All Stars: American Artists from the Phillips Collection

Looking for a crash course on American art from the past 140 years? Then you have this exhibit to thank and it’s better than looking for the answers through AI. Take a stroll through over 50 American artists who pioneered art movements, created iconic images and have influenced the artists of today.

The Phillips Collection is a museum out of Washington D.C. founded by Duncan Phillips and his wife Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921. Duncan was an art critic and collector whose collection exceeded 600 artworks by 1930, along with the help of his wife Marjorie; who was a painter. The museum is considered the first museum of modern art and now holds an outstanding collection of 3,000 permanent works; in rotation or traveling of course.

One of those traveling exhibits has made its way to Denver, divided into sections and accompanied by music playing either out of a vinyl player or a recorded session on TV. One can view the likes of Jackson Pollack, Georgia O’Keefe, Childe Hassam.

I got a kick out of listening to the audioguide because there were two versions to choose from – the academic kind and a child’s impression of a painting. Of course, the one with the children was both hilarious and revealing. I especially liked the one where the children would impersonate the person in the portrait, wondering what the painted individual was thinking.

The exhibit sections were labeled with titles such as Immersion, Presence, and Enchantment. One moment, you were viewing abstract, and then you were moving into realism. Even the mood changed from upbeat to somber, depending on the section and the painting you were viewing.

One painting drew my attention for quite some time, not in front of the kids by Aaron Maier-Carretero (1987). It was a disturbing image of two children whose fear is shown so starkly while the “parents” stood across from each other with only their arms shown. The focus is on the children and their reactions. According to the artist, he was influenced by his upbringing and painted the image cartoonishly, to make it easier for the viewer to accept.

If you happen to be in Denver, make time for this exhibit, and don’t forget to look up towards the end. You’ll be rewarded with a hanging mobile by Alexander Calder, which hangs with a shadow on a nearby wall.