Matt Phillips: Inspired
March 29, 2019 - July 26, 2019
Rincliffe Gallery, Drexel Main Building, 3rd Floor
The late Matt Phillips (1927–2017) was a painter, printmaker and art educator. He was born in New York and studied literature at the University of Chicago where he earned his master’s degree. He first studied art at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania, and traveled throughout Europe studying painting. He taught art in Paris from 1962 to 1964. When he returned to the United States, he taught at Bard College in upstate New York for 27 years.
This exhibition focuses on how Phillips, who is best known for his monotypes, and who often referred to himself as a “painter-poet,” found inspiration in several areas, notably poetry, nature, the female form and his world travels. His concentration on the medium of monotyping, helped to reintroduce contemporary artists to a technique that had been favored by nineteenth-century artists.
This exhibition was curated by Joseph O’Kane ’18 as a museum leadership graduate practicum project. Special thanks are owed to Arthur L. Frank, MD, PhD, professor and chair emeritus of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Dornsife School of Public Health, and his wife Joanne B. Frank, for their sponsorship and the use of their collection. Without their generosity, this exhibit would not have been possible.
Programming
Opening Reception
Friday, March 29, 2019, 5pm-7pm
Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery and Rincliffe Gallery, Main Building, 3rd Floor
This event is free and open to the public.
The Monotype: An Engendering Transcription of Nature, Public Talk & Gallery Tour by Susannah Hays, PhD
Thursday, May 30, 2019, 5pm-7pm
Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery, Main Building, 3rd Floor
As a monotype releases itself from plate to paper, so too is the artist’s analogue reflection. How the monotype provided the perfect channel for keeping artist Matt Phillips freely in tune with the natural world will be illuminated when looking closely at the poetic work he created between 1956 and 2016.
Artist and Educator Susannah Hays met Matt Phillips in the late 1980s. Married from 1991–1997, they continued a meaningful friendship until his passing in 2017. She was responsible for conserving his 1960s and ‘70s monotypes, until her fine art practice emerged in 1998. Whether monotype or photogram, work on paper or artist book their enduring friendship was sustained by intangible affinities such as grace and spirit.
This evening is sponsored by Arthur L. Frank, MD, PhD, professor and chair emeritus of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Dornsife School of Public Health, and his wife Joanne B. Frank, who generously funded the exhibition Matt Phillips: Inspired.
This event is free and refreshments will be provided.
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Susannah by Matt Phillips, 1994, monotype. Image courtesy of Standford University, Special Collections Green Library Archive
RSVP
Images and Words: Matt Phillips, Inspiring and Inspired
May 2nd, 2019, 5pm-7pm
Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery, Main Building, 3rd Floor
Please join us for an evening of poetry reading to compliment our new exhibition Matt Phillips: Inspired. Phillips found inspiration in several areas, notably poetry due to his love of literature. He often referred to himself as a “painter-poet,”, and considered his art to be “. . . colored poems, enclosed in mystery. “
This evening is in collaboration with the English & Philosophy Department, and sponsored by Arthur L. Frank, MD, PhD, professor and chair emeritus of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Dornsife School of Public Health, and his wife Joanne B. Frank, who generously funded the Matt Phillips: Inspired exhibition.
This event is free and refreshments will be provided.
RSVP
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