When The Phillips Assortment was based in 1921 by the artwork collector and philanthropist Duncan Phillips, the US was present process profound transformation. President Warren G. Harding was calling for a return to “normalcy”—a phrase whose resonance in immediately’s political rhetoric suggests a well-recognized retreat—because the nation grappled with sweeping social, political and cultural shifts. The Harlem Renaissance was flourishing; racial violence, such because the Tulsa Race Bloodbath, laid naked deep racial divides; and artists like Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keeffe have been redefining American artwork. Amid this complexity, Phillips envisioned a museum that will be greater than a spot for passive admiration or the examine of artwork historical past. He imagined a web site of reflection, experimentation, civic dialogue and respite—urgently wanted throughout a time of disruption and dislocation, in some ways corresponding to our personal.
Greater than a century later, because the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, it’s staggering that we proceed to wrestle with the identical uncooked questions of identification, inclusion and historic narrative. Right here in Washington, DC, cultural establishments are navigating renewed requires a return to “normalcy” and “sanity” alongside efforts to slender the scope of the American story. Whereas some organisations have been extra immediately focused, these broader pressures are reshaping the cultural panorama all of us share.
No matter their purview, museums reside within the cultural second and are at all times tasked with responding to it. Right this moment, the lack of federal funding, mounting monetary pressures, quickly evolving public expectations and heightened scrutiny across the museum’s civic position make this explicit second particularly fraught.
Esther Bubley, Untitled (Lady’s Stitching Group), Fifties The Phillips Assortment, Washington, DC, Present of Cam and Wanda Garner, 2013
On this atmosphere, Phillips’s imaginative and prescient of the museum as an area for dialogue, discovery and shared civic accountability feels extra related than ever. He championed artwork “as a part of the social function of the world”, and that very best continues to information our work. His legacy gives a forward-thinking framework for the way museums can stay very important in turbulent, polarising instances: by serving as locations the place people can discover their values, higher perceive their place on the earth and interact in shared inquiry—areas the place all really feel seen and represented.
At The Phillips Assortment, we’re responding to this second by renewing our dedication to that founding imaginative and prescient. Our newly launched strategic plan builds on the museum’s legacy by commissioning residing artists, increasing the gathering to incorporate traditionally marginalised voices, and cultivating long-term partnerships with cultural organisations throughout Washington, DC, and past. At a time when many are asking what they will do, supporting native establishments is one tangible solution to foster connection, civil discourse and belonging.
A transparent instance of this method is our upcoming exhibition, Out of Many: Reframing an American Artwork Assortment, opening this week and timed to the nation’s semiquincentennial. Born out of our ongoing Seeing US analysis initiative, the exhibition critically re-examines the everlasting assortment to get well misplaced narratives and spotlight how artists throughout generations have imagined the peoples, cultures and landscapes that make up the US.
David Hammons, Untitled, round 1975 Non-public assortment courtesy RYAN LEE and Salon 94 © 2025 David Hammons / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Our historical past gives frameworks for progress if we deal with it as a information, not a vacation spot. The hazard lies not in wanting again, however in turning again. Phillips himself understood the ability of juxtaposition, putting artwork from totally different durations, locations and views in dialog with each other. We stock that spirit ahead immediately, utilizing the gathering to discover American artwork as a dynamic, evolving undertaking—one formed as a lot by the viewer’s perspective as by the artist’s intent.
In Washington, museums function on the intersection of civic reminiscence and political discourse. Because the nation nears its 250th anniversary, cultural establishments are being requested to outline what it means to inform the American story: whose voices are included and the way narratives are formed. The position of museums has by no means been extra very important. We’re not merely stewards of the previous; we’re civic actors positioned on the precipice of the long run. Our accountability is to push the American story ahead—to confront the uncertainty of what comes subsequent by widening the lens and alluring communities to assist form that understanding. On the Phillips, we stay a beacon for inclusion as a result of our public is a part of what comes subsequent.
Jonathan P. Binstock is the Vradenburg Director and chief government of The Phillips CollectionOut of Many: Reframing an American Artwork Assortment, 8 November-15 February 2026, The Phillips Assortment, Washington, DC
