Day Nine: The Phillips Collection - Smithsonian American Art Museum - Howard University Gallery of Art - Smithsonian National Museum of American History

The first stop of the day was The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St NW. Selections from the Permanent Collection are in the "old house", while the other half contains "American Masters from The Phillips Collection"

Winslow Homer, "To the Rescue", 1886


Claude Monet, "Val-Saint-Nicolas, near Dieppe (Morning)", 1897


Edgar Degas, "Dancers at the Barre", circa 1900


The Gallery Place-Chinatown stop on the DC Metro, which is the stop for the Smithsonian American Art Museum


The Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th and F NW - 16-of-my-22 artists!! Bierstadt, Bradford, Bricher, Church, Cole, Cropsey, Duncanson, Durand, Gifford, Haseltine, Homer, Huntington, Kensett, Moran, Richards, and Whittredge!! (Hey, stop this - this is not a contest)(well, maybe a little contest ...)


Aside from a stunning interior courtyard, which is also where we had lunch, this Museum is THE PLACE for my Hudson River School artists. I don't know the backstories (whether they knew they were painting for the National Government, or if the Government just purchased their works on the market), but it certainly seems as if some of their Best Works are here (especially for Bierstadt and Church and Moran!).



Thomas Cole, "The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge," 1829 - the condition of this canvas is excellent - it looks like it had been painted yesterday!


Albert Bierstadt, "Among the Sierra Nevada, California," 1868. The note for the painting says:
Smithsonian American Art Museum,
Bequest of Helen Huntington Hull,
granddaughter of William Brown
Dinsmore, who acquired the painting in
1873 for "The Locusts," the family estate in
Dutchess County, New York, 1977.107.1


Albert Bierstadt, "Seal Rocks, San Francisco," 1872. The note for this painting says:
Smithsonian American Art Museum,
Private collection


This painting is not in my database (because it is credited as "Private collection"), but it is certainly a companion piece to "Seal Rock," 1872 at the New Britain Museum of American Art up in Connecticut:


but after some research, it is almost identical to Farallon Island, 1887, at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania


William Bradford, "Looking Out of Battle Harbor," 1877


Frederic Edwin Church, "Aurora Borealis," 1865


Alfred Thompson Bricher, "Castle Rock, Marblehead," 1878


Childe Hassam, "The South Ledges, Appledore," 1913


After all the beauty I have seen, it certainly seems selfish to ask for more. I know, however, that there are still four BEAUTIFUL Thomas Moran paintings out there! The three VERY LARGE paintings are grouped together in their own alcove:
The Chasm of the Colorado, 1873-74


The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1893-1901


The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1872 (yes, they have the same title!)


and I call this song: Men At Work!


The fourth Moran is "Rainbow over the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone," 1900


And, after all this, the best way for me to close out the day is at the Smithsonian's American History Museum, with Larry and Sergey's Google "Corkboard" Server, 1999