)
Dancers at the Barre, c. 1900
Oil on canvas
51 1/4 x 38 1/2 in. (130.2 x 97.8 cm)
Acquired 1944
Paris Modern
24. Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Blue Room, 1901
Oil on canvas
19 7/8 x 24 1/4 in. (50.5 x 61.6 cm)
Acquired 1927
25. Henri Rousseau (1844–1910)
Notre Dame, 1909
Oil on canvas
12 7/8 x 16 1/8 in. (32.7 x 41 cm)
Acquired 1930
26. Maurice Utrillo (1883–1955)
Place du Tertre, 1911
Oil on cardboard
21 3/8 x 28 7/8 in. (54.3 x 73.3 cm)
Acquired 1953
27. Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947)
Movement of the Street, c. 1907
Oil on canvas
14 x 19 1/4 in. (35.6 x 48.9 cm)
Acquired 1931
28. Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947)
Circus Rider, 1894
Oil on cardboard on wood panel
10 5/8 x 13 3/4 in. (27 x 34.9 cm)
Acquired 1947
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Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
29. Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920)
Elena Povolozky, 1917
Oil on canvas
25 1/2 x 19 1/8 in. (64.8 x 48.6 cm)
Acquired 1949
30. Juan Gris (1887–1927)
Still Life with Newspaper, 1916
Oil on canvas
29 x 23 3/4 in. (73.7 x 60.3 cm)
Acquired 1950
31. Georges Braque (1882-1963)
Still Life with Grapes and Clarinet, 1927
Oil on canvas
21 1/4 x 28 3/4 in. (54 x 73 cm)
Acquired 1929
32. Raoul Dufy (1877–1953)
The Artist's Studio, 1935
Oil on canvas
47 x 58 7/8 in. (119.4 x 149.6 cm)
Acquired 1944
33. Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Bullfight, 1934
Oil on canvas
19 5/8 x 25 3/4 in. (49.8 x 65.4 cm)
Acquired 1937
34. Georges Rouault (1871–1958)
Christ and the High Priest, ca. 1937
Oil on canvas
18 7/8 x 12 7/8 in. (47.9425 x 32.7025 cm)
Acquired 1940
35. Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Woman with Green Hat, 1939
Oil on canvas
25 5/8 x 19 3/4 in. (65 x 50.2 cm)
Gift of the Carey Walker Foundation, 1994
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Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
Intimism and Modernism
36. Edouard Vuillard (1868–1940)
The Newspaper, between 1896 and 1898
Oil on cardboard
12 3/4 x 21 in. (32.4 x 53.3 cm)
Acquired 1929
37. Edouard Vuillard (1868–1940)
Nurse with a Child in a Sailor Suit, 1895,
Oil on cardboard
9 5/8 x 9 7/8 in. (24.45 x 25.08 cm)
Acquired 1939.
38. Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947)
Early Spring, 1908
Oil on canvas
34 1/4 x 52 in. (87 x 132.1 cm)
Acquired 1925
39. Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947)
Children and Cat, 1909
Oil on canvas
21 1/2 x 27 3/8 in. (54.6 x 69.5 cm)
Acquired 1927
40. Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947)
Nude in an Interior, circa 1935
Oil on canvas
28 3/4 x 19 3/4 in. (73 x 50.2 cm)
Acquired 1952
41. Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947)
The Riviera, c. 1923
Oil on canvas
31 1/8 x 30 3/8 in. (79.1 x 77.2 cm)
Acquired 1928
42. Raoul Dufy (1877–1953)
Joinville, 1938
Oil on canvas
14 3/4 x 36 in. (37.5 x 91.4 cm)
Acquired 1940
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Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
43. Ben Nicholson (1894–1982)
Still Life, March 17, 1950, 1950
Oil on canvas
22 x 24 in. (55.9 x 61 cm)
Acquired 1956
44. Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964)
Still Life, 1950
Oil on canvas
14 1/8 x 18 5/8 in. (35.9 x 47.3 cm)
Acquired 1957
45. Georges Braque (1882-1963)
The Philodendron, 1952
Oil on canvas
51 1/4 x 29 1/8 in. (130.2 x 74 cm)
Acquired 1953
Nature and Expressionism
46. Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944)
Autumn II, 1912
Oil and oil washes on canvas
23 7/8 x 32 1/2 in. (60.6 x 82.6 cm)
Acquired 1945
47. Arthur G. Dove (1880–1946)
Red Barge, 1931
Oil on canvas
30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm)
Acquired 1933
48. Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980)
Courmayeur et les Dents des Géants, 1927
Oil on canvas
35 1/2 x 52 in. (90.2 x 132.1 cm)
Acquired 1940
49. Chaim Soutine (1893–1943)
The Pheasant, c. 1926–1927
Oil on canvas
21 1/4 x 29 3/4 in. (54 x 75.6 cm)
Acquired 1951
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Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
50. Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986)
Red Hills, Lake George, 1927
Oil on canvas
27 x 32 in. (68.6 cm x 81.3 cm)
Acquired 1945
51. Georges Rouault (1871–1958)
Afterglow, Galilee, by 1930
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
19 3/4 x 25 5/8 in. (50.2 x 65.1 cm)
Acquired 1939
Abstract Expressionism
52. Jackson Pollock (b. 1919)
Composition, c. 1938-41
Oil on canvas
17 1/2 x 25 3/4 in. (44.5 x 65.4 cm)
Gift of Judith H. Miller, 1990
53. Nicolas de Staël (1914–1955)
Fugue, 1951–1952
Oil on canvas
31 3/4 x 39 1/2 in. (80.7 x 100.3 cm)
Acquired 1952
54. Maria Elena Vieira Da Silva (1908–1992)
Easels, 1960
Oil on canvas
45 1/4 x 53 7/8 in. (114.9 x 136.8 cm)
Acquired 1961
55. Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993)
Berkeley No. 1, 1953
Oil on canvas
60 1/4 x 52 3/4 in. (153 x 134 cm)
Gift of Gifford and Joann Phillips, 1977
56. Mark Rothko (1903-1970)
Untitled, 1968
Acrylic on paper mounted on hardboard
23 3/16 x 18 11/16 in. (60.5 x 47.5 cm)
Gift of the Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1985
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Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
57. Morris Louis (1912-1962)
Number 182, 1961
Acrylic on unprimed canvas
82 1/4 x 33 1/4 in (208.9 x 84.5 cm)
Acquired 1963
58. Adolph Gottlieb (1903–1974)
Equinox, 1963
Oil on canvas
90 x 84 in. (228.6 x 213.4 cm)
Acquired 1963
59. Philip Guston (1912–1980)
The Lesson, 1975
Oil on canvas
67 1/4 x 72 1/2 in. (170.8 x 184.2 cm)
Gift of Musa Mayer and Musa Guston, 1984
60. Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993)
Ocean Park no. 38, 1971
Oil on canvas
100 3/16 x 81 in. (254.5 x 205.7 cm)
Gift of Gifford and Joann Phillips, 1999
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Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from
The Phillips Collection
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