The first exhibition in the U S devoted to the artist is a major international collaboration with the Pinacoteca Giuseppe De Nittis the City of Barletta, Italy and the Region of Puglia with the Fondazione Pino Pascali

The Phillips Collection is pleased to present the first exhibition in the U.S. devoted to the work of Giuseppe De Nittis (1846–1884), an Italian painter whose career flourished in Impressionist Paris in the 1870s and 1880s. The exhibition is organized by The Phillips Collection with the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Pinacoteca Giuseppe De Nittis, the City of Barletta, Italy, and the Region of Puglia with the Fondazione Pino Pascali. It unites 73 works from leading institutions and private collections in the U.S., France, and Italy, 32 of which are loans from the Pinacoteca De Nittis. An Italian Impressionist in Paris: Giuseppe De Nittis is on view November 12, 2022–February 12, 2023.
 
“Giuseppe De Nittis was a major figure in the Impressionism period but wasn’t heralded in the United States in the same way we think of Degas and Manet,” says Vradenburg Director and CEO Dorothy Kosinski. “Our exhibition shines a spotlight on his influential role on Impressionist art, which continues to engage and delight audiences.”

De Nittis was a central figure in the aesthetic and institutional upheavals of 1870s Paris soon after he arrived in the French capital from Naples in 1867 at the age of 21. He quickly earned a name for himself, and in 1874 Edgar Degas invited him to participate in the first Impressionist exhibition, becoming the only Italian artist to do so. De Nittis marked out an independent path for himself that drew upon the aesthetic sensibilities of the Salon, as well as the modern compositional strategies of more progressive artists such as Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet, both of whom were friends of De Nittis and, in the case of Degas, a close mentor. The exhibition also presents new research about De Nittis’s friendships with Degas and Manet, and his early collaborations in Naples in 1872 and 1875 with a young Gustave Caillebotte.

“Largely overlooked, Giuseppe De Nittis was a major figure in the history of modernism and 19th- century European art,” says Guest Curator Renato Miracco, independent curator and Curator of the Pinacoteca Giuseppe De Nittis. “He was a model for a generation of European painters and an innovator who drew inspiration from the artistic landscape of his time. This exhibition, created to rediscover the artist and the links between him and his French colleagues, explores his close friendships with Degas, Manet and Caillebotte and firmly cements De Nittis as a missing and important piece in understanding Impressionism.”

In the 1870s, De Nittis was a pioneering chronicler of Paris’s resilience and reconstruction in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, focusing on the streets, boulevards, squares, and parks that were not only home to the city’s haute bourgeoisie but symbols of French national pride. His urban scenes of Paris depict innovative arrangements and plein air subjects painted with a detailed realism that depicts a sophisticated and economically booming city—a choice unique to De Nittis’s work. De Nittis also spent time in London beginning in 1873, which allowed him to explore even more his lifelong interest in atmosphere and the rhythms of urban life in equally innovative compositions distinctive to the British metropolis. Paintings from all periods of De Nittis’s career will be featured along with additional works by Degas, Manet, and Caillebotte.

“The De Nittis exhibit at the Phillips Collection is a particularly meaningful initiative of very high artistic, historic and cultural value”, says H.E. Mariangela Zappia, Ambassador of Italy to the United States, “as recognized also by the patronage granted by the Italian Ministry of Culture. The Phillips Collection—America’s first museum of modern art—has decided to put on the first presentation in this country devoted to this Italian impressionist painter in the year that marks one century since its institution/creation/opening to the public. I find that this initiative is a perfect testimony to the long-standing friendship between Italy and the United States and the unremitting work of both countries to strengthen our bond through art and culture.”
 
EXHIBITION PARTNERS
An Italian Impressionist in Paris: Giuseppe De Nittis is organized by The Phillips Collection with the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Pinacoteca Giuseppe De Nittis, the City of Barletta, Italy and the Region of Puglia with the Fondazione Pino Pascali; additional support is provided by the Embassy of Italy, Washington, D.C. and the Italian Cultural Institute, Washington, D.C.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT
Generously supported by the Ednah Root Foundation and Martha Johnston and Robert Coonrod

Made possible by The Phillips Collection’s Exhibitions Endowment Fund, which is generously supported by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, Michelle and Glenn Engelmann, Robert and Debra Drumheller, and The Marion F. Goldin Charitable Fund

Exhibition Curator: Professor Renato Miracco, independent curator and Curator of the Pinacoteca Giuseppe De Nittis (Barletta, Italy), with Dr. Susan Behrends Frank, Curator, The Phillips Collection.

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
A 250-page catalogue published by The Phillips Collection with support from the Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C. and the Italian Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C. accompanies the exhibition with essays by the exhibition curator Renato Miracco, independent curator Marina Ferretti Bocquillon, and Professor Robert Jensen (University of Kentucky). A chronology on the life of the artist is included in the publication. This is the first English language publication on the artist.

Move the Way you Want is a site-specific immersive installation transforming the former Dining Room of the Phillips House into phantasmagoric dreamscapes where past and present meet, and the sacred and urbane overlap. In adhesive canvas printed with digital imagery, Gothic-like archways and lavish Baroque-like windows frame a present-day beach scene with bike shares, abandoned scooters, Pelotons, and hi-tech gadgets. Additionally, a video-projection features a mythical horse walking on a beach toward a spaceship-coffeeshop-altar, ready to embark on an unknown journey. All of this reinforces the fantastic and ritualistic aspects of the project, as well as the cynical view of our fast-paced, consumerist culture.

Monaghan’s installation is accompanied by paintings from the Phillips’s permanent collection, Giorgio de Chirico’s Horse (1928) and Théodore Géricault’s Two Horses (1808–09). While the inclusion of de Chirico’s work adds to the surreal atmosphere of the installation, Géricault’s painting gives it a romantic tone. 

Move the Way you Want transports viewers back-and-forth, from ancient mythology where horses are symbols of majesty and beauty to today’s digital age where horses have evolved into digital devices of our shared economy. Drawing on a wide range of sources—from historical artworks and ancient mythology, to science fiction, video games, and virtual reality—Monaghan’s work reflects the tensions of our commercialized lifestyle. Although posh and seductive, underneath its surface is a bleak futuristic vision of our dehumanized world where technology takes over

Do you have favorite song? Why do you love it? How does it make you feel?

Music has the power to transport us to different times and places. It connects us to memories and emotions. For this project, seventh and eighth graders at Washington School for Girls worked with Phillips educators to listen to music and explore rhythm, repetition, tone, and mood. Then they created a visual representation of a song with the help of printmaker Gail Shaw-Clemons.

Students selected a song that was meaningful to them. Inspired by the work of visionary printmaker Lou Stovall, each girl then translated the emotion of the song into a collagraph print using line, shape, and color to convey the mood and essence of the music. The collagraph print began with a collage of cutout shapes. With collagraphy, single elements can be repeated in ways that add dynamism and complexity to the finished print. The girls played with composition, moving things around and layering them to see how that changed the effect. Once the shapes were arranged on the plate, the students selected their colors. They rolled the plate with ink and ran it through the printing press. The reveal of the print created a moment of mystery and anticipation. The following day, they had the opportunity to reflect and add additional elements to the prints and run them through the press again.

After spending time with these prints, think about your own favorite song. What two or three colors would you use to capture the song’s mood? How would you translate the feeling of the music into lines, shapes, and colors?