Late in the fall of 1921, two large rooms of an 1897 brownstone house near Dupont Circle were quietly opened to the public of Washington, D.C. On the walls were French paintings by Chardin, Monet, Sisley, Monticelli, and Fantin-Latour. Along with them were paintings by the contemporary Americans Twachtman, Weir, Ryder, Davies, Whistler, Lawson, Luks, and Hassam.
Although there was no press conference, or champagne lunch, or reception, this was the opening of The Phillips Memorial Art Gallery, now known as The Phillips Collection. Incorporated in the District of Columbia in July 1920, as a foundation specializing in the display of art, it was the first museum in the United States to emphasize the work of living artists.
In the other rooms of the Victorian house lived the Gallery's founder, Duncan Phillips, aged thirty-five, his mother, and his wife of just a few weeks, Marjorie Acker Phillips, a painter herself, who had studied at the Art Students League of New York. For the next several years, the exhibition rooms were open to the public from 2 to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
