'Alma Thomas' leaving The Phillips Sunday

     

Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948), Portrait of Alma Thomas, ca. 1945, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Vincent Melzac.  The Smithsonian's label differs from the one at the Phillips whose label copy says the title is Portrait of a Lady, painted in 1947.  Two different paintings?  They look the same.  You decide!

Alma W. Thomas, Grandfather's House, 1952, The Columbus Museum, gift of Miss John Maurice Thomas, Alma Thomas's sister.

Alma W. Thomas, Orangery, 1973, Newark Museum of Art, gift of Harold Hart. The label copy says Alma Thomas's student, Harold Hart, tended her yard and exhibited her works in New York when he was director of the Martha Jackson Gallery.  The title may refer to Dumbarton Oaks in Washington which Ms. Thomas often visited and/or Claude Monet's paintings she saw when she visited the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. 

Visitors at Everything is Beautiful at The Phillips/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Alma W. Thomas, Red Roses Sonata (detail), 1972, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Longview Foundation, Inc. Ms. Thomas attended concerts at The Phillips and credited rock and roll with many of her titles.

Alma W. Thomas, Mars Reflection (detail),  1972, The CIA. Ms. Thomas found inspiration in a dust storm on Mars which, in 1971, delayed images from a U.S. spacecraft, the first to orbit another planet besides Earth.

Elka M. Stevens (b. 1968), re-creation of the dress designed by Maceo E. McCray for Alma Thomas's Fisk University and Whitney Museum exhibition openings, loaned by The Columbus Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Alma Thomas, Christmas Menu, U.S. Veterans Hospital, Tuskegee, AL, 1935. Ms. Thomas's mother and aunts taught at or graduated from Tuskegee. Ms. Thomas's students made holiday cards for patients at the hospital. 

Alma W. Thomas, Historical Costume Studies, 1922, The Columbus Museum, gift of Miss John Maurice Thomas, in memory of her parents and sister, Alma Thomas. The label copy says Alma Thomas learned clothing design from her mother, a professional seamstress.  At Howard University, Alma Thomas enrolled in the Department of Home Economics but was guided to the new fine arts department by a professor.

Alma W. Thomas, They Laid Him in the Tomb, c. 1958, Paolo Luptak

Alma W. Thomas, Sketch for March on Washington, c. 1963 or 1964 (depending upon the source), The Columbus Museum, gift of Miss John Maurice Thomas, in memory of her parents and sister, Alma Thomas. Although Alma Thomas seldom participated in political movements, she marched on August 28, 1963 with her sister and thousands of others, including Josephine Baker, Lena Horne, and Paul Newman. A detail of this painting became a U.S. postage stamp in 2005.

Alma Thomas's home at 1530 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC, now on the National Register of Historic Places. An earlier occupant was Rosetta Douglass-Sprague, daughter of Frederick Douglass/photo by Kurt Kaiser, March 10, 2020, Wikimedia  

The dress on the left is a recreation of Alma Thomas's house dress made by Elka M. Stevens (b. 1968) loaned by The Columbus Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Whoa!

For those who think it's too late, those do not know about Alma Thomas, DC celebrated artist extraordinaire who didn't really get her start until her 70s, after she retired from 35* years of teaching which then gave her time to "blossom."

Which she did at her own home, gazing outside her windows to see magnificent gifts of nature presented in dazzling array which often became part of her paintings which evolved into astonishing vertical lines of bright colors.

Her vehicle to happiness, she said, was color which is where her works take viewers.

Said Ms. Thomas: "Through color I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness in my painting rather than on man's inhumanity to man....Color is life, and light is the mother of color."

Alma Thomas (1891-1978) was an abstractionist who enjoyed many firsts: At age 81, she became the first black woman to enjoy a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of America Art; she was the first fine arts  graduate at Howard University.

She never abandoned learning, earning a master's from Columbia University and traveling to larger cities and museums to absorb their sights and treasures. 

After her retirement, she made her art debut at Howard in 1966 and at age 75, her career took off.

She was born in Columbus, Georgia but moved to Washington with her family when she was 16, to a house where Ms. Thomas lived the rest of her life (and is now on the National Register of Historic Places). 

Like springtime's bouquet which inspired her, Ms. Thomas brings us the same stimulating colors and bright canvases to the Phillips Collection exhibition in contrast with the dark and cold winter.

Read the labels and learn that the show is much more than art:  It sheds light on the many achievements by Ms. Thomas who resisted being categorized as a "black" or a "woman" artist.  Let art stand on its own, she said. Note how her styles changed over the years.

In a private transaction last year, Wikipedia says her painting Alma's Flower Garden sold for $2.8 million.  You  don't have to be a youngster or a rich world traveler to claim success: You just have to keep up with what you love to do!  

You see what art can do!

I don't know anyone who thinks the show is anything less than fantastic.  

*(or 38, depending upon the source) 

What: Alma W. Thomas:  Everything is Beautiful

When: Through Sunday, January 23, 2022, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Where: The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St., N.W. at Q St., Washington, D.C. 20009

Admission: $16, adults; $12 for those over 62; $10, students and educators (with ID); free for members and for children 18 and under. Timed tickets are required, but members may walk in at any time. Visitors 12 and over must show proof of vaccination or a same-day negative COVID-19 test upon entry, along with a government-issued photo ID for visitors 16 and over.

Metro Station: Dupont Circle (Q Street exit. Turn left and walk one block.)

For more information: 202-387-2151


Patricialesli@gmail.com

One more weekend to see 'David Driskell' at the Phillips

David Driskell (1931-2020), Young Pines Growing (detail), 1959, Clark Atlanta University Art Museum.  Driskell entered this work in the 18th Atlanta University Annual juried competition where it won the John Hope Purchase Award for best landscape.  Driskell was then teaching at Talladega College in Alabama.

An exhibition of works by David Driskell, one of the world's leading experts on African-American art, will close this weekend at the Phillips Collection. 

The Driskill exhibition, titled Icons of Nature and History, is presented in conjunction with a show on Alma W. Thomas, both presentations which engender such enthusiasm that one of my friends is leading a return to the museum to see them again. (Ms. Thomas closes Jan. 23, 2022.) 

The Phillips says its exhibition is the first comprehensive showing of Driskell's art spanning the 1950s to 2000 and includes more than 50 of his works, colorful, modern, uplifting, amazing, to use adjectives mildly. 

David Driskell (1931-2020), Pine and Moon, 1971, Portland (ME) Museum of Art

Driskill was a distinguished emeritus professor at the University of Maryland and taught there from 1976-1998. In 2001 the school established the David C. Driskell Center  for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African-Americans.

With degrees from Howard University (1955), and Catholic University (1962), Driskell was awarded nine honorary doctorates. In 2000 President Bill Clinton presented him and 11 others with a Presidential Medal as one of 12 recipients of the National Humanities Medal. 

David Driskell (1931-2020), Self-Portrait, 1953, Estate of David C. Driskell, Maryland

This is one of many "psychological self-portraits" Driskell painted, this one when he was a student at Howard University.  Compare it to the one below when he was three years older.

David Driskell (1931-2020), Self-Portrait, 1956, Estate of David C. Driskell, Maryland

David Driskell (1931-2020), Upward Bound, 1980, High Museum of Art. Driskell wanted to emulate his mother's quilting but she told him boys didn't quilt so "I slipped behind her back and made quilts. Now I am making them with my canvases." (1997)

In 2005, the High Museum in Atlanta established the David C. Driskell Prize to honor and celebrate contributions to the field of African American art and art history.

While mentoring and teaching hundreds of students over his lifetime, Driskell promoted, researched and wrote about African-American art.

David Driskell (1931-2020), City Quartet, 1953, David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland. The label copy says this work shows influences of his mentors, Jack Levine and Lois Mailou Jones. The man on the left may be Driskell who painted this when he was 23.

David Driskell (1931-2020), Black Ghetto, 1968-70, Fisk University (oil and mixed media on canvas). The label copy quotes from a 1999 statement by the artist:  "The composition is an autobiographical reflection on my own childhood, one in which I look out into the larger world from beyond my narrowly confined abode.  Black Ghetto also addresses the issue of having to confront life in America along lines of color and race."

David Driskell (1931-2020), Memories of a Distant Past, 1975, private collection. According to the High Museum:  "This painting repurposes material published in the January 7, 1969, edition of Look—a special issue: The Blacks and the Whites. Driskell used pictorial imagery from the essay titled 'Black America’s African Heritage.'" He often employed collage art in the 1960s and 1970s; Look magazine was a favorite source.

David Driskell (1931-2020), Let the Church Roll On, 1995–96, Bowdoin College Museum of Art.  The label copy says the church's hovering angel is a reminder of Driskell's heritage including that of his father who drew angels and the enduring black church which was an important part of his life.

He curated more than 35 exhibition which featured Jabob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and others. He advised Oprah Winfrey on her collection and guided the Clintons to the first art work by a black artist to hang at the White House (Henry Ossawa Tanner's Sand Dunes at Sunset: Atlantic City, 1885). 

 

Driskell was born in Eatonton, GA in 1931, lived for many years in North Carolina and Maine, and died from covid-19 complications in Washington, D.C. in 2020.  

Washington's winter weather should lift this weekend for Driskell's final show at the Phillips, "America's first museum of modern art."

 

What: David Driskell: Icons of Nature and History

When: Through Sunday, January 9, 2022, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Where: The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St., N.W. at Q St., Washington, D.C. 20009

Admission: $16, adults; $12 for those over 62; $10, students and educators (with ID); free for members and for children 18 and under. Timed tickets are required, but members may walk in at any time. Visitors 12 and over must show proof of vaccination or a same-day negative COVID-19 test upon entry, along with a government-issued photo ID for visitors 16 and over. 

Metro Station: Dupont Circle (Q Street exit. Turn left and walk one block.)

For more information: 202-387-2151  


Patricialesli@gmail.com

Interview with Klaus Ottmann for the Phillips' 'Nordic Impressions'

Oda Krohg (1860-1935), A Subscriber to the Evening Post, 1887, The National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design, Oslo.  The Phillips' wall text said, "one of the earliest examples of social critique to include the image of a child in art."  This is the artist's child, Nana, 2, cutting up a conservative newspaper which criticized intellectuals' life styles, namely that of the artist and her husband, Christian, who resisted bourgeois society.

You may have missed the eclectic, broad survey of 200 years of art at Nordic Impressions which closed Sunday at the Phillips Collection to which we give utmost thanks for opening its doors at no charge to federal employees during the Trump Shutdown. 


Pictured here are most of my favorites from the show which all tend to be styled more or less in the same manner, and it is interesting that without paying much attention to the artist's gender, I chose many by female artists, many who seem to represent the same time period. Anyway...

Impressions included 53 artists from Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the self-governing islands of Åland, Faroe, and Greenland.

Helmer Osslund (1866-1938), A Summer Evening at Lake Kallsjon, 1910, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Paintings and video installations of Nordic lights and darks highlighted the show of landscapes and melancholic portraits, self exploration, and works of women's rights and social liberalism.

The exhibition was years in the making, beginning after the successful run of the 2013 Nordic Cool exhibition at the Kennedy Center.

Mamma Andersson (b. 1962), Behind the Curtain, 2014, collection of the artist

Harriet Backer (1845-1932), Evening Interior, 1890, The National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design, Oslo. Backer "was one of the most influential Norwegian artists of her generation," said the wall text.  The year she painted Evening Interior, she had shifted from natural to artificial light and its concomitant "harsh shadows."

To advance the display of flowing Nordic treasures, Nordic Council members signed the Nordic Cultural Initiative with the Phillips in 2014 with the purpose "to promote the wealth of Nordic artistic talent" and to cultivate attention on the art.

The Phillips' chief curator and deputy director for academic affairs, Klaus Ottmann, began working with the embassies on the show in 2014, he said in a telephone interview. 

 Edvard Munch (1863-1944), Self-Portrait, 1895,The Phillips Collection.  The wall text said "the skeletal arm" (not shown here) "along the bottom serving as a reminder of the artist's mortality."  He was 32 when he painted Self-Portrait.

 Edvard Munch (1863-1944), Henrik Ibsen at the Grand Cafe, 1902, The Phillips Collection. Munch made more than 400 illustrations of Ibsen's plays, according to the wall text.  Both were Norwegian.

With assistance from the Nordic Council, Dr. Ottmann traveled to all eight countries in the summer of 2015, spending two and half weeks visiting five museums every day and meeting with museum directors, curators, and viewing hundreds of pieces of art, all the while taking notes and pictures.

Johan Thomas Lundbye (1818-1848), Zealand Landscape, 1842, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen

Jorgen V. Sonne (1801-1890), Midsummer's Eve,  Sick People Asleep upon the Grave of St. Helena near Tisvilde St. Hansnat, 1847, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen. The wall text described the sick people in the painting visiting St. Helena's grave site, hoping to be cured by the saint.  Legend says St. Helena's body washed ashore causing a spring to appear that, since the Middle Ages, ill people have visited, hoping to be cured. The artist's rendition of the sky's colors was one of the first to illuminate Denmark's "unique midsummer-night light" when sunset and sunlight meet over the sea..

Dr. Klaus Ottmann of the Phillips Collection at the opening of Nordic Impressions/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The selection of the art was not an easy task, said Dr. Ottmann.

"All the countries very strongly felt the three self-governing nations [Åland, Faroe, and Greenland] must have artists represented," and they also insisted that indigenous artists from the northern parts of Sweden and Finland be included in the show.

They were.

 Ruth Smith (1913-1958), Self-Portrait, 1955, National Gallery of the Faroe Islands.  The artist was born in the Faroe Islands, one of the three self-governing islands represented in the exhibition. The wall text said her self-portrait "reflects the influence of Paul Cezanne....[and] is mercilessly faithful and reflects her depression due to her deteriorating eyesight."

Christian Krohg (1852-1925), Braiding Her Hair, 1888, The National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design, Oslo
 
Populations (or "equal representation") of the countries were not considered for Nordic Impressions, Dr. Ottmann explained. Ten artists from each of the five largest countries were selected plus one each from the island nations for a total of 53.

Several times in the interview Dr. Ottmann mentioned the limitation of space he had at the Phillips which meant selectivity of pieces was critical, but no one in the Nordic contingent insisted on particular artists, but some gave him "helpful advice."  

The embassies were "very, very helpful. I didn't get everything I wanted, and we communicated back and forth."

Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946), The Seamstress (The Working Woman), 1905, Finnish National Gallery, Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki

Fanny Brate (1861-1940), Sunshine, 1898, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
 
Vilhelm Hammershoi (1864-1916), Interior with the Artist's Easel, 1910, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen.  The wall text identified the artist as a recluse who seldom provided narrative.

Asger Jorn (1914-1973), Ainsi on s'Ensor (Out of this World-after Ensor), 1962,  Museum Jorn, Silkeborg.  Jorn was an experimental artist who modified paintings in the style of Belgian artist James Ensor (1860-1949), according to wall text. This is a reworked rendition of a hanged man by French artist Hugues de Beaumont (1874-1947). The title means "and so one departs." Note the prickly cat.
 
From his work for the show, "I learned two major things:
I was surprised by the number of women artists from the Nortics [about half the artists in the show], especially in the 19th century which I didn't know before," and "the diversity, a lot of it, especially the styles of the artists."
 
Dr. Ottmann found "lots of abstracts in many different styles which I tried to include," and he did.

The exhibition was "not inclusive, or comprehensive and
clearly, there are some things missing," he said. But diversity was evident and the common themes of nature, family life, and a strong sense of ecology were dominant.

"I did not want it to be another cliche" for Nordic art, Dr. Ottmann said: "I wanted [the exhibition] to have surprises," and it did. Many of them.

"The Nordic scene is so powerful. There was much for me to learn."

 Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir (also known as "Shoplifter") and Dr. Klaus Ottmann at the opening of Nortic Impressions at The Phillips Collection. Behind them is Zealand Landscape, 1842, by Johan Thomas Lundbye (1818-1848), National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 
Some of the artists in the show were from the Golden Age and Romantic era (Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Helene Schjerfbeck), while others are known for their nationalism and French influence (Franciska Clausen and Helmer Osslund). Sigurður Guðmundsson and Poul Gernes demonstrated conceptual and experimental art.

Contemporary artist Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir also known as "Shoplifter" (because the pronouncement of her name sounds like "Shoplifter"), is a present resident of Brooklyn
"discovered" by Dr. Ottmann on his trip, he said. She visited the Phillips three times to help with planning, as did other Nordic artists and musicians. ("Shoplifter" will represent Iceland in this year's Venice Biennale which boasts an attendance of a half million persons.)

Dr. Ottmann wrote the lead essay for the catalogue and others making contributions were Dorthe Aagesen, chief curator and senior researcher, SMK Copenhagen; Kasper Monrad, former chief curator and senior researcher, SMK Copenhagen; Riitta Ojanperä, director of collections management, Finnish National Gallery; Nils Ohlsen, director of old masters and modern art, The National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design; and Carl-Johan Olsson, curator, 19th-century painting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.

The 200-paged softbound catalogue with color reproductions and artists' biographical sketches sells for $19.95 in the Phillips' gift shop. 

An abbreviated, contemporary version of the exhibition screened earlier in Seattle.

The Marion F. Goldin Charitable Fund, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, and the scan|design foundation helped make the exhibition possible with in-kind support by Farrows and Ball.

This year will mark Dr. Ottmann's ninth year at the Phillips where he curated George Condo before Nordic, one of more than 50 shows he has orchestrated around the world, including one opening January 26 at American University, The Gifts of Tony Podesta.

A native of Nuremberg, Germany, Dr. Ottmann earned a M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy and began his career as an art critic. He has written so many books, "a lot, I can't keep up with [them]. I've been writing for almost 35 years."

He did not mention it, but his Wikipedia page says in 2016 he was awarded the French Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres). The honor recognizes notable artists, writers, and others who have helped advance the arts in France and around the world. Dr. Ottmann joins the company of T.S. Eliot, Rudolf Nureyev, Philip Glass and others.

Where: The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St., N.W. at Q St., Washington, D.C. 20009


Hours: 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., with extended hours on Thursday (with a ticket) until 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, 12 - 6:30 p.m.
 
Admission: $12, $10 for students and those over 62, free for members and for children 18 and under. A ticket includes admission to all exhibitions on view. From Tuesday through Friday, admission is free to the permanent collection and on Saturday and Sunday, permanent collection prices are reduced to $10 (adults) and $8 (seniors and students). Those under 18 are admitted at no charge.

Metro Station: Dupont Circle (Q Street exit. Turn left and walk one block.)

For more information: 202-387-2151

Patricialesli@gmail.com
Follow me on Twitter: patriciadcdc

Migration Series migrates from The Phillips today

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Migration Series, 1940-1941, presented at The Phillips Collection. The caption for the above (#49) reads:
They found discrimination in the North. It was a different kind.

Note the yellow dividing line separating the white and black customers, the scowl on the face of the man on the left reading a newspaper and the haughty profile of the other white man. The black faces are obscured by the color of their skin, and they become anonymous figures, representatives of their kinfolk. 

 
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) is the artist who transferred African American life to canvas in dramatic, contrasting panels, known as the Migration Series, on view at the Phillips Collection for one day more.

The exhibition unites the collections from the Phillips and the Museum Of Modern Art of 60 panels painted on cardboard by one of the most revered African-American artists of the 20th century, Jacob Lawrence. In a little over a year (1940-1941), Lawrence drew images of the thousands of blacks who moved from the rural South to the urban North in search of better lives, before and after World War I.  Lawrence's parents were among them.

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Migration Series, 1940-1941, presented at The Phillips Collection. The caption for the above (#59) reads:
In the North they had the freedom to vote.

The series launched his career overnight, earning him the distinction of becoming the first African American to be represented by a major New York gallery (1941) and the first black artist whose works were represented in the Museum of Modern Art (1941).

That same year a portion of the Migration Series appeared among the pages of Fortune. For a white man's magazine to use a black man's renderings seven years before the U.S. Armed Forces were integrated, 13 years before Brown v. Board of Education, and decades before the Civil Rights Act was passed (1964), was significant.

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Migration Series, 1940-1941. The caption for the panel (No. 30) reads:
In every southern home people met to decide whether or not to go north

 
Lawrence's father was born in South Carolina, his mother, in Virginia, and Jacob Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  The family moved north, and when their son was 7, his parents divorced.  Jacob and his siblings were placed in foster homes in Philadelphia until their mother could support them. Six year later, the soon-to-be artist and his siblings joined their mother in New York.

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Travelers, 1961, presented at The Phillips Collection, David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, permanent loan from David C. Driskell Collection


The Driskell Center says Jacob's Travelers was based upon political and social upheaval occurring between 1954 and 1964.

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Migration Series, 1940-1941, presented at The Phillips Collection/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 
To keep him busy, Wikipedia says, his mother enrolled him in art classes where a teacher saw his potential. (A brief look at the biographies of Lawrence and Whitfield Lovell, another exhibition ending Sunday at The Phillips, will convince most skeptics about the benefits and values of art education.)

Lawrence found solace in art, embracing the Harlem Renaissance. When he was 23, he received a $1,500 scholarship from the Rosenwald Foundation which enabled him to begin work on the Migration Series.

In 2007 the White House Historical Association bid $2.5 million for Lawrence's The Builders which now hangs in the Green Room.

 
Augusta Savage (1892-1962), Gamin, 1929, bronze (later casting of original plaster), David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, permanent loan from David C. Driskell Collection/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Augusta Savage was a sculptor, political activist, and mentor to many black artists including Jacob Lawrence whose Harlem residence was near her studio and classrooms. There Lawrence studied and met his future wife, Gwendolyn Knight. "Gamin" is French for "street urchin" or "kid," whom Ms. Savage made into one, the face of the many children she taught. The label on the wall quotes Lawrence:

If Augusta Savage hadn't insisted on getting me onto [sic] the [Federal Art Project], I don't think I would ever have become an artist.
 

What: People on the Move: Beauty and Struggle in Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series

When: Through Sunday, January 8, 2017, 12 - 7 p.m.

Where: The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St., N.W. at Q St., Washington, D.C. 20009

Admission: $12, $10 for students and those over 62, free for members and for children 18 and under. Ticket includes admission to all exhibitions on view including Whitfield Lovell: The Kin Series & Related Works.

Metro Station: Dupont Circle (Q Street exit. Turn left and walk one block.)
 
For more information: 202-387-2151


Patricialesli@gmail.com