Phillips Collection’s upcoming Miró exhibit celebrates the power of international exchange

The Phillips Collection, one of the District’s premiere modern art museums, is joining forces this spring with an esteemed European art institution for an exhibit that heralds the importance of international artistic exchange.

 

The exhibit, “Miró and the United States,” will feature the work of Catalan artist Joan Miró, as well as many of the contemporaries he met and worked among during post-WWII visits to the U.S. The show of 75 works includes those by Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Norman Lewis, and Adolph Gottlieb.

 

In addition to many of the big names audiences may recognize from that era, the exhibition also includes many women artists who did not receive publicity or fame at the time. These include Perle Fine, Peter (Henriette) Miller, Jeanne Reynal, Janet Sobel, Sonja Sekula, Michael (Corrine) West, “and others who have become lost to history, but who were pioneering figures in their day,” Smithgall said.

 

The exhibit’s curators also hope to highlight the greater good that can come of this kind of open-minded cultural exchange, she added.

 

“We are living in a moment of sharp division both at home and abroad,” Smithgall said. “The exhibition is a shining example of art’s ability to transcend constructed national and cultural boundaries, reminding us that we can find common ground in our shared humanity.”