Q&A with new Phillips director Dorothy Kosinski

Like a lot of Washingtonians, I think of the Phillips Collection as my hometown museum. It has history: It was America's first museum of modern art. It has a remarkable collection, comfortable spaces in which to view art, and the best kind of old-fashioned feel. Unfortunately, in recent years the Phillips has bombarded us with the endless Impressionist shows that have not much to do with the Phillips' history, and its send-the-collection-on-the-road program has kept Duncan Phillips' treasures away from the people with whom he intended to share them.

Come May 1 the Phillips will have a new director: Dorothy Kosinski, who is currently the senior curator of painting and sculpture at the Dallas Museum of Art. Yesterday Kosinski and I talked about what her Phillips will be. I'll post this in two parts over two days.

MAN: I have this vaguely romantic idea that the Phillips always has been and always should be a temple to Duncan Phillips' vision and collection, that exhibitions should spring forward from the institution's collection. In recent years we Washingtonians have been fed a heavy dose of Impressionist of the Month. But that's just me. What do you think the museum should be?

Kosinski: Thinking about what has transpired in the recent past at the Phillips... there were lots of shows I think that were really important and substantial. T hey collaborated on the Daumier show for example. [Ed: The Daumier retro was at the Phillips in 2000.] The catalogue is staring at me across the room from the shelf in my office. Even given the dreaded 'I word,' the current show they have is a knockout. I was much surprised when I walked through there. It's really strong. It's a very compelling aesthetic experience. So I say that as a cautionary footnote.

But I do think that the story the legacy of Duncan Phillips' collecting is a very complicated narrative. And by no means is it impressionism -- it's largely figures from the 20th century. When you start to really tease out those various threads, it's a very complex tapestry of his tastes. For me, as a modernist, some of those elements I find very tantalizing because they also happen to address parts of the narrative of the history of 20thC art that have been largely neglected everywhere recently. I think that if we follow thoughtfully or carefully the hints that the founder leaves for us, it's a complicated, interesting, and very personal and quirky vision of the arts of the 19thC and first half of the 20thC.

MAN: There's been a recent flight of curators from the Phillips. I'd guess you'll be hiring.

Kosinski: Definitely anticipate adding positions, oh yes, oh yes. The projects of which I'm most proud of as a curator were those where you can very frequently excavate great artists that have been marginalized, or take popular artists or art forms and contextualize and show how much more complete the story is than we normally make it to be. Smart shows. Shows that are driven by concept and authority. I hope we can continue that and make that progress robust.

But I think I heard the message loud and clear form the board: They agreed with me that what's gone to the side too much, too much to the margins, is the fact that Duncan was excited about the art of his times, about conversations with artists and a dialogue-like exchange, and I think that it's really important to look at the collection and think of which artists of our time could help us offer a response to, 'Who are the artists whose works can be included in major exhibitions so as to activate and animate a loud resonance of the collection?' So I want to do work with contemporary artists and show contemporary artwork as part of a progression that highlights artists and works within the collection. Otherwise I think you potentially make the Phillips into something rather more like a mausoleum than a really vital exciting personal and experimental and lively encounter with works of art.

So yes, we'll hire for two positions. One person, I think, has to be a good, well-versed modernist and the other should be someone who is thoughtful and active in the realm of contemporary art.

Tomorrow: The Phillips' place in Washington, and how the Phillips fits into what's about to be a very busy Washington fundraising environment.