Denver Art Museum debuts All Stars: American Artists from The Phillips Collection in November 2023
Landmark show features works by more than 50 American artists
across the 19th, 20th and 21st centurie

The Denver Art Museum (DAM) today announced the exhibition All Stars: American Artists from The Phillips Collection, opening Nov. 12, 2023, and on view through March 3, 2024. This exhibition features key works from Washington, D.C.-based The Phillips Collection, one of the most celebrated collections of American art in the U.S. All Stars encompasses more than 140 years of unexpected visual conversations between American artists about what connects us as humans by artists including Benny Andrews, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe and many more. All Stars: American Artists from The Phillips Collection will be on view in the Hamilton Building’s level 2 Anschutz and Martin & McCormick galleries.

This landmark show features 75 masterworks by 56 artists and traces American art from the birth of the modernist spirit at the end of the 19th century through post-war American painting in the mid-20th century and into the 21st century, with artists exploring important issues today. All Stars: American Artists from The Phillips Collection is the second large-scale, traveling presentation of the Phillips’s celebrated collection to be shown at the DAM, chronicling the broad scope of its holdings.

“Since opening in 1921, the Phillips has been an active champion of American art, lifting up artists who followed their own vision, regardless of fashionable styles and schools. This thoughtful selection of American art celebrates some of the best of American art in the last 150 years,” said Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Art Museum. “This is an exciting presentation of American treasures and we look forward to presenting them during the winter holiday season next year.”

Founded by Duncan Phillips in 1921, The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., opened to the public in 1921 as America’s first museum of modern art. Phillips assembled much of his collection by supporting living artists, often buying a representative selection of their work. Phillips did not collect artworks or develop his collection in terms of historical art movements but was rather interested in artists responding to the universality of the human condition and the role of art as a source of wellness, connection, and public good.

All Stars celebrates important standard-bearers of America’s modernist spirit, highlights exciting new voices, and draws fascinating parallels to the DAM’s permanent collection of modern and contemporary art.

“The artworks in the exhibition range from the 19th century to 2020 American art,” said Rory Padeken, Vicki and Kent Logan Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art for the DAM. “The Phillips Collection comprises one of the most significant collections of modern art in the world. Duncan Phillips was a collector ahead of his time in his time and still has much to teach us about how to appreciate, enjoy and collect art.”

In the spirit of Duncan Phillips, who defied art historical convention, the exhibition groups artworks by theme and visual affinities to create unusual and surprising conversations between generations of artists in seven sections: Enchantment, Immersion, Presence, Rhythm + Motion, Contours of Space and Time, and Together, Apart. Each section features an array of artistic approaches to figuration, abstraction, landscape, and still life that respond to the human condition. A special section will be devoted to four paintings from Jacob Lawrence’s magnum opus “The Migration Series,” which chronicles the exodus of African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North following the outbreak of the First World War.

“The Phillips Collection is pleased to partner with the Denver Art Museum on this dynamic exhibition,” shares Phillips Collection Chief Curator Elsa Smithgall. “The works highlight seminal American artists from our foundational collection as well as new contemporary voices that have been added to the growing collection in the past decade. We are excited that Denver’s presentation will contextualize these works in fresh ways that show their continued impact in today’s world.”

Visitors to All Stars will be encouraged to dialogue with each other and reflect upon diverse aspects of the American experience and how the artists in this exhibition and their works convey these rich and complex points of view.

All Stars: American Artists from The Phillips Collection is organized by The Phillips Collection in collaboration with the Denver Art Museum. Support is provided by the Tom Taplin Jr. and Ted Taplin Endowment, Lisë Gander and Andy Main, Mike Leprino Family Foundation, the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine and CBS Colorado.

Planning Your Visit

The most up-to-date information on planning a visit to the Denver Art Museum can be found online under the Plan Your Visit tab. Use this page to find details on ticket pricing, public transit options, and access information. General admission for museum members is free every day. Youth aged 18 and under, regardless of residency, receive free general admission everyday thanks to the museum’s Free for Kids program. Free for Kids also underwrites free admission for school and youth group visits.  

COVID-19 Protocols

The safety of visitors and staff remains a top priority, and the museum is continually updating its COVID-19 safety and security protocols based on advice from the CDC and federal and local guidelines. Current protocols can be found in the “Visit” section of the museum’s website. denverartmuseum.org/visit

About the Denver Art Museum

The Denver Art Museum is an educational, nonprofit resource that sparks creative thinking and expression through transformative experiences with art. Its mission is to enrich lives by sparking creative thinking and expression. Its holdings reflect the city and region—and provide invaluable ways for the community to learn about cultures from around the world. Metro residents support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), a unique funding source serving hundreds of metro Denver arts, culture and scientific organizations.

For museum information, visit www.denverartmuseum.org or call 720-865-5000.

About The Phillips Collection

Founded by art collector and philanthropist Duncan Phillips in 1921, The Phillips Collection has been collecting modern and contemporary art for one hundred years. Duncan Phillips former home – and additions to it 00 in Washington’s historic Dupont Circle neighborhood provides a unique setting for the growing collection of over 5,000 works. Following Phillips’s unconventional approach to exhibitions, The Phillips Collection galleries are frequently rearranged to facilitate new conversations between artworks and fresh experiences for visitors.

In addition to presenting selections from the permanent collection and special exhibitions, The Phillips Collection also offers award-winning education and community engagement programs for audiences of all ages and backgrounds, including initiatives at its satellite campus Phillips@THEARC.

The Phillips Collection is a private, non-government museum, supported primarily by donations. https://www.phillipscollection.org/