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In The American Grain:
The Stieglitz Circle At The Phillips Collection
February 19 - May 8, 2005
In The American
Grain: The Stieglitz Circle At The Phillips Collection is drawn from the Phillips Collection's permanent holdings, and
includes more than forty paintings by Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, John
Marin, and Georgia O'Keeffe, as well as photographs by Stieglitz himself.
This exhibition explores the work of these innovative modern artists, their
interaction with gallerist Alfred Stieglitz and collector Duncan Phillips.
The members of "Stieglitz's Circle" were frequently inspired by
America's distinctive landscape, and depicted its endless variety with bold
forms and vivid colors in their innovative paintings. The exhibition will
be on view at the Norton Museum of Art from February 19 through May 8, 2005.
A series of lectures, tours and special events have been organized to accompany
the exhibition.
Avant-garde gallerist and photographer Alfred Stieglitz
(1864-1946) originally made a name for himself by introducing the work of
modern European artists such as Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, and Rodin
to American audiences at his gallery, 291. However, by the time that he
had opened his second gallery, An American Place, in December 1925, he was
firmly devoted to exhibiting and promoting American art. At the heart of
his circle were Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, and Georgia O'Keeffe.
Washington, D.C.-based collector Duncan Phillips (1886-1966),
like Stieglitz, showed an early interest in modern European art, forming
acollection that by 1923 included Renoir's masterpiece The Boating Party,
for which he paid a then-record sum of $125,000. At this point, however,
Phillips was beginning to take a serious interest in American art as well.
In fact, one year before he purchased the Renoir, he wrote that it was a
"cardinal principle to make the gallery as American as possible, favoring
native work whenever it is of really superior quality, as our painting unquestionably
is." In 1926, Phillips defined his outlook by stating that, "The
power to 'see beautifully' is almost all there is worth bothering about
in art."
It was inevitable that Phillips and Stieglitz would meet.
The event occurred shortly after the opening of Stieglitz's gallery in late
1925. Just a few months later, Phillips had purchased his first paintings
from Stieglitz, including works by Dove, Marin, and O'Keeffe. Over the next
two decades (until Stieglitz's death in 1946), Phillips continued to acquire
and exhibit work by the artists that Stieglitz supported, sharing his passion
and steadfast belief that the work of American artists was equally as valid
as that of their European counterparts.
Phillips collected the artists in this exhibition in depth,
grouping their work into "units" that represented each artist's
mature body of work. In keeping with Phillips' tradition, this exhibition
is laid out in "units," each of which functions as a kind of miniature
retrospective for Dove, Hartley, Marin, O'Keeffe, and even Stieglitz himself.
Norton Museum of Art American collection:
Surveying the history of modern art in the United States,
the museum boasts examples from nearly all the major movements to have emerged
since 1870. From American Impressionism to the Ash Can School, to the modernism
of the Stieglitz group, through Regionalism, Abstract Expressionism and
Pop Art, the Norton Museum's collection of American art reflects one of
the richest epochs in the history of the United States. Featuring such masterpieces
as George Bellows' Winter Afternoon (1909), Georgia O'Keeffe's Red
Flower (1918-19) and Ranchos Church No. 1 (1929), Stuart Davis'
New York Mural (1932), Edward Hopper's August in the City
(1945), and Jackson Pollock's Night Mist (1945), a work of great
beauty and historical importance can be found around every corner.
The collection's depth is reflected in the significant
examples by some of America's most admired artists: Maurice Prendergast,
Childe Hassam, Arthur B. Davies, Robert Henri, John Marin, John Sloan, Everett
Shinn, Marsden Hartley, Arthur G. Dove, Charles Sheeler, Charles Demuth,
Paul Manship, Mark Tobey, Alexander Calder, Helen Lundeberg, Morris Louis,
Robert Motherwell, Jacob Lawrence, Andy Warhol, Bob Thompson, and many more.
The collection includes works by Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, and Georgia
O'Keeffe along with Jackson Pollock, and portraits by Robert Henri, George
Luks and John Sloan, among others.
Artists' Biographies
- Arthur Dove (1880-1946)
-
- Arthur Dove appealed to both Phillips and Stieglitz as
a rugged individualist; a daring artist whose paintings seemed utterly
American, devoid of any European influence. Dove first met Stieglitz towards
the end of 1909, just before he produced a breakthrough series of abstract
compositions, but it was not until 1922 that Phillips first saw his work.
Elizabeth Turner captures the essence of Dove's art succinctly and eloquently,
writing that he "focused on earthy
substances:
rushing water, pungent pastures, cows, old wood, rusting plows, and tree
trunks. His colors ranged from gritty browns and greens to flashes of vibrant
blue, copper, and silver. His forms collided like lightning bolts with
the ground. They coiled like intestines or branched out like capillaries
. . . America had never seen an artist like him."
-
- Because Dove's work was not widely appreciated or collected
during his lifetime, he depended heavily on Phillips' and Stieglitz's support.
One of the greatest signs of Phillips' devotion to Dove was his agreement
to provide the impoverished artist-who lived on a houseboat for many years
-- with an annual stipend in exchange for first choice from his annual
exhibition. This began in 1933 and lasted until the artist's death in 1946.
-
- The Phillips Collection boasts 55 works by Dove, making
it the world's largest and most representative group of paintings by the
artist. Although Phillips was not able to purchase any of Dove's breakthrough
early abstractions (many of which Stieglitz doggedly held on to), the collection
is representative of his entire mature output, from 1925-1946. (right:
Arthur Dove (American, 1880-1946): Morning Sun, 1935. oil on canvas,
20 by 28 inches. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from
the artist through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1935)
-
-
- John Marin (1870-1953)
-
- Stieglitz first exhibited Marin's work in 1909, and by
1911 had begun to give him an annual stipend. He also opened each season
between 1925 and 1931 with a Marin exhibit. Phillips, who began collecting
Marin's work in 1926, gave the artist his first solo museum exhibition
in 1929. Phillips collected both oil paintings and watercolors by Marin,
and his collection includes examples of many of Marin's favorite subjects,
including New York City, the mountainous scenery of New England, and Maine's
rocky coast and rough seas.
-
- Marin divided his time between residences in New Jersey
and in Maine. His paintings, whether in oil or in watercolor -- and whether
depicting the natural or man-made landscape -- sought to express in the
simplest, most direct terms possible, the energy and underlying structures
of their subjects. In his 1926 book A Collection in the Making, Duncan
Phillips described Marin as "An epigrammatic poet-painter who flashes
images of swift suggestion with an inspirational 'wash' of colors on white
paper," and an artist who "sings of vibrant skies and moving
earth-forms and luminous, veiled, or sharply defined distances." Marin,
he believed, was "experimenting on the frontiers of visual consciousness,"
and moreover, was "one of the most provoking, challenging innovators
since Cézanne." He backed up this claim by boldly exhibiting
Marin's work alongside that of the European masters Cézanne and
Picasso at his museum.
-
-
- Marsden Hartley (1877-1943)
-
- Marsden Hartley was a restless traveler, an expressionistic
painter, and the artist in this exhibition who exhibited least frequently
with Stieglitz. In fact, none of the Phillips Collection's Hartley paintings
were purchased through Stieglitz,
despite
the fact that Hartley had shown with him on at least seven occasions. Duncan
Phillips never met Hartley. However, he considered the artist's paintings
to be "a personal and powerful contribution to the outstanding traditions
of American art -- romantic mysticism and robust realism," combining
qualities traditionally associated with Albert Pinkham Ryder and Winslow
Homer, both of whom he collected and admired.
-
- Despite restless travels in America and abroad, the place
to which Hartley felt most connected was the state in which he was born
and to which he returned at the end of his life: Maine. Phillips was uncertain
about the quality of Hartley's abstract and European work, and therefore
his Hartley "unit" consists only of paintings executed before
1910 and after his return to Maine in the mid-1930s. Phillips greatly admired
these paintings of Maine, for he felt that the subject "stirred [Hartley's]
emotions as his experiments with abstraction . . . failed to do."
The Phillips Collection honored Hartley with a retrospective shortly after
his death in 1943. (right: Marsden Hartley (American, 1877-1943):
Wild Roses, 1942. oil on hardboard, 22 by 28 inches. The Phillips
Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist through Rosenberg
Gallery, New York, 1943)
-
-
- Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)
-
- The story of Alfred Stieglitz's "discovery"
of the young Georgia O'Keeffe, as well as his declaration: "at last,
a woman on paper," have become integral parts of the history of American
modernism. After his first encounter with O'Keeffe and her art, Stieglitz
became both her husband and a tireless advocate of her talent. O'Keeffe
is rare among artists of her generation in that she never traveled to Europe
to study (although she had seen works by the European modernists at
Stieglitz's first gallery, 291, and was also well-versed
in current art theory). This fact was certainly not lost on Stieglitz,
who celebrated and promoted her as a native, homegrown talent-an artist
who truly represented all things American.
-
- Phillips kept his distance from O'Keeffe, despite the
striking modernity and beauty of her paintings -- two qualities that certainly
appealed to him. It is possible that the main reason for his wariness was
the artist's intimate relationship with Stieglitz. Phillips had experienced
how testy Stieglitz could be soon after they met, during a very public
disagreement the two had over the price Phillips had paid for a watercolor
by Marin.
-
- Although Phillips initially purchased one of O'Keeffe's
early flower paintings, for which she is best known today, he traded it
back to Stieglitz four years later. Although he did eventually purchase
two of her large-scale studies of leaves for his collection, Phillips preferred
O'Keeffe's landscapes, and especially her scenes of New Mexico -- the place
that he felt she captured most faithfully and most eloquently. (right:
Georgia O'Keeffe (American, 1887--1986): Red Hills, Lake George,
1927. oil on canvas, 27 by 32 inches. The Phillips Collection, Washington,
D.C.; Purchased from the artist through Stieglitz, An American Place, New
York, 1945. © 2005 The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation / Artists Rights
Society (ARS), New York)
EXHIBITION CHECKLIST
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Golden Storm, 1925
- oil on plywood panel
- Dimensions without frame: 18-5/8 x 20-1/2"
- Dimensions with frame: 19-1/2 x 21-15/16 x 1-1/2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, The Intimate Gallery, New York, 1926
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Waterfall, 1925
- oil on hardboard
- Dimensions without frame: 10 x 8"
- Dimensions with frame: 10 x 8-1/2 x 1-1/4"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, The Intimate Gallery, New York, 1926
-
- Dove, Arthur
- The Park, 1927
- oil on cardboard
- Dimensions without frame: 16 x 21"
- Dimensions with frame: 16-3/8 x 21-3/8"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Bequest of Elmira Bier,
1976
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Coal Carrier, 1929 or 1930
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 20 x 26"
- Dimensions with frame: 22-1/4 x 28-1/4 x 1-1/2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1930
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Sand Barge, 1930
- oil on cardboard
- Dimensions without frame: 30-1/8 x 40-1/4"
- Dimensions with frame: 34-3/8 x 44-1/2 x 1-7/8"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1931
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Snow Thaw, 1930
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 18 x 24"
- Dimensions with frame: 19-1/2 x 25-15/16 x 1-1/8"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1930
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Sun Drawing Water, 1933
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 24-3/8 x 33-5/8"
- Dimensions with frame: 27-1/2 x 36-3/4 x 1-3/4"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1933
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Tree Trunks, 1934
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 18 x 24"
- Dimensions with frame: 21-1/4 x 27-5/16 x 1-3/4"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1934
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Cows in Pasture, 1935
- wax emulsion on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 20 x 28"
- Dimensions with frame: 22-1/2 x 30-1/4 x 1-1/2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1936
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Electric Peach Orchard, 1935
- oil on canvas
- Dimension without frame: 20-1/4 x 28"
- Dimension with frame: 22-5/8 x 30-1/2 x 1-5/8"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1935
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Lake Afternoon, 1935
- wax emulsion on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 25 x 35"
- Dimensions with frame: 27-5/16 x 37-5/16 x 1-3/4"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from Downtown
Gallery, New York, 1947
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Morning Sun, 1935
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 20 x 28"
- Dimensions with frame: 22-1/2 x 30-1/4 x 1-9/16"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1935
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Red Sun, 1935
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 20-1/4 x 28"
- Dimensions with frame: 22-1/2 x 30-1/4 x 1-9/16"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1935
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Me and the Moon, 1937
- wax emulsion on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 18 x 26"
- Dimensions with frame: 19-7/8 x 27-13/16 x 1-5/8"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from Stieglitz's
personal collection in 1939
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Reminiscence, 1937
- oil and wax emulsion on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 14-1/2 x 20-1/2"
- Dimensions with frame: 17-1/8 x 23-1/8 x 1-3/4"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1937
- Dove, Arthur
- The Moon was Laughing at Me, 1937
- wax emulsion on canvas
- Dimension without frame: 16-1/4 x 8-1/4"
- Dimensions with frame: 12-1/4 x 13-1/2 x 1-1/2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., Bequest of Elmira Bier,
1976
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Flour Mill II, 1938
- wax emulsion on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 26-1/8 x 16-1/8"
- Dimensions with frame: 29-1/4 x 19-3/8 x 2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1938
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Red, White, and Green, 1940
- wax emulsion on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 15 x 21-1/8"
- Dimensions with frame: 12-1/4 x 13-1/2 x 1-1/2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1940
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Pozzuoli Red, 1941
- wax emulsion on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 22-1/8 x 36"
- Dimensions with frame: 12-1/4 x 12-1/2 x 1-1/2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1941
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Silver Chief, 1942
- wax emulsion on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 21 x 15"
- Dimensions wit frame: 23-1/2 x 17-1/2 x 1-1/2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Gift of the artist, 1942
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Flight, 1943
- wax emulsion on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 12 x 20"
- Dimension with frame: 12-1/4 x 13-1/2 x 1-1/2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Bequest of Elmira Bier,
1976
-
- Dove, Arthur
- Young Old Master, 1946
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 10 x 11"
- Dimensions with frame: 12-1/4 x 13-1/2 x 1-1/2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1946
-
- Hartley, Marsden
- After Snow, ca. 1908
- oil on academy board
- Dimensions without frame: 12 x 12"
- Dimensions with frame: 17-9/16 x 17-1/2 x 1-7/8"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from Daniel Gallery,
New York, by 1921 (possibly 1914)
-
-
- Hartley, Marsden
- Mountain Lake-Autumn, ca. 1910
- oil on academy board
- Dimensions without frame: 11-7/8 x 11-7/8"
- Dimensions with frame: 16-7/16 x 16-3/8 x 7/8"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Gift of Rockwell Kent, 1926
-
- Hartley, Marsden
- Off to the Banks, between 1936 and 1938
- oil on canvas board
- Dimensions without frame: 11-3/4 x 15-7/8"
- Dimensions with frame: 16-3/4 x 20-7/8 x 20"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Hudson Walker Gallery, New York, 1939
-
- Hartley, Marsden
- Gardener's Gloves and Shears, ca. 1937
- oil on canvas board
- Dimension without frame: 15-7/8 x 20"
- Dimensions with frame: 21 x 25 x 2-1/4"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Hudson Walker Gallery, New York, 1939
-
- Hartley, Marsden
- Wood Lot, Maine Woods, 1939
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 28-1/8 x 22"
- Dimensions with frame: 36-1/2 x 30-1/2 x 2-1/2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Macbeth Gallery, New York, 1942
-
- Hartley, Marsden
- Off the Banks at Night, 1942
- oil on hardboard
- Dimensions without frame: 30 x 40"
- Dimensions with frame: 37-15/16 x 47-7/8 x 2-1/2"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from Rosenberg
Gallery, New York, 1943
-
- Hartley, Marsden
- Wild Roses, 1942
- oil on hardboard
- Dimensions without frame: 22 x 28"
- Dimensions with frame: 32 1/4 x 38 x 2 3/4"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Rosenberg Gallery, New York, 1943
-
- Marin, John
- Weehawken Sequence, No. 30, ca. 1916
- oil on canvas board
- Dimensions without frame: 11 3/4 x 9"
- Dimensions with frame: 14 1/4 x 11 1/2 x 1"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Gift of John Marin, Jr.,
in memory of Duncan Phillips, 1967
-
- Marin, John
- Grey Sea, 1924
- watercolor and black chalk on heavy-weight watercolor paper
- Dimensions without frame: 16 1/2 x 20 1/4"
- Dimensions with frame: 23 5/8 x 30 3/4 x 1"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Alfred Stieglitz, The Intimate Gallery, 1926
-
- Marin, John
- Mt. Chocorua-White Mountains, 1926
- watercolor and graphite pencil on paper
- Dimensions without frame: 16 3/4 x 21 1/2"
- Dimensions with frame: 22 5/8 x 27 3/4 x 3/4"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Alfred Stieglitz, The Intimate Gallery, 1928
-
- Marin, John
- Franconia Range, White Mountains, No. 1, 1927
- watercolor, graphite pencil, and black chalk on paper
- Dimensions without frame: 13 3/4 x 18 1/8"
- Dimensions with frame: 19 1/4 x 23 5/16 x 7/8"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Purchased from the artist
through Alfred Stieglitz, The Intimate Gallery, 1928
-
- Marin, John
- Bryant Square, 1932
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 21-5/8 x 26-5/8"
- Dimensions with frame: 28 3/4 x 33 7/8 x 2 5/8"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1942
-
- Marin, John
- Pertaining to Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street, 1933
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 28 x 36"
- Dimensions with frame: 35-5/8 x 43-3/8 x 2-5/8"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1937
-
- Marin, John
- The Sea, Cape Split, 1939
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions without frame: 24-1/4 x 29-1/4"
- Dimensions with frame: 29-3/8 x 34-5/8"
- The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., Purchased from the artist
through Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, 1940