Impressionist Still Life exhibition records

Curatorial records in this collection document the research, accompanying catalogue, and planning for the exhibition entitled Impressionist Still Life, organized by The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This was the first major exhibition devoted to French Impressionist still life painting and the transformation of that work in the late nineteenth century. Assembled from fifty-five of the world's most renowned museum and private collections, the exhibition initially opened at The Phillips Collection, and featured over eighty masterpieces by fifteen artists, including Cezanne, Degas, Fantin-Latour, Gauguin, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, and van Gogh. Every work in the exhibition marked a defining moment in each artist's development and in the evolution of late nineteenth century still life painting. The show culminated in the work of Cezanne, which laid the foundation for the cubism of Braque and Picasso in the twentieth century.

Beginning in 1995, many individuals at The Phillips Collection whose efforts are reflected in these records devoted time and energy to the project, performing essential research, locating works, and initiating correspondence and loan requests. The primary creator of the catalogue and exhibition planning records in this collection was Eliza E. Rathbone, Chief Curator, who directed the project, and who found a collaborator in George Shackelford, Chair of the Art of Europe at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Documentation includes the groundwork and exhibition checklist created by Charles S. Moffett, former director of The Phillips Collection, in conceiving the idea for this exhibition many years earlier. Anne Norton Craner, Curatorial Assistant, worked closely with Moffett in the first year of exhibition planning and Lisa Portnoy Stein, Curatorial Assistant, compiled valuable research files. Assistant Curator, Katy Rothkopf, worked on loan requests for the exhibition in 1997 and 1998. Among other staff of The Phillips Collection reflected in the documents was Jay Gates, Director; Mary Hannah Byers, Curatorial Assistant; Jennifer A. Greenhill, Curatorial Research Assistant; and Susan Behrends Frank, Assistant Curator.

Records in this collection consist of assembled research materials and primary documentation created during the course of catalogue and exhibition planning. The bulk of the planning files are comprised of execution documents such as legal and financial records, correspondence related to the planning and logistics of the exhibition, checklists, loan requests and responses, schedules, installation designs, publicity materials, including press releases and newsclippings, program events, and audio guide documentation.