a day in dc
Feb. 22nd, 2024 04:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
porticoover the usian long weekend (due to president's day), i decided to visit washington, dc. i grew up in a dc suburb and went to grad school in dc for a while, so it's very much a place i'm familiar with and i have a lot of friends there. i was hoping to see the rothko and dorothea lange shows at the national gallery or visit glenstone (a newish private museum in potomac, md), but neither of those things happened, for various reasons. instead, i ended up revisiting two of my favourite places in the district, both of which are sort of hidden gems, which is why i'm writing about them here.
the phillips collection is a private museum located in dupont circle. duncan phillips and his mother, eliza laughlin phillips, established the museum in their home (above) in 1919, in memory of duncan's father and brother, who had died in 1917 and 1918, respectively. it opened in 1921, free to the public. the same year, he married marjorie acker, herself an artist, and they collaborated on building the collection for the rest of their lives, each of them serving as its director at points, and then passing the role to their son. the running of the museum is no longer a family affair (and no longer free), but it remains a fascinating collection.
the phillips bills itself as "america's first museum of modern art," and it may well be the case. the phillipses were certainly collecting contemporary art (as well as some foundational pieces, such as work by el greco and ingres), and the museum predates the moma by nearly a decade. one of the things that i really enjoy about visiting the phillips is that they record when each work was acquired, which is standard, but because of the nature of the museum you get a sense of what phillips was buying and when. it's also interesting to see the works they acquired by major artists who have remained major alongside the works by names we've generally forgotten.
i got really excited by 3 things on this visit (it was more than 3 but i'm trying to keep this accessible lol):
1. this charles burchfield paining
i love burchfield but had never seen any of his work in person. he primarily worked in watercolor, so i assumed the pieces were pretty small? watercolors tend to be, versus oil and acrylics. but this was the first painting we saw when we walked in, and it is BIG. framed, it's 42 inches tall. i fully gasped and grabbed my companions.
2. this painting of a gallery guard by jack boul
contrary to the burchfield, this is a little guy, located at the far end of a parlor in the part of the gallery that's still located in the historic phillips' house. it clearly depicts a guard in a museum--whether the phillips or another one isn't as clear--but when you come across it it feels like you're getting a glimpse of the museum you're standing in through the art, instead of the other way around. it was donated by the artist, which adds to the impression.
3. the jennifer bartlet exhibition
i didn't know anything about this going in, and had never heard of the artist. bartlett, a usian artist who died in 2022, painted the garden of a rental property in france where she stayed during a gloomy winter in 1979 hundreds of times. some of the paintings are monumental. the gallery is hung with them right next to one another, and looking at them in sequence feels shaky cam-esque--like the focus of each work is shifting the way a human eye does. i sat and looked at them for ages.
the tabard inn is a short walk across the circle from the phillips. it's an actual inn--is, in fact, the oldest continuously operating hotel in dc. it opened by marie willoughby rogers as a tea room in 1922, then started operating as an inn in 1924. after her death in the 1970s it was purchased by Fritzi Cohen, who still runs it. the restaurant opened in 1979 and was doing the local ingredient thing before it was cool. i first heard about it in the context of its donuts, which are simple, made in-house, and genuinely to die for. they're only available for brunch, however.
when i was a kid, going out for lunch with my grandmother usually meant a french bistro that probably opened in the 60s or 70s. there would be museum prints on the walls, a very simple, very authentic menu, and the wait staff would be folks who looked like they'd worked there the whole time, all in crisp white collared shirts. the tabard inn feels like that to me--a remnant of the dc food culture which was waning when i was young. it's comfortable, and nostalgic, and the food is truly very, very good.
my friend taylor (psst: subscribe to her newsletter for excellent climate reporting) offered me a small tour of great indie bookshops in dc. we went to loyalty (her fave) and solid state. both are black-owned and carry a good range of books and stationery. i nabbed nonfiction books i'm excited about from both.
finally, on my last morning we went to la coop for a latte and a sandwich. i wish i'd picked up beans to bring home now, because that coffee was GOOD.
thus ends my travel diary for 40ish hours in washington dc.
the phillips collection is a private museum located in dupont circle. duncan phillips and his mother, eliza laughlin phillips, established the museum in their home (above) in 1919, in memory of duncan's father and brother, who had died in 1917 and 1918, respectively. it opened in 1921, free to the public. the same year, he married marjorie acker, herself an artist, and they collaborated on building the collection for the rest of their lives, each of them serving as its director at points, and then passing the role to their son. the running of the museum is no longer a family affair (and no longer free), but it remains a fascinating collection.
the phillips bills itself as "america's first museum of modern art," and it may well be the case. the phillipses were certainly collecting contemporary art (as well as some foundational pieces, such as work by el greco and ingres), and the museum predates the moma by nearly a decade. one of the things that i really enjoy about visiting the phillips is that they record when each work was acquired, which is standard, but because of the nature of the museum you get a sense of what phillips was buying and when. it's also interesting to see the works they acquired by major artists who have remained major alongside the works by names we've generally forgotten.
i got really excited by 3 things on this visit (it was more than 3 but i'm trying to keep this accessible lol):
1. this charles burchfield paining
i love burchfield but had never seen any of his work in person. he primarily worked in watercolor, so i assumed the pieces were pretty small? watercolors tend to be, versus oil and acrylics. but this was the first painting we saw when we walked in, and it is BIG. framed, it's 42 inches tall. i fully gasped and grabbed my companions.
2. this painting of a gallery guard by jack boul
contrary to the burchfield, this is a little guy, located at the far end of a parlor in the part of the gallery that's still located in the historic phillips' house. it clearly depicts a guard in a museum--whether the phillips or another one isn't as clear--but when you come across it it feels like you're getting a glimpse of the museum you're standing in through the art, instead of the other way around. it was donated by the artist, which adds to the impression.
3. the jennifer bartlet exhibition
i didn't know anything about this going in, and had never heard of the artist. bartlett, a usian artist who died in 2022, painted the garden of a rental property in france where she stayed during a gloomy winter in 1979 hundreds of times. some of the paintings are monumental. the gallery is hung with them right next to one another, and looking at them in sequence feels shaky cam-esque--like the focus of each work is shifting the way a human eye does. i sat and looked at them for ages.
the tabard inn is a short walk across the circle from the phillips. it's an actual inn--is, in fact, the oldest continuously operating hotel in dc. it opened by marie willoughby rogers as a tea room in 1922, then started operating as an inn in 1924. after her death in the 1970s it was purchased by Fritzi Cohen, who still runs it. the restaurant opened in 1979 and was doing the local ingredient thing before it was cool. i first heard about it in the context of its donuts, which are simple, made in-house, and genuinely to die for. they're only available for brunch, however.
when i was a kid, going out for lunch with my grandmother usually meant a french bistro that probably opened in the 60s or 70s. there would be museum prints on the walls, a very simple, very authentic menu, and the wait staff would be folks who looked like they'd worked there the whole time, all in crisp white collared shirts. the tabard inn feels like that to me--a remnant of the dc food culture which was waning when i was young. it's comfortable, and nostalgic, and the food is truly very, very good.
my friend taylor (psst: subscribe to her newsletter for excellent climate reporting) offered me a small tour of great indie bookshops in dc. we went to loyalty (her fave) and solid state. both are black-owned and carry a good range of books and stationery. i nabbed nonfiction books i'm excited about from both.
finally, on my last morning we went to la coop for a latte and a sandwich. i wish i'd picked up beans to bring home now, because that coffee was GOOD.
thus ends my travel diary for 40ish hours in washington dc.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-23 12:10 pm (UTC)fascinated by the museum, thank you!