A Summer of Modern Art
Robert Ryman: Variations and Improvisations
Pousette-Dart: Predominantly White Paintings
Kate Shepherd: Relation to and yet not (homage to Mondrian)
Through September 12, 2010
The Phillips Collection
1600 21st Street, NW
Washington, D.C.
www.phillipscollection.org
This summer, The Phillips Collection presents Robert Ryman: Variations and Improvisations, the celebrated artist’s first major exhibition in Washington, featuring rarely seen white-on-white paintings; Pousette-Dart: Predominantly White Paintings, an exhibition of luminous, poetic works created nearly without paint; and the latest project in the Intersections contemporary art series, in which Kate Shepherd incorporates her paintings and sculptures to create an immersive environment in the Phillips former dining room.
Robert Ryman: Variations and Improvisations
Through September 12, 2010
Robert Ryman (b. 1930) is an American painter best known for abstract, white-on-white paintings. This exhibition presents Ryman’s ongoing examination of painting as both medium and process with endless variations in materials and methods. It brings together 26 small-scale paintings that are drawn from private collections, some of which have rarely been shown in the U.S. It is the first solo presentation of Ryman’s work in the Washington area.
A 32-page book with 16 color illustrations accompanies the exhibition. Robert Ryman: Variations and Improvisations, published by The Phillips Collection, features an interview with the artist and essay by Vesela Sretenovic, the exhibition curator.
Robert Ryman: Variations and Improvisation is organized by The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Pousette-Dart: Predominantly White Paintings
Through September 12, 2010
In the early 1950s, Richard Pousette-Dart (1916–1992) created a series of paintings nearly without paint, using graphite and oil on canvas to produce works both complex and spare. These luminous and poetic works are filled with symbolic imagery and natural forms, and represent a dramatic departure from the artist’s more characteristic richly colored and thickly painted surfaces. This exhibition of 23 paintings and works on paper, as well as four sculptures, marks the first time in over 50 years that a significant number of these works are on view.
A 64-page book with 31 illustrations accompanies the exhibition. Pousette-Dart: Predominantly White Paintings, published by The Phillips Collection, features essays by David Anfam, art historian, and Carter Ratcliff, poet and contributing editor of Art in America.
Pousette-Dart: Predominantly White Paintings is organized by The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Kate Shepherd: Relation to and yet not (homage to Mondrian)
Through September 5, 2010
Kate Shepherd is best known for large, vertical, mostly monochrome paintings in hi-gloss enamel on wooden panels. Using intense colors, delicate lines, and multiple perspectives, she suggests structures and patterns—wallpaper, steps, lace, a cage, for example—that create illusionary three-dimensional space. Her work in the former dining room of the Phillips house incorporates painting and sculpture and focuses on architectural details, while paying homage to work by Mondrian in the permanent collection.
Shepherd earned a BA from Oberlin College in Ohio and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where she lives and works. She has had numerous solo exhibitions and her work is featured in the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Part of Intersections contemporary art series, in which artists respond to artworks and spaces in The Phillips Collection with their own projects.
Tickets
Available at the museum and www.phillipscollection.org
Museum Hours
Tuesday–Sunday: 10 am–5 pm
Sunday: 11 am–6 pm
Thursday extended hours: 5–8:30 pm
Closed Mondays and Independence Day
1600 21st Street, NW, Washington, D.C.
Dupont Circle Metro (Q Street exit)
202-387-2151
www.phillipscollection.org
